Friday, August 24th, 2007
ECC: the wake-up call
Finish: low; 2-5 record, wins over Voodoo and Bravo
results
By round
–Saturday–
Sub-Zero:
We were broken on O the first 3 possessions, lost half 8-3; came blitzing back to take 12-11 lead (9-3 run), only to lose 14-13. The tough underneath defense of SZ combined with sloppy throws and catches by Chain (setting a tone for the day, unfortunately) to cause most of our problems, but the defensive line obviously gave the Minnesotans a hard time as well — by game’s end, it felt like whoever received the pull was in trouble. The bright side of the defeat was that, in mounting its comeback, the team showed some of the backbone that had marked the ‘06 squad .
Buzz Bullets:
The Japanese WUCC champs fom 2006 were a fascinating team to watch, but playing them was tough because of their unique (to North America, at least) style of constant running and pinpoint long throws. Once again we got down early, then stayed in the game (buoyed by a huge block by Robert White) until errors against the frenetic match-up zone BB employed doomed us to an 11-15 loss. They would go on to play their way to the finals before succumbing to champs Sockeye in a brilliant match.
Voodoo:
A younger Seattle team with some really strong individuals, Voodoo never completely went away in a game Chain controlled but couldn’t get a lock on; final was ~15-11.
Furious George:
Chain Lightning continued to struggle against the veteran squad from Vancouveer, who was fresh off the previous week’s Canadian Championship (which they won). The Atlanta D broke the FG O to score the 1st point of the game and the offense was successful with deeper shots, but neither O nor D could put together any kind of run, and we lost 15-11 or so, even with a handful of Furious starters not playing.
–Sunday–
Revolver:
Cold rain Sunday morning set the stage for a rematch from the 2006 national s quarterfinals between Chain and the Bay Area’s Revolver, with the winner moving on to the winners’ bracket. We were up for the beginning of the game, hoping to have a better day, while Revolver was no doubt up for some small measure of vengeance. Despite our higher energy, though, the unforced errors continued to kill possessions and Revolver had far fewer mistakes in the inclement weather. CL did mount somewhat of a comeback after losing half 4-8, but Revolver held on for a 14-11 victory.
Rhino:
Now in the consolation rounds, Chain faced Portland’s Rhino in harder, wind-blown rain. It’s fair to say that spirits had flagged at this point. The game was ugly from the beginning with neither team playing well, but the throwers from the northwest were able to move the disc more effectively, and Rhino eventually pulled away for a win by 4-5 goals.
Bravo:
Oddly, the sun came out for this last game, and our training in triple-digit heat might finally pay off. Colorado’s Johnny Bravo was our draw after some shuffling was done to have teams face new opposition. As it would be the final game of the weekend, a handful of Bravo starters (including Parker) didn’t play, and a few Chain players decleated earlier than usual. On the field, though, fortune finally smiled on us — probably not coincidentally as the rain went away. We played looser and the deep game opened up, with Barrett and Zip reforging the old Boston connection, while Scott Sample was fianlly rewarded for tough underneath defense with multiple Ds. Chain stayed in front to win 11-8 and was happier than usual about a last round consolation win, after suffering a dispiriting weekend up to that point.
