First off, my sincerest apologies for not writing up a Labor Day wrap-up. Many of you guys know that I am the Regionals Coordinator for the Southwest so that has taken up the majority of my time in preparations for Sectionals and Regionals. However; I've just finalized the Sectionals schedule so I have some time now to write about the upcoming Mixed Sectionals in Long Beach, CA.
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Pool A
1. 7 Figures
2. Lunch Money
3. Loft
4. Fork in the Road
This pool is relatively straightforward. The big gun in this pool is obviously the top seed overall, 7-Figures from Los Angeles. Their impressive performance at the Labor Day Championships two weeks ago spoke volumes as to how good this team is and what they can do. With wins over Dogfight, Polar Bears, and a near finals-win over Mischief, 7-Figures looks very good going into the Series. Their men have a lot of open experience while their women are all seasoned veterans who bring speed and skill to complement the accuracy that their male throwers possess. They should have no problems in this pool and should cruise into semis.
Lunch Money, Loft, and Fork in the Road will be left battling for the coveted second spot into Semis. Lunch Money brings a lot of youth to the table with many players from the Air Squids in addition to seasoned veterans such as Alan M. who will throw 40 yard hammer bombs at will. They are quick and athletic. Loft, or "left over from teams" brings a gangg of seasoned players from the greater Los Angeles area. Same with Fork-in-the Road. I am unsure as to what these two teams bring to the table, but it will be interesting to watch them play and how they stack up against the #1 seed.
Note: I have also been told Fork in the Road has some sort of over/under beer bet going on with 7-Figures. Fork is going to be playing inspired against 7-Figs. Should be a good game to watch. If this is a over/under on point dif... I'm calling "UNDER."
Pool B
1. Metro
2. BCBC
3. Expendables
4. OCD
5. In-N-Out
With 5 teams in the pool, it was a tricky pool to schedule. LA Metro is the #2 seed overall in the tournament and look to break seed come bracket play, but they will have to first tackle their long-time rivals BCBC as the #3 seed overall. BCBC has thrown "multiple looks" at different tournaments this past year and it will be interesting to see who they actually have for the Series. BCBC suffered a significant loss in Brian Calle tearing his ACL or MCL at Labor Day. They lose one of their stronger handlers and now must rely on more of their cutters to do the disc handling. It will be interesting to see how this experienced team adjusts to this adversity in addition to their team only recently being finalized to their current roster.
The Expendables, OCD, and IN-N-Out are three teams that have been around for a while, but always bring something different to Sectionals. If you recall, IN-N-Out took half against LA Metro last year at Sectionals 8-6 enroute to a 11-13 loss. It was a VERY close game and they really brought it against us, even though we were the #1 seed overall. OCD is a very young team but they're quick and gritty and gave teams trouble last year as well. Their strength will really be their familiarity with each other as they are mostly players who played together on the Chapman College team. The Expendables are another "pickup" team that have experience and veteran leadership pulling for them.
The tricky part of pool B involved distributing round byes at appropriate times. Teams will have to deal with multiple byes, most noticeably IN-N-Out who have a double bye during the 4th and 5th rounds. It is going to be a very fun weekend with 6 total bids to Regionals.
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Open Preview
San Diego is going to roll through pool play and take the Sectionals title with a 15-12 win over the Condors in the finals. Look for 405 to be the "breakthrough" team in this tournament and who knows... maybe they can pull the upset over the Condors in the 3rd round. It will be very interesting to watch the Beyondors go up against the open teams. They made semifinals at Nationals last season and should still have a very strong roster.
Good luck in your preparation! See you all Saturday
-Hammie #10
1 comment:
Thanks for the beer game shoutout. Though I would warn you never to bet on the under. We beat the spread (and everyone else's spread against 7 figs at sectionals) because when beer is on the line, you can do amazing things. The only unresolved question from So Cal sectionals is when 7 figures will pay their debt. We eagerly await out beer.
-Fork in the Road
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