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Written by 808
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Wednesday, 04 June 2008 |
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YR went into weekend with 21 eager faces ranked 7th out of 10 in the most competitive Cal States field to date. Several tryouts from SoCal also made the drive to beautiful Santa Cruz to be met with sunny skies and the breathtaking ocean view from the fields.  With Saturday games again Last Call, Revolver, Sockeye Y, and Furious George, the young bay area team had its work cut out for it from the very first pull.
After being down at half to Last Call from San Diego the YR boys rallied strong to win the second half and the game at 16-14 overtime. A huge layout D by Robot saved the game. The team had its sights on upsetting cross-bay opponent Revolver, who had just lost a tough game to the split Sockeye squad. Not having an answer for Revolver's deep game, YR falls 10-14. The next game against Sockeye Y saw the team struggle against their aggressive zone defense and fast-break transitioning to a 4-15 loss. With Revolver upsetting Furious, if YR could beat Furious they would earn a spot in the A bracket and knock Furious out.
The last game of the day against Vancouver's Furious saw the O line send confident shots deep and the D lines forcing multiple turnovers and punching some in for crucial breaks. Up 8-5 at half (with the O-line having zero turns), the team looked to finish the second half strong, but stumbled a bit by giving a few breaks back to the Furious junk defense. The game went down to the wire as a sizable crowd gathered to watch the last game of the day at the downstairs field. Chants of "USA, USA" could be heard from the parking lot. When the last disc was caught it saw Furious come out on top with a 15-13 victory. The end of the day huddle to recap the day saw no frowns though, the team was excited about their performance against the previous World Champion.
Day 2 only promised two games in the consolation bracket but YR resolved to win out and leave no doubt on the field that they deserved to be there. Taking a commanding lead to half against L.A. Monster with an inspiring Callahan goal by Cody only left YR hungry for more as they closed the game with a 15-9 win. Over on the next field San Diego United beat Last Call handily 15-7 to set up the finals of the consolation bracket. Knowing their propensity to send deep shots from their split-stack offense, our defensive lines held strong and closed down the air. SDU threw zone to attempt to slow down the O line only to see  aggressive popping and over the top scoobers and hammers to close the game and the tournament out with a 15-11 victory. With confident wins against 3 other established programs, YR looks poised to breakout into the elite club scene this season after holding seed at Cal States. Roster spots will be finalized this week and the team will have two weekends before heading to Eugene for the Elite division of Summer Solstice XXX.
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