Captain's Log: 61107

Captain's Log: 61107

The Chad Larson Eggs-perience rolled through Raper country over the weekend (that's Tom Raper country, proud owner of Raper RV center near Indianapolis) on the way to Versailles, Ohio. This Chad team was a little lighter than previous years, as we had 11 guys/6 ladies, a little lower than the 22+ we usually have.

Playing as CLX, the team had a combined 12-0 record in Saturday play. Sunday's record a miserable 0-3. We knew our pool would be somewhat easy, and started out accordingly.

Saturday had us playing Cooler by the Lake, an Ohio State alum team, a Chicago team, and some other team I didn't know. We got scored on a total of 14 times on the day. 13-3, 13-4, 13-4, 13-3. Kind of a boring day. Tried to remember to sit in the shade a lot. Not a whole lot of memories about Saturday, there was some great play and some very sloppy play. Surprise!

Late Saturday night we found out we would play Team USDA, the same team that had knocked us out of the tournament the two previous years. We started out strong, with great defense, and rolled to a 7-3 halftime lead. Second half was more of the same, except for a small glitch in the middle where we let them score a couple in a row. I believe the final score was 13-8. The monkey is off our backs!

Next game, we played what somebody said was a Rare Air/Truck Stop combo team. These guys had just played a double game point against an Oklahoma Alumni team and we were able to watch the last couple of points. We quickly fell behind 1-4, but stormed back to take half 8-5, I think? Second half, more of the same, and I believe we won 13-7 or 8. They started making some major mistakes near the endzone, giving us short fields.

In semis, we played a Wisconsin/Colorado Alumni team. This team was certainly the best we've played in Poultry Days history with Andrew Brown, Tyson Park, Rodrigo Valdivia, Jim Foster, Richter, Adam Simon, Jolian Dahl, Drew Mahowald, among others. I guess I don't know any of their ladies, nor where they came from. I think our team was a little anxious about the game, because we dropped a lot of passes in the first half that were perfect chest high passes. The game was more contested, with more defensive layouts, and even though we weren't getting blocked, I think the potential for getting D'd was there in our heads, causing us to simply drop the passes. We trail at half 3-7. We fight back to 7-9 and have many opportunities to score, but drop some scores and overthrow receivers. The play is fairly frantic at this point. Instead of 8-9, it's 7-10, and we have to score upwind. I forgot the next sequence of points, but the game gets to 11-12, but they don't turn and win 11-13. Kind of a bummer that we played so poorly in the first half, but it was a great game to play. I always thought that Poultry Days finals was something that CLX couldn't really make, but here we were just 2 points from finals, and we could have played well enought to win. It was a pleasant surprise.

-Lana was playing great, especially on Sunday. She just kept making the same cut off the back of the stack and repeatedly getting open, even catching some passes that were difficult to grab. Her play was a big reason we stayed in the game.

-Joe Brisbois and Matt Ellsworth contributed some bigtime defense over the weekend. It's going to be great having those two on the same defensive line for The Van Buren Boys. Matt was a player that I wasn't even sure I wanted on the team, but even in the last two months, he has improved tremendously. I'm eager to see how Boston goes for him, when we have a number of tough games and players to guard.

-Dave was throwing fairly well through Sunday's games, but it looked like he was getting tired by the third game, a thought which he offered up after the game. He was hucking as well as ever for 2.5 games there. A number of first or second throw hucks for scores, which was just crushing other teams' defensive spirits. The Wiscolorado team was freaking out about him every time he had the disc. "He's going to run! He's going to run after he throws it! Make sure he doesn't huck!" Funny stuff.

-Jenny played great on Saturday, catching a number of scores and getting some deflections up in the air on defense. Seemingly tireless, she would D a score on one end of the field and be catching a score unguarded on the other end of the field seconds later. I think she was a little outmatched against Sunday's women, but she will be a great contributor to One Trick Pony.

-Jon Staron is one tough dude. There, I said it. He always injured, yet plays so solid. He'd probably make a good soldier. Tough as nails, with a nearly unflappable demeanor and confidence on the field, yet he knows his limits, and doesn't let his confidence convince him to make mistakes.

I'll write about my own progress later. It's lunchtime.

This tournament was a lot of fun and the most competitive we've been at a Poultry Days tournament. It could go down as my favorite one, but I'd have to do some reflection. I didn't participate in too many off-field activities. No drinking, I apparently missed out on karaoke by going to bed early, and wasn't there for Friday night festivities, arriving at 4:15 in morning.

I'm all the more excited for practice this weekend. And Boston in less than two weeks now.