Gettysburg – Abe Lincoln’s Fall Classic

The first tournament of the 2009-2010 season took place the weekend of September 26-27 in Gettysburg, PA. We went into the weekend with high hopes having won here in 2008. The competition looked to be impressive though with strong teams from Dickinson, Gettysburg and F&M as well as other local schools looking to dethrone us. Despite that, we came in confident with a large squad (over 25 guys) including numerous rookies and a slew of returning veterans.

Day 1

Before we would get a chance to defend our title, we first had to survive pool play in hopes of getting a decent seed a perhaps a first round bye on Sunday. Our first game of the season was against Slippery Rock. We started out with the ‘Fab 5’ guys (Ness, C-Will, Sully, Stab and Eric) and our starting girls (Gazelle, Ginger). We came out strong and took an early lead, 3-0. This gave us an opportunity to see how some of our rookies and returning vets would fair so we quickly put in a rotation that allowed everyone an opportunity to play. We were able to stay comfortably ahead for the remainder of the game and took the game 13-8. Our next two games were against the B teams of Gettysburg and Dickinson. These games were learning experiences for both teams and everyone got an opportunity to show what they’ve learned in just a few short weeks of practices. We prevailed in both games 13-4 leadign into the bye for the day. With the weather alternating between cloudy and raining the bye was welcome. Returning from our break we faced what looked to be our toughest opponent of the day in VCU. They played a tough game against Slippery Rock earlier, losing on Universe point so we had to come out focused and ready to play early in order to secure the top spot in the pool. With a quick start from the starting line, we were able to jump out to an early 3-0 lead. With a mix of man-D and a strong zone we were able to get several breaks and maintain the momentum throughout the game, taking the game 13-4 and winning the pool with a record of 4-0.

Day 2

Winning the pool in Day 1 set us up with a bye for the second day so we were able to get more rest and a later start. The first game of the day was the quarterfinals against F&M who had defeated IUP in the pre-quarters. We started out strong once again, going up early 6-3. Thinking that we were on the way to another easy game we let up considerably and let F&M back in the game, allowing them to take half 7-6. Our numbers helped tremendously coming out of half, not just because our starters were fresh but mainly because the sidelines were active and spurring on those the field to push themselves further. We started out with 3 consecutive breaks to take back the lead and from there we never let up, winning 13-10 to move into the semi finals. In the semi-finals we faced the home team, Gettysburg, who were eager to knock us out and win on their home turf. We once again came out strong and took an early lead. This time we were determined not to let up and with the help of the our sidelines (who were even more active than the home team) we were able to make it back to another finals appearance. In the other semi-finals, Dickinson was able to pull out a victory over the Gettysburg Alums. This setup a finals appearance against our local rivals, a team that had knocked us out of contention at Sectionals in the spring. Just before the start of the game, the clouds broke and the sun came out, bringing with it a fairly strong wind. Despite the strong wind, the game was fairly clean with both teams breaking the others zone with ease forcing it to be a man-to-man matchup. We traded points and a couple of breaks but Dickinson was able to get a late break into half, going up 8-6. We received at half and the first point was long and hard fought, but a crucial one if we wanted to stay in the game. We were able to finally take the point and then quickly got a break to tie it. We traded points until 10 all, at which point we were able to make some traction with our zone and get the break to take the lead 11-10. The cap was on, making it a game to 13 so we just had to keep scoring on offense and we would have it won. We traded points again to make it 12-12, universe point. We sent back out the Fab 5 to receive and they were able to work it down the field prior to turning it over with a huck that sailed long. Staunch defense led to a quick turn over at mid field. Eric broke deep and this time the throw was right on, culminating the weekend with an undefeated run and a second consecutive championship to start the season.

Highlights

• Winning the championship on universe point
• Having a massive sideline presence
• Layout D’s from veterans (C-Will) and rookies (Ryan) alike
• Gazelle scoring on the only 4-3 point of the weekend
• Rookie points
• Ness not throwing an air bounce flick
• Breaking any zone thrown at us
• Debbie saving Eric in the finals
• Going undefeated

Video Footage