Welcome BACK to the Insect Insider, I’m your host, Jess! On today’s segment, myself and my wonderful co-host Nathan will be joining forces yet again to bring you up-to-date (ish) coverage of the second Spwinter League double header.
After our week off enjoying spring break, half our caterpillar swarm were still in beach mode and/or sick from too much fun in the sun so we went into our double header with, one substitute. I look over at the Hornets, and think, “oh poop”, they are a stacked team with plenty of fresh wings to come in and hit us with their stingers at any point.
We start on D and as we barely inch our way up the field, Ben gets the disc. His first and only look is down field, and we just see Mo just zooming straight to the end zone. Ben hits him in stride with a gorgeous throw for the opening score. I think, “oh poop” again as we crawl to the opposite end of the field having just got stung big time by the hornets. Our first offensive point steady and clean with a crisp throw from Steven to Andrew in the end zone. Andrew in the first half was open all game and racked up most of our first half scores, darting the murderous stingers of the Hornets defense. Sad his camping trip was cancelled, but glad he was able to play with us! After a long 5th point (with turns and D’s from both teams), we managed to break the hornets and, channeling TK’s refined taste for a high completion record, managed to not turn the disc after that point. With some sick D’s from Nathan, Bradley, and Andrew, the Cattys were able to break the Hornets several times leading us into half 6-3!
Sipping my water at half, and catching my breath, I notice something. Beyond the horizon in a bright green shirt comes Jim Davis. I think “oh poop”, again. The Murderous Hornets have fresh legs, and a Jim Davis for the second half of this showdown.
We get back on the line, we come out on O. Ben pulls and Brad catches… Jk. Brad does not catch the disc. I’m running full speed down the field on the home side wing, and I hear Emory yell “oh s***, Brad dropped it” followed by the most accurate statement I’ve ever heard to describe a drop – “That’s Baaaaaad”. Ben got a huge smile on his face and said “That’s an ace!” before turning the momentum back on us and scoring. New point, fresh slate, new opportunity, right? Wrong, a skilled foot block from Tommy put us on defense again and made Brad sad for the second time in a five-minute interval. The Cattys switch again to defensive mode and completely block the endzone, taking Ben to stall 9 before he managed to put it in the corner for a great catch by Tommy. I think again, “oh, poop”.
An endzone Drop from Nathan, and some great D’s from the Hornets bring them up to 6-6. More thoughts of poop are going through my head; maybe I needed the bathroom excessively this game. The Hornets stop one of our plays and are back on O. Brandon throws the disc to an open Summer in the end zone, but out of nowhere, Jenny darts in and runs through D’s the disc to the ground, giving us the opportunity to hold this point. We manage to hold serve right to universe. After handling/playing pop’s most of the game, I decided to make a huge cut for Nathan, he puts it, and I catch it just inches from the endzone. Summer is already around me, but fortunately, she is not stalling me giving me time to center and set myself. I try not to panic and lock eyes on Brad, dish him a very wobbly flick, he catches, falls, rolls around some, keeps the disc up, it’s a score! We won on another universe point!
After that stressful game and a great almost comeback from the hornets, we had to rehydrate and move fields to our next game against the Dragonflies. To tell you all about that one, here’s Nathan!!!!!
Thanks Jess!! With the thought of poop now securely embedded in your brains, we bring you coverage of game two against the Dragonflies
Even before the game began, we gained two key advantages: Zach Schira, fresh off his bike problems, and Shea Butter, fresh off of a 10-hour drive from Key West. As the Ultimate sages say, “Mo subs, less problems”. With a newfound energy and subs (YAY SUBS!!!) we were ready to face off against the Dragonflies
As we lined up, the strategic part of my brain began to tick. Having narrowly won last time on universe, I knew this wasn’t a team to take lightly. Maybe I’ve finally learned my lesson about never being comfortable against any team this season. They pulled, we caught, and they immediately threw a zone, which threw me for a loop, since it had been several weeks (WEEKS!!) since I’d played zone offense. But luckily our handlers know zones like a caterpillar knows its favorite leaves, and pivoted flawlessly (both physically and mentally), starting smooth series of swings and scoobers. (Although sadly their zone looked a lot less tall without the striking presence of KJ. Hope you feel better soon KJ! We miss you out here!!)
There were lots of sure and steady caterpillar hands in this game. Extra extra kudos to Zach and Andrew for scoring three points apiece in this game, courtesy of hammers from TK, Steven, and Brad. Not once did the receivers’ hands falter when a throw twisted in (as if they had dozens of tiny hands ready to grab on to the disc). Huge shout out as well to Jess and Jiggins, our only FMPs today who played every point, ground grass to dust with their cuts, and absolutely dominated the middles of our zone offense. Honestly, a general shout out to every caterpillar for good catches, lots of patience and good dumps (luckily they were better this game. Feel free to scroll back up to the last game to re-visit the bad ones). We played a very high completion game (much to TK’s pleasure) and held up decently well against some of the faster members of the D-flies (I’m lookin at y’all Aaron Colverson, Matt Henry, Reagan, Judah, Devon…heck, all y’all are fast…stop it…I get pooped just thinking about it)
On the D-flies side, I saw stupendous effort from the cutters. Every cut was with 150% speed, far ahead of the marks, the catches were on point, and the offensive momentum was consistently high. Regan, Devon, Judah, Clea, and Matt Henry were slicing up the middle, and try as we might to plug the holes, the D-fly offense would not be stopped. With Tom, Aaron, and special guest star Jared moving the disc, they scored again and again with both speed and style.
The game went back and forth, each teams scoring most of their offensive drives and gaining one break each. In the end, it came down to universe with the Catties on O. We worked it back and forth and up and down until flashing through the leaves Steven snagged a strike cut inches over the goal line for the win
On a quick personal note, I learned some new Ultimate vocabulary words: First, “on serve” does not mean on offense, in fact it is a descriptive term that means both teams have scored the same amount of break points (it took several times of using it incorrectly for my team to uh…point me in the right direction. The second word, courtesy of TK, was “wormburner”, which if you think about it, is exactly what it sounds like: a disc that streaks across the dirt leaving all the worms as toasty crisps.
Hopefully we’ve provided you with some great coverage, content, and left you with the distinct thought of poop in this segment of Insect Insiders. Pending League board decision making, you may see us again next week for our final episode with coverage of an impromptu double header!!! Signing off for now, we are Jess and Nathan, may your leaves always be green and make sure to take a little bit of every leaf with you. You never know when you might get hungry. Byeeeeee!!!!!!!