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Hodags Begin Season with Big Bang
Fall Tournament Allows Hodags to Spring Forward
With the arrival of winter to the state of Wisconsin, the Hodags traveled to Athens, GA for warm weather and game time against some of the nation’s elite teams. Having spent only a month practicing indoors as a real unit, the Hodags were eager to try out their revamped offense and test the mettle of their Young Blood.
The trip started on a bad foot, as Tyson Park’s car broke down in Memphis on the drive down. This might have been a harbinger of bad news for the Hodags, but the teammates in that car rented a vehicle and arrived on time and rested behind the wheel of a brand new and supped-up Pontiac Grand Am. This would become a metaphor for the team as a whole during the weekend. The Hodags would take an older version of themselves, break it down, and come out firing on new raging cylinders.
Saturday morning saw the #1 seeded Hodags fight a rebuilding and feisty UNC-Chapel Hill Darkside. Lack of action outdoors for Wisconsin became apparent in the Hodags’ first possession, as Jason Ludden threw a pass neatly into a defender’s hands. However, hard pressure by first-year Hodag Alex Atterbury forced a turnover, and Ludden was able to redeem himself with a score. The game flowed in that direction, with small mental errors by the Hodags being erased with spirited defense from all. At the end of the game the 15-6 scored showed two things: the Hodags were rusty, but dangerous, and they had an unstoppable team-destroyer in superstar Matt Bruss.
The next team on the Menu was last-seed Maryland. While the game was short and the Hodags dominated from start to finish, it exposed a weakness in the backfield of the Hodags offense. Handlers Hector Valdivia, Tyson Park, and others were responsible for a large percentage of the team’s turnover. Since the Hodags rely heavily on swinging the disc to utilize both sides of the field, they regrouped to try and work on the miscommunications and streamline the movement of the disc. Final score however, was 15-7.
The Chapel Hill and Maryland games showed for the first time what the Young Blood were capable of, as Jimmy McMurray, Jim Igielski, Eric Kinzler, Phil Altman, Matt Ley, Ryan Carrington, and Brian Frederick each tallied their first points in the Baby Blues.
Saturday’s final game pitted Illinois against the Hodags for battle of the pool. The Hodags began sloppily, and Illinois’ experienced handlers allowed them to get a scoring edge on the Hodags. With Illinois up 6-3 and looking to take a dominating lead into halftime, the Hodags endured their first gut-check of the season, and dug deep into their character to gel as a team. After switching their defensive set from man to zone, the Hodags rattled off several quick points to tie the game a 7-7, halftime at 8 points. Stretching for energy and intensity, the sideline encouraged their teammates into forcing Illinois to throw an intercepted pass in their own endzone to Hector Valdivia for the score and the momentum.
After half, the Hodags came out inspired and aggressive, and never relinquished the lead, taking the pool with a final score of 13-10.
After a night of rest and relaxation, swapping stories of “did you see my play?” and “what were you thinking,” the Hodags went to sleep knowing a little more about their strengths and limitations.
Sunday morning. Sore and tired, the Hodags suited up to play against Michigan Magnum in quarterfinals. Facing their first real national powerhouse, the Hodags looked a bit tentative at the beginning of the game.
Enter eternal freshman and team black sheep Tyson Park. Showing much promise and talent, Park has often been critiqued for his lack of discipline on the field and his childish behavior off it. But the first five points of the Michigan game became a coming-out party for the team’s new main handler. Showing poise and veteran skills, he threw the first five Hodag goals from a distance of greater than fifty yards.
Sparked by the incredible offensive output of their prodigal son, the rest of the Hodags followed suit, and slowly built a solid lead. With hot defense once again from the newly initiated, and calm nerves from Alex Atterbury and Rodrigo “Gigo” Valdivia, the Hodags put a quick end to any hopes of a Michigan comeback and won 15-10.
An aside: Matt Bruss outscored the entire Michigan team 11-10.
Semifinals. Four games played, and two more to go to win, but no one dared look past last year’s Nationals runners-up Colorado Mama Bird. Mama Bird had the most disciplined offense, prestige, and had beaten Wisconsin last year every time they’d faced each other, each time by only a few points. The Hodags were young, hungry, and ready for revenge.
There were many lead changes throughout, and Mama Bird was only down by one at half, 8-7. The pressure would not release and the Hodags had to steel their nerves and continue to score on offense, and place suffocating pressure on defense. With layout blocks few can conceive of by Captain Zach Morrison, and additional ones by Tyson Park, Hector Valdivia, and Matt Bruss, the Hodags kept Mama Bird backpedaling and refused to cave to the pressure.
With a key momentum swing for Mama Bird threatening to erase the Hodags’ one point lead, a throw tipped high by defensive gorilla Jason Ludden was brought down in the end zone by Matt “Just Call Me Callahan” Bruss. It was also in key moments of the game that newbies Joe Dombrow, Phil Altman, and Brian Frederick contributed with solid playing and veteran cool. By the time the whistle blew and the game was over 14-12, the Hodags had grown into a team that was a little more sure about themselves and ready to win their first tournament.
Although it was apparent that Colorado was the next best team at the tournament, Wisconsin still had to go through Ohio State Leadbelly for the sweep, and no one was counting them out yet. Fatigue played a big part in this game, as both teams looked slow and sluggish at times. Mexican Freshman Gigo Valdivia’s experience as a cross country runner in high school and his bullish constitution allowed him to place heavy pressure on Leadbelly’s main handler, harassing him with layout bids and forcing turnovers as the game progressed. The match-up of the game however, was between Leadbelly’s Kevin Reichert and Wisconsin’s mythical Atlas, Matt Bruss. Both held nothing back, and drained their bodies fighting for every disc. By the end of the game though, Wisconsin’s deep bench and experienced players brought back the first of (hopefully) many tourney wins for this season. Final score 15-11, and a 6-0 record.
The Hodags came out hard and intense, but despite their early season success, they must try to not rest on their laurels and continue to fight to improve from practice to practice and game to game if they hope to be national contenders by the time May comes around.
By Hector Valdivia