Jay Lay and Schimmel
Game 1
White vs Yellow
15-8 White
Ah the start of league. Nothing is quite as exhilarating and nerve wracking as meeting your new team for the first time. Fortunately for the White team, there were a bunch of familiar faces in the circle when the game started, but the newcomers looked as promising as I’ve ever seen in players new to league. We started the game on O and scored fairly quickly. A few points go by and we’re still on serve. However, around the time the score hit 4’s something seemed to click with our defense and we proceeded to hop on the break train and take half 8-5. Out of half we broke again to go up 9-5. Yellow wasn’t done though and they immediately fired back with a TK to Switzer deep making the 6-9 (AYYYYYY). From here out though it was pretty much White’s game. I don’t know if maybe seeing their dad score riled them up or what but the Switzer clan on the White squad lead the defensive push earning a combined FIVE D’S in the second half leading to White winning 15-8 with the final goal going to the up-and-comer Dom Rochelle (dude’s gonna be an animal in about 3 games)! Overall, it was a very spirited game and I think both teams did a good job of trying to work the disc through the newer players. Personal thanks to my man Chris Falk for explaining the rules to Dom on the last point after what probably should have been a turnover.
Yellow Shoutouts:
• It’s always a pleasure to see and play against my boy Drew Ward. He may claim he’s out of shape but the dude was cutting just as much as he used to and was annoying as ever to cover.
• Newcomer Jacob Schwack was instrumental in the movement of Yellow’s offense, always seeming to have a mismatch with his pre-league disc knowledge. Look for him to be a key piece in the future for Yellow.
• Lastly, biggest shoutout to Sara Schladant for being the only woman on her team. It always hurts me to see that happen to women at league but Sara always had a smile on her face and even though she’s brand, got the disc multiple times. Can’t wait to see how you improve over the season Sara!
White Shoutouts:
• It was an absolute pleasure to have my old captain, Andrew Pla, back on the field this past weekend! He did a great job at whatever position we put him in, on O or D, even though he’s been out of the game for 5 years! Great job man and I can’t wait for you to get fully back into the swing of things so we can crush together again like the old days!
• Mike (Dan) Tomaino is a new comer to league but you wouldn’t know it based on how sick he is at defense! He comes up to me on the line and goes, “Hey I want that guy,” and proceeds to point at Kevin Switzer. Thinking it couldn’t hurt since it’s the first game of league I tell him sure and tell him a couple tips on how to play proper defense. This man KILLED it and did a fantastic job of guarding Switzer and this was his FIRST LEAGUE GAME EVER. The dude takes instruction very well and has legs for dayyyysss. So excited to have him on the team!
• Honestly, all 3 of my shoutouts could go to all of the Switzer’s on my team for this game but I think I’m gonna give this week’s to Van. I feel like every time I see this kid he’s taller and more athletic looking than the last time I saw him and I’m happy to report that it’s translating over to Ultimate. Van finished the day with a plus/minus of +6 across the stat board, most notably with 3 D’s! He’s already messing with the team great and I’m curious to see exactly how high he’s going to go this season.