Holy smokes, y’all, I was NOT read to play no subs in our first double header, but I somehow STILL managed to have a blast, and I’m so friggin’ proud of my team for powering through both games. We had only 5 to start, in the first game – although we quickly got to 6 when Manny arrived a little late. In the second game, Zachelle was nice enough to allow us to pick up the one and only Samwise “Wizard Hands” Lovelace so we were able to play with 7 in our second game until about halftime when we lost our high school star Jeremy to an early departure for…. something (he told me what it was, but I was so tired I could barely see straight – so my memory is a little foggy).
On that note, I’m going to do my damndest for a concise and accurate report, but it’s, frankly, all a bit of a blur and overshadowed by me endeavoring to not collapse from exhaustion. So…. onto the first game!
Our team, currently adopting the moniker of Bennifer (it’s a placeholder, but who ISN’T psyched about Ben and JLo getting back together!?), showed some impressive heart in game 1 and, amazingly, was able to pull off a W against a VERY deep squad in Jukebox. Sometimes it feels like when you have the same people on the field the whole game, you start to really understand your teammates strengths (and limitations) and find a way to make it work with a smaller group of people.
On the flip side, Jukebox did an absolutely AMAZING job of getting their full squad out on the field for plenty of playing time, and getting everyone involved in every point and touching the disc. They took some ill-advised risks – Joe MIGHT have been our MVP, as he gave us a few turns by throwing it out the back of the endzone/OB – love you, brother 😉 – and had a few silly drops, and, at the end of the day, we were able to capitalize on those and barely edge them out in the end.
I want to give a HUGE shout out to their female matching players. They were doing an incredible job of spreading the field, making perfect cuts, and giving the team room and targets to move the disc, and were, really, just everywhere, making us have to work extra hard with a person down. The Bennifer’s Fabulous Player award goes to Ellie for chasing down every ill-advised throw Joe threw at her (whether or not it was going to to stay in bounds).
On to Game 2! Zachelle AKA Workshop has a VERY solid squad, and, it probably goes without saying but, we were pretty tapped out by Game 2. Our team was given a shot of life by the fresh legs and sure hands of Sam Lovelace, but it simply wasn’t enough to overwhelm the impeccable handling and textbook cutting/disc movement of our opponents. Michelle, Zach, Adub, and Mills were an incredibly solid line of hands behind the disc and kept our team chasing them all over the field (while running on fumes), and we simply couldn’t find a way to stop them. We managed to punch in a few points and make them (kinda?) work for their offensive points, but, in the end, we were simply outmatched in this second game. Bennifer’s Fabulous Player aware goes to Kay for her absolutely perfect hands and sick cutting. ALL of Zachelle’s squad was doing an amazing job of getting open and giving their incredibly accurate handlers good targets, but I specifically remember a few plays where the throw was NOT an easy catch and Kay still brought it in. BRAVO, Workshop. Looking forward to our next matchup when we’re hopefully a little closer to full strength.
Bennifer’s Self Aggrandizing Fabulous award goes to JIGGINS! Holy heck, I’ve never played with Jenny before, but she was a friggin’ FORCE, yesterday, and was worth around 2.5 to 3 players. I want to also just say thank you to my squad again, for toughing out both games and giving it their all. Sometimes these days when you’re really short on players can be a bit demoralizing, but we kept it fun, gave it our best efforts, and I think a great time was had by our team and our opponents alike! See you all next week =)