Fall Out Team Z

By: Kurt

Saturday

It was 7:30 on a brisk morning in October as the cars pulled up to the Bill Seeber memorial complex. Out from the steaming vehicles stepped team Z’s seasoned athletes, prepared for whatever was to be thrown at them that day (pun intended). But seriously, it was f’n cold outside.

After a long warm-up, we squared off against our first opponent, Eastern Illinois. Team Z came out fired up and took an early lead with a few breaks. The stillness of the early morning coupled with Eastern’s inexperience allowed for throws through the cup and easy swings around. We took the half 7-2, despite many turnovers and poor defensive positioning. Cold hands and shady clearing made for a lot more turnovers by both teams in the second half. Z was able to take advantage of the sloppy play to win the game 13-4. We walked away from the game with an unfounded confidence and an inflated sense of our ability as a team.

The celebrations came to an abrupt end as our next game against the far better matched Iowa Black began. The Iowa 4-man cup worked like a machine against our offense. We threw into hand blocks and layout D-s like it was their birthday. Z learned that lazy defensive positioning and sluggish movement on the field wouldn’t cut it against the athletic Iowa lines. A complete shutout at halftime, 7-0, left team Z stunned like a deer in the headlights of the Iowa 18 wheeler. The addition of Miles, an experienced popper, in the second half made a slight improvement to our offense, but it would not be enough. We were caught by stupid mistakes and miserable offense time and again. We didn’t swing the disk, but rather held it in the center of the field or on the trap side and attempted to throw through the cup, Zubes. A couple of bombs to Chuck were our only source of points in the second half, final score L 4-13.

Illinois Z was able to take much more then just a painful loss away from the game, however. Iowa Black was like a bright light, exposing every flaw, and allowing us to make some much needed corrections. After some strong words from Chuck and some quick strategizing, team Z came out fired up in our next game against DePaul. We played better defense, keeping position on the quick DePaul cutters, and we were able to convert some of their mistakes into points. Impressive offensive plays by a few rookies together with sick deep D by Chuck lead us to a 7-5 halftime. Z kept up the heat, and despite a minor scare near the end of the game, managed to cap off the victory 13-11.

Our final game of the day against the intense Chicago Y team proved to be a test in endurance for many players. Our less-than-perfect conditioning started to show, as Chicago poked holes in our defensive coverage. Open in-cuts and un-contested deep throws brought Chicago up at halftime, 7-4. Despite a strong second-half rally, including a 4 point run and a few super-sniper-bombs from Zubair, we were not able to keep up with the Chicago team. The game ended in a 10-13 loss.

Sunday

Sunday brought another cold morning, followed by a much windier day of ultimate. Team Z’s first game against Lewis looked to be a shootout, with any team capable of taking the win. A shootout it was! Both teams quick disc movement followed by deep throws worked well. There was a notable improvement in the Z offense, a mixture of having a day experience, and keeping 4 vets in at all times. The game was close at halftime, 7-6 with Z up by 1. The wind started to pick up in the second half, and the game followed suit. Z played tough defense, with Nascar even bringing out his steamroller maneuver, but Lewis matched. The game went into double overtime as Lewis tied it up 12-12. Chuck called in an all-vet line, whispering, “we are NOT losing this game” just before the pull. The magic sauce worked wonders, and team Z took the game 13-12.

The next game was against Illinois-X (black death), who had a first round by because of their ludicrously easy pool. The rookies played the majority of the game, and the wind picked up. The age-old saying rang true once again “Hell hath no fury like the Sunday wind in Rantoul.” Z’s defense fell apart in the semi-serious game against BD. Even when the wind let up a bit, we allowed in-cuts and were caught on the wrong side of our defenders. I don’t even remember what the final score was, but Z lost, and looked awful in the process. We would have to step it up BIG TIME to even have a chance in our next games.

And step it up we did! Our next game was a repeat against Iowa Black. Z was out for blood, and a new zone D was just the weapon we needed. Our zone was able to shut down the Iowa offense multiple times. We also swung the disc across the field more, and took smarter shots up field. With the sweet taste of revenge in our mouths we took half 7-6. The second half was a brutal free-for-all. Miles lead the defensive charge, laying out for everything within 20 feet of him, including discs, stray defenders, birds, scraps of paper, even the occasional rolling garbage can. Many others followed suit, and Z played well in the high winds. Iowa was able to take advantage of a few mistakes and go up 12-10. Illinois Z fought back with more shutdown defense and hard-core marks, bringing the score back to 12-12. Iowa proved to be the better match, ending the game on their O-point, 13-12. The game was a loss by the score, but the improvement from Saturdays game against Iowa was spectacular.

Q: What was my favorite joke of the weekend?

A: Our final game against Wheaton.

Wheaton injured at least half their team during the game, including one back injury that required a homemade stretcher. The poor guy attempted the Nascar Steamroller maneuver against Cozza…and failed. Virtually our only source of offense was Zubair or Kurt throwing 10-yard blades over the cup to Chuck, and then working it from there. We finished the game 5-3 after lowering the score cap twice.

The amount of improvement, especially defensive, that I saw from everyone during this tournament was astounding. Although Saturday’s games were riddled with mistakes and laziness, I saw flashes of brilliance on Sunday. The tournament was a good learning experience, and helped show the new guys the importance of solid throws and good form, because sometimes its windy!