Regionals, part two

Illinois

Great Lakes Regionals traded rain + thunderstorms in Bloomington for cold + windy in South Bend. The practical difference was that the cold and the wind didn’t tear up the fields. Saturday’s regional semifinal kicked off with a regional rematch with Illinois at 3pm. Illinois opened strong, getting an important upwind goal on the first point of the game and then adding a second a few points later. The early difference seemed to be execution, and perhaps a case of the nerves. The wind ensured both teams got D’s on almost every point and slowed the game down considerably. magnUM could not convert early, but did get their first upwind break on a hammer to Brandon Beeler. With soft cap on before halftime in Illinois took an 8-7 lead. magnUM O scored downwind to tie up the game at 8-8, setting up double-game point. TNT’s drama has nothing on the Great Lakes Region. Universe point saw each team take turns on goalline O, and each team making a major stand. Tom Haynes made three straight layout bids on Illinois throws called back for various offensive or defensive violations before a drop gave magnUM the disc. magnUM too had their shot, also ended by a drop. Eventually, Illinois would land a 50-yard bending huck, booking their ticket to the Regional Final versus MSU. A disappointed magnUM squad would have to settle for the race for the second Great Lakes bid to Nationals for a second year in a row.

Notre Dame

magnUM’s first backdoor bid would have to be against Notre Dame. As magnUM2k9 will gladly point out, this was the same team who famously lost on universe in the game before the game-to-go last year at Regionals. More recently, Notre Dame came to Oosterbahn Fieldhouse and beat magnUM2k10 on universe point during a January game. Perhaps wary of those past results and playing Notre Dame on their fields, magnUM came out and promptly surrendered a couple of breaks. This prompted an early timeout and an epic Richard “YOU DON’T NEED ME!” Eikstadt speech. Or as Colin puts it: “Ricky admitting that you don’t need him and that coached by me and Rook, it’s up to you all to step on the field and get it done.”

And then Tom Haynes blew up. Yes magnalUMs, the same baby-faced Tom Haynes who sat out his first Nationals with mono back in 2006. magnUM’s 2010 Callahan nominee featured in what I’ll estimate was half of magnUM’s goals in the next two games, primarily though not exclusively on the receiving end. You name the guy throwing it — Ollie, Spencer, Pape, and even a deflected deep huck from Towster — Tom got it (in the latter case leading to a hammer assist). magnUM’s deep game saw its confidence increase thanks to Notre Dame’s D. At one point in the game, magnUM was calling plays for “a deep cut for whoever was guarded by the guy in the ______”. [Author’s note: visible apparel item stricken from the blog to protect the defensively humiliated]

The rest of the team too, rose to the challenge. Rim Ree, easily magnUM’s best defender of the weekend (so many D’s … so, so many D’s), continued owning everyone he guarded. Chris Vandervoort got a sweet layout D. ROY Carson Mailler made a ridiculous layout grab off of a seemingly D’d dump pass. Jesse Brauner continued his Spiderman-like ability to catch any disc he touched, making a couple of big skies. AVS got into the act with a left-handed snag of an underthrown high-release backhand. Yoni made big plays, including a precision flick huck that prompted alum Armand Conti to exclaim, “Holy sh!t, has that guy played before?”

The individual brilliance and significantly improved attitude added up to a team much greater than its individual plays, and a game that was not in doubt. Afey closed the day doing his best to decapitate Beaker with a downwind blade flick. The Professor was up to the task, and magnUM advanced 15-10.

Shenanigans

Shenanigans (n): Term for all behavior exhibited by the most immature members of teams, including head coaches. Examples:

Friday

1. Yoni interpreting “make the first left” as “go straight at the first intersection.” FAIL.
2. Jeff “I exist to order the most ridiculous dinners possible” Pape. Exhibit 978: Ordering a house salad with three $2 orders of chicken on it with no dressing and calling it his Friday dinner. The waitress mocked his ‘special salad’ for the rest of the night.
3. Zubin’s sugar throwing van. They thought they were hot stuff.

