Mid Season Retrospective: Part 2

After a chilly weekend in columbus, the gobies were ready for what would turn out to be the biggest tournament of the season. Case's home tournament, NorthCoast saw the gobies split into A and B teams. This is Case A's story (much love to my b-team brethern though, I was with you last year)

North Coast

Case Western:15 Cincinnati: 7Though this wasn't quite the Cincinnati team that case would see later in the season, the Gobies came out strong against Cinci, and rolled off several breaks in a row before ceding a point. The gobies took care of business early.

Case Western: 12 Calvin 10
The wind decided to pick up against an athletic team from Calvin College. After pulling ahead initially, Case trailed for most of the game, and Calvin took half 8-7. Zone defense was the name of the game. Calvin threw a tight zone against Case, took issue to quite a few of our travel calls. When the goby zone made its debut against Calvin, double teams were called once again. There were even a few heated disputes over the intricacies of the rule book. Kevin Pochatila was seen in a rare moment of hot headedness, and was overheard to say "i can react to whatever the fuck i want to" after some of the finer points of cup-collapsing were discussed. Both sides cooled off, and case eventually pulled away for the win. The highlight of the game, and possibly the tournament was Jason Williams' layout Callahan to break Calvin, and essentially put the game away

Case Western: 12 Bowling Green: 9
Case Was still riding high off of the excitement of the Calvin Game, the gobies failed to bring the intensity against BG. The penguins brought a collection of alumni, and luckily case was able to hold off the wily veterans long enough to secure the victor

Case Western A: 15 Case Western B: 3
Several members of Case B played well. Old man lehman led the charge and helped case B score 3 points. Strong efforts by colin morlock and justin michel were seen as well

Day 2

Case Western A: 13 Shawnee State: 11

Shawnee was a first year team with a "few" pickups from the cleveland club scene. Understandably, they were more than a challenge for the gobies. However, Case was beyond pumped for this game. Not a single goby was ready to surrender their undefeated Northcoast record to shawnee, and it showed. Several early breaks, along with solid deep D's by jason williams and jared VanLandingham set the tone for the Case, and the gobies rushed the field after nearly every point

Case Western A: 13 Kent State: 10

This would be the "game of the tournament". Unfortunately, Case Went down big to a tough Kent zone run. I believe kent took half 8-3 However, the gobies got their stuff in order, and won the second half by a margin of 10-2. Solid play by mike macdonald, and former captain alex hunt (the cupbreaker), along with clutch d's all around helped stir the comeback. The best sight of the weekend were the crowds of gobies at the line itching to play and get a D.

Case Western A: 9 Ohio University:15

The only loss of the weekend came in the finals. OU certainly looked like one of the best teams in the section with their split team performance at NorthCoast. However, Kevin Vick was a bright spot, with approximately 4 skying scores which typically featured him beasting over a crowed of OU players. Almost all the scores took place right in front of his girlfriend. I think it goes without saying that case's big man also scored some major points with the ladies with his high altitude showing

Overall Northcoast was a great tournament, and showed some encouraging results. As always, much could be improved, but it was one of Case's best Northcoast showings in recent years

-Kevin

Mid-Season Retrospective Part 1

I know what you're thinking

"damn Kevin its been a long time since we got to read your blog stylings"

well everyone needs a break, and I figured I should focus on my in-season thrashing instead of in-season blogging.

but heres a little look back for everyone, tournament-by-tournament


Ohio State Fall Brawl
ooooh man, Case Western on the big stage in columbus ohio. Many gobies found lodging the night before with alumnus Matt "Wendy" Lehman, where they watched the fast and the furious 3 (tokyo drift), and gleaned wisdom such as "the nail that sticks out gets hammered" which would surely help them on the field the next day.
With fresh new hoodies helping them sport a fresh look, the gobies took the field flush with expectation and excitement.

certainly there were highs and lows. Armed with a mixed squad of rookies and veterans, many young gobies got to see what stiff competition is really like. throw in even stiffer wind, and near freezing temperatures... well youve got a recipe for a hard day (thats what she said). However solid effort and gutsy play prevented any such disasters

Day 1:
Michigan Magnum Reserve-Win
Despite a lot of early mistakes, and admittedly bad offside infractions, the gobies overcame an early deficit to beat a spirited Michigan team. Gabe, "rapidash" Dash comes up with one of the more memorable scores of the year

Manchester-Win
Manchester was a team that liked to play physical. Sometimes that means not ceding cutting lanes. other times that diving headfirst into a cutter 5 seconds after he caught the disc. Ok, the dudes from manchester were generally pretty spirited, but there were a few times we feared for our lives. Nonetheless we overcame another early deficit, and quite a few mental mistakes to take the win

Kent State-Win
Kent Stat brought some good competition to Columbus, and played a hard-fought game. Thanks to some critical defense by duncan davis (footblocks and foul recognition), jason williams (layouts), and kevin vick (pwning noobs with his height), case pulled out the victory

Va Tech-Loss
Virginia tech is a very good team. The gobies did not play like a very good team against them. Enough Said

Tennessee-Loss
This was a slightly more positive loss to a high-caliber opponent. Case preformed quite well against a very tight zone, and was able to put up a decent number of points on the scoreboard. Even in a loss, its always satisfying to see a high-level opponent get frustrated when you move the disc on them

Day 2:

Miami-Loss
We scored an upwind break for the first point of the game, but showed little signs of life thereafter. Troubled by turnovers near our own end zone against the miami zone, Case lost this game big. I think Kevin threw a massive full field huck to ed for a score. but whatever. dunno if anybody saw that. well maybe the crowd of case ladies who came over to watch, but yeah, no big deal

Toledo-Loss
This loss hurt. Toledo has been bringing their A-game all season, and despite some effective disc movement, we were plagued by drop after drop. Also the wind sucked, and certainly never helped us. Even the massively intimidating 3/4 field huck off the pull from Ed to Kevin on the first play of the game failed to establish a rhythm


Ohio Northern-Loss
File this one under "moral victory". After giving up a sizeable early lead, Case put the clamps on defense with a new zone scheme, and nearly pulled off an epic comeback due in part to the brief return of their captain, mike macdonald to the field. Mac made a brilliant layout to tie the game and bring it to universe, but the gobies came up just short on the final point. Still, Cases ability to activate shut down defense and close a multiple-point deficit was certainly something good to take from the game

Overall, a fun tournament. Lots of hard play, but also too many mistakes, and a lot of places to make improvements

-Kevin