Chesapeake Invite
Gaithersburg, MD
August 25-26
Link to full results
Drag’n Thrust arrived in Gaithersburg, Maryland on Friday August 24th with high hopes for a competitive tournament, the deadline for having ten sanctioned games looming in the not too distant future. Quite a few people got a chance to explore Washington DC on the way in.
The first game of the tournament was against Sabre Corp, whom we had played in Power Pools at the Club Championships last year. We had beaten them 15-11, and they were no doubt looking for a little payback. Saturday morning started off with a less than stellar performance by the O-line, but the D-line picked up the slack and then some. As a younger team, Sabre Corp brought a lot of intensity, and rode out emotional highs to get a few breaks off early in the game. Drag’n Thrust won a hotly contested first half 7-5, then rolled the second half for a 13-5 win. Outscoring teams in the second half would be a theme for DnT throughout the weekend.
Next up was Death by Jubilee, out of the DC area. We had never played them before, but took advantage of a nice scouting report by our new practice player, Andrea. Although this team went winless in pool play, they really gave us some trouble. Death by Jubilee put up ten points before we were able to close out the game.
The last game of pool play was against 7Express, from New York. They played well, using a lot of quick handler movement and breaks. Our O-line was much more composed at this point in the day, adding to the already overwhelming defensive effort. Drag’n Thrust wins 13-7.
take on at an easy rate pills no rx – http://site.jumblebee.co.uk/?p=4230 Although we had won our pool, Drag’n was not done for the day. We had a final round crossover against the second place finisher out of the fourth pool – Termite’s Entourage. This team employed several different crafty defenses that gave both the O and D lines fits when we had the disc. It seemed like they had an answer for everything we tried on offense, so we really just had to grit our teeth and will ourselves to victory at the end. As I recall, they won the first half 7-6, and we finished the game out in overtime at 14-12.
Our crossover victory earned us a first round bye. We got to sleep in, and face off against Bucket at 10:30am. Bucket won a very close game over Wild Card at 11-10, and looked to be pumped up and ready to give DnT a real challenge in quarterfinals. Things did not play out that way. We seemed to have their number the entire game, with Jay and Strings gobbling up all their deep passes, then heading straight for the endzone. The game was over before we knew it, at 13-4.
Our semifinals matchup was against Ambiguously Grey. Although this was not a nationals team from 2011, we knew better than to overlook them. AG managed to best DnT in pool play at the Philly Invite last year with a score of 14-12. The returning players were hungry for revenge, while the new recruits probably just had their sights set on a W regardless. Unfortunately, before the game was able to start, we had to sit through a lightning delay. With the delays at the US Open fresh in our minds, we were seriously concerned about being able to play our tenth sanctioned game of the season. Without this game, we had no strength bid for the North Central. Luckily, the storms cleared, and we rushed out to play Ambiguously Grey. Their offense was difficult to disrupt, with strong play from a couple of their male cutters, and what seemed like all of their ladies. This game had a ton of ups and downs, but Drag’n came away with it at 13-10.
Slow White was waiting for us in finals. Drag’n Thrust, at this point, had no recorded wins in history against this team. Winning this one meant a lot for morale, as well as for rankings. The lightning delay had set us back by a half an hour, so we had to scramble to get things started to avoid losing several players with early flights. This game was played pretty sloppy by both sides, leaving us to once again rely on endurance and determination to win the game. This was the only game of the tournament that we started on defense, and were rewarded by receiving the pull to start the second half with a built-in lead. With a few more slip ups on both sides, DnT eventually prevailed, 13-10.
Check out these sweet pictures courtesy of Ultiphotos.com:
http://www.ultiphotos.com/chesapeake/2012/invite/mixed/finals
http://www.ultiphotos.com/chesapeake/2012/invite/mixed/finals
-Thanks to Austin Lien for written contributions