Saturday

1. Two police officers walking into the Mexican restaurant for dinner right by the team table table, and Jeff Pape picking that exact instant to shout “OH SHOOT” (or something similar).
2. Ricky’s room summoning multiple people to their room because “he wanted to talk for a second.” Said person (Carson among the victims) would knock. Rick would declare “it’s open” (it wasn’t). Door opening failure was followed with racuous laughing and high-fives.
3. Beeler not falling for the “it’s open” trickery, while at the same time getting locked out of his own room.

Indiana

In the game before the game-to-go, magnUM opened against Indiana, a rematch of a Huck Finn pool play game magnUM won 13-6. This game was a closer, but the O line pretty well ensured it was hardly in doubt. Indiana’s O, featuring a variety of strong throws from the Mohawk guy, kept magnUM D at bay for the majority of the game. magnUM got an early break here and another break there, but the D couldn’t convert the turns they earned. Had the game ended another 20 minutes later it might have been a very close game. Indiana finally found chinks in the O line for two late breaks. But hard cap sounded after the second, magnUM winning a closer-than-it-shoulda-been 14-13 game. Up next was the game-to-go, and a big time rematch.

One of the most memorable highlights came on the efforts of magnUM’s second shortest vegetarian, Spencer Jolly. Jeff Pape wrote it best “he attempted a 15ft greatest into ditch, got hand on the disc and the crashed horribly into the ground.” As firsthand witness to the earth shaking crash, I was concerned Jolly wasn’t getting up. And he did, playing out the weekend on a bum wrist.

Michigan State

And so magnUM earned a rematch with the Michigan State’s Burning Couch. For blog followers or witnesses to the sectional final, the script was eerily familiar. Couch broke magnUM O twice to start the game. A third break through the first five points saw magnUM in a massive 4-1 hole.

And at this point in the season, some might now have blamed the team had we packed it up and called it a season. Seth was done a long time ago with a dislocated shoulder requiring multiple surgeries. Snow at CCC and QCTU plus Centex’s windstorm and now cold May weather could have emptied the emotional bank of some teams. Robbie Steinbock broke his right ankle the week before Regionals. Pat Collins re-injured his surgically repaired knee just a couple days before this part 2 of Regionals and was on crutches for the weekend. And now the team was down three breaks to a Couch squad that had beaten magnUM three weeks prior. We didn’t. We just kept clawing back.

The first break started it. Slowly, the script was becoming clear. magnUM, a gritty team, could out work Couch. Play by play, throw by throw, pivot by pivot, magnUM was just a little closer, a little more determined, and a little fresher. The breaks were incredibly hard work to come by, but around the hour mark the field was irrevocably tilted in magnUM’s favor. magnUM took half 8-7. Ricky made it clear the rest would be about the entire team. Everyone would and did play at least one point. Everyone would work as one to grind them into the ground. Couch got an eight point despite a heroic Mike DeRubeis catch in between two taller players. But their end was coming, not ours.

With magnUM up 9-8, Ollie Honderd (who had a huge game) skied a crowd, then ripped off a hammer to Yoni for a score. On the ensuring point , an end zone setup saw Dtow with the disc, fake, pivot and break to Tim. Tim then found Mike DeRubeis — the same DeRubeis who caught the winner to advance magnUM Reserve to regionals last year — and magnUM was going to Nationals! (Not without a hitch though … a certain player who threw the break but will sort of remain nameless reportedly asked, “Wait, is that the game?”)

The game winning goal.

After the game, magnUM2k10 cooled down to the humor of the paper plate awards. Seth, JB and DMo compiled a stellar set of awards (amazing, I know…), and then we watched Flywheel cruise to yet another regional title. Both teams would meet up in Ann Arbor later that night to celebrate (where a challenge of a scrimmage was extended and Alex Fegert acknowledged no shame in layout D’ing a girl if necessary).

Nationals 2k10

And so the countdown begins to 2010 Nationals, May 28-31 in Madison, WI. We have lots of work to do between now and then. We have plenty of defensive shortcomings to resolve. Many offensive turns could have been avoided. More conditioning is required. You’ll like the product on the field in Madison, so come out to watch us.

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