Apologies, I should write these more quickly… Individual details are a bit slim…
Both teams came into this game missing some handlers with green missing Logan Diehl and Ben Stone and us missing G and Tom Brown. Green was also down a pint of Nathan’s blood which may have cost him a half-step. Both teams brought a lot of energy from the start but not so much efficiency. At the start of the game, our season-long struggle with drops continued and green capitalized. With green up 5 to 2, Bonnie suggested we all start chugging beers for drops. Well, it turns out my team hates booze because I don’t remember any more drops after that. We started holding on offense and getting D’s and breaks on defense and ended up taking half 8 to 7. The rest of the game had plenty of back and forth with green taking a lead 10 to 9 then 11 to 10 before we held and broke to take the lead 12 to 11. From there neither team broke again until we were tied up at 13s. After an efficient O point, we got another turn (or maybe more than one, I think I threw Sam out the back of the endzone?) and converted with a pass to Davis in the endzone to finish the game 15 to 13.
A few highlights from green: Chris Bailey was everywhere on offense and defense and got multiple big D’s where he came from out of position to beat players on unders and deeps. Nathan powered through his blood loss and, while he looked a little slower, his throws were consistent and he still managed to get D’s. Tom and Tommy both had big plays from handle space and I remember a couple particularly good big backhand hucks from Tom. Ani had big pulls; I thought she would be a favorite going into the pull contest.
Coral seems to be coming together. We had a lot of D’s spread around: Trey led with 5, Sam had 4, and Dre and Davis picked up 3 apiece. Dre was also very consistent in the handling space. Summer had a memorable play where she dove for a catch then almost gave me a heart attack when she zipped an impressive flick dump back to me while still on her knees. Jeffrey, Sam and Davis all spread the field well and generated a lot of offense and Sam in particular made some great cuts and catches that I don’t know if he could have done at the beginning of the summer. Steven may have done other things, but I remember him throwing two very nice hucks to me including one full field backhand that settled in the endzone over my defender for an easy run through catch.
Overall, this was a fun, spirited game with a lot of back and forth. It’s been fun to see our team start to gel and develop chemistry; I don’t think we would have won this game at the beginning of the season. Coral is heading into quarters against blue down at least G and Davis. Fortunately, blue is also down Baghya. I expect a tight game in quarters that ultimately comes down to universe point, which Coral will score, winning 15 to 14 to advance to semis.