Pretentious title? Check.
So we rolled to Colby once again this year for sectionals. We were supposed to assemble at 3:45 in the morning outside of Rauner for a chartered bus ride over to Maine - well, we upheld our end of the bargain. The driver? Not so much. So we had to somehow wake ourselves up, assemble a fleet of cars, and drive over to Sectionals. Much consternation ensued.
Well, we arrived about halfway through the Bness's first round game against Bridgewater. Sectionals fell this year on First Year Family weekend here at Dartmouth, so several freshmen couldn't make it to help out their B team brothers, but this first game still came out in favor of Discomfort Trolley.
Our first game was against Bates. We were already exhausted and not quite ready to go, so we only managed to win 13-8 or 9 or so. This game was marked by our simple lack of hustle - the outcome was never really in doubt, so we were happy to just make it happen with our throws and ultimate IQ instead of really breaking a sweat. Seigs, there to coach us, and the triumvirate of captains did recognize this and really lit a fire under us for the rest of the day.
Our next game was against Maine-Orono - an odd team, in that they sort of lacked spirit, bidding into our legs after catches were made, kind of grunting when we talked to them about it. Oh well. They also all had snazzy (read: not particularly snazzy) jerseys, but most of them weren't wearing cleats. Priorities boys, priorities. 13 - 2 or so.
Next came Colby. We really took it to these guys. I don't really remember the score or any particulars (was this the game where Tom cemented his spot on the checking line with one hard shoulder?) but we played as hard as we had against UMO against a significantly superior team. Had to be pumped after this one - someone remarked that this was the first time that the Dartmouth team from Yale Cup showed up.
Finally, for Day 1 - UNH. Not a ton to report about this one either, we played decently, they played significantly worse, and got upset even though we didn't really spike the disc ever, more just threw it back to the line after a score. This led to the ridiculous spectacle of one of their undersized dudes catching a score to make it 12-6 or something and throwing up a HUGE spike. Luckily, Nate ignored my counsel to "spike the shit out of it" when he caught the next score, and we made our way to Dana dining hall (free food night!) to rest up after the day.
We spent the night at the Marden's, who were the most gracious hosts we could imagine. Luckily, we were all so exhausted that snores were plentiful from the living room by 9:15 or so...
We woke up to delicious pancakes and a steady rain. What an unbelievable turn of events - it was raining at Colby during Sectionals. My jaw is literally on the floor.
Ok, so it gets ugly now. Our first game was the Semis, against Maine-Farmington. They matched up perfectly with us - good in the air, excellent break throws. They came out and jumped on us 4-0. Holy balls I was terrified. It would get worse. We broke them twice in a row in the first half to take half on serve 8-7. Things seemed ok. But in the second half, we couldn't get rid of these guys. We went up a break, and then they broke us back twice. They were up 13-12, game to 15. But we battled back, forced some bad throws and once we got the disc just refused to give it up. Brett Carr stepped up huge with a big D in the endzone, and our O just clicked. We were up 15-14, game to 17 hard, when we just decided to end it. Nobody allowed their man to get open on D, Chimpo absolutely locked down on their stud handler, and they threw away the dump. Cobbles easily broke his man on an iso play for Watson to win this one.
I couldn't really eat for a few days after this one. This was like a nightmare where your house burns down - you can't really be comfortable for a while. Goodness gracious.
Anyways, Bowdoin decided to concede the finals, having cemented their bid to Regionals, so they just showed up with three guys and played out the game. We were psyched to play, but we're not gonna complain about making it out of there with no losses.
Ok, so Regionals is this weekend. One quick note - I literally can not stop smiling after I read the blitzes alums are sending in. Over the past few days we've gotten advice from guys who went to Natties in '03, words of wisdom from Dartmouth alums who were captaining this team before most of us were alive, even offers to have Ugandan witch doctors bless our team and call down hexes upon Brown and Harvard. Oh, and once again, UMass and Harvard did not take care of business, finishing third in both of their sections, and throwing the Regional seedings into a bit of a tizzy. Luckily this year we were above the fray as far as seedings were concerned, holding onto our two seed behind Brown instead of getting dragged down behind teams we lost to earlier in the season but who underperformed in the section, a la last year.
We play Yale in the first round Saturday. That is the only thing we know for sure right now.
Wish us some luck. We're gonna turn some heads.
lamar
