My predictions were pretty much correct, except with Ranelagh dropping through the rankings after losing to DED in the Saturday games (they finished in 8th position after starting in 3rd). DED eventually finished 4th. This has been a great inaugural season for DED, considering they are mostly a re-branded Team Shark whose Tour standing from last year was 13th overall.
vs Burro (Kapow Win 15-8)
Bit of a slow start overall. Offense looking mostly good, defense playing mostly well. Comfortable win overall and we weren't ever at threat of losing.
vs Devon (Kapow win 13-9)
After a good warmup, we are approached by a Devon player telling us we are warming up next to the wrong pitch. We start slow and trade points for a while before turning the defense up a notch and finishing comfortably.
vs Wessex (Kapow win 15-5)
This was our first statement game of the weekend. So psyched up for revenge after Tour 2 we came out hard and played some crisp offense and stifling defense which would be our default for the rest of the weekend. Our O line didn't get broken throughout and our D-Line got the turns and converted. I scored my first callaghan of the weekend on one of my few defense line points after strong defense pinning Wessex in front corner of the the endzone going upwind. Wessex were down after a loss to Devon, and we took advantage early and often building a 5-0 lead and never looked back. Wessex are better than this and will be a tough opponent at Regionals next weekend and Nationals later in August which I have no doubt they will qualify for.
Sunday Games
vs Cambridge (Kapow win 15-6)
Our second statement game. This was the game to break into the Top 8 of open tour for the first time this season. A stacked D-Line was called for the first point, again we pinned them in their endzone going upwind and with more stifling defense I set up a layout interception off a swing pass for my second callaghan in two days. I don't recall getting a single callaghan at a Tour event before (though I think I might have), let alone two or even a single one at a moment anywhere near this important. Cambridge fell flat and we converted defense points time after time. Our O line only got turned over once and we got it back and scored the point any way. A real dominant performance and Kapow proved that we are meant to be in the top 8.
vs Brighton (Kapow win 13-12)
A tough game. Our O was clinical for the majority of the game. We were up 12-10 after the d-line got a couple of breaks and our O-line was broken twice to set up sudden death. We originally had a goal scored but it was called back on an offensive foul on an upfield cutter. I turned over on a huck that went out of bounds in sudden death but we got the disc back through great defense. We then played quite messy offense but did enough to score and take the win.
vs Fusion (Kapow win 15-13)
This was our toughest game of the weekend. We had lost to Fusion in the last game at Tour 2. Both teams last time had been missing some GB stars and both had spent Tour 1 and 2 playing below the Top 8. At Tour 2 Fusion came out on top, this time we traded for a while, got a break up and held the lead all the way to the end. Our offense was strong but got broken once or twice but our defense managed to grab some breaks of their own. EDIT: Around the point where either team could have taken half time, Pichler came up with two huge blocks on defense which were converted for us to go up two breaks into the half (he also got a third block against Fusion which I don't remember but was very important indeed). We held the lead the whole game and ground out a good win.
Overall, I think everyone was happy with the weekend. At times our offense was scoring with what seemed like no pressure on it at all and our defense produced blocks, callaghans and plenty of incomplete passes.
In terms of my personal performance I feel like I played pretty well. I was handling for a lot of the time and produced a lot of break throws to get our offense moving. I threw away too much on long throws though and put us in a position to lose the Brighton game. I have to be more composed about my deep shot selection in the future, especially in sudden death. I also had a bad couple of points against Fusion where I threw away twice in two throws. I attribute this to the toughest marks of the weekend being in that game, but I came back from it well. If we're going to reach the highest levels at nationals and challenge at europeans then I will need to break tougher marks than those I faced this weekend so this is another aspect I will need to improve my consistency on. I caught a few goals, but didn't have any big grabs in traffic or big layouts, mostly because I wasn't needed to. I ran the patterns fairly well, especially from a dump position, and overall was happy with my performance on offense.
I only played a limited role on defense. Getting two callaghans in one weekend was terrific and both were turning points in their respective games. The first one however could have been caught by anyone doing a good job marking the dump as it was the upfield pressure and a poorly executed throw that made it. The second I could see coming and set up the layout, but again was generated by upfield pressure and a good pull. Other than that my role on defense was limited, though I'd like to think my forcing has improved recently. Taking the "Pressure hand and Anticipation hand" approach to forcing really seemed to work and I got my mark to stall 8/9 multiple times.
Bring on Regionals this weekend! First road to Europeans!
Kapow!
EDIT: WE ARE SO SEXY IN OUR COMPRESSION SHORTS!!!!
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