DAY 2 Recap - Running Riot, Pt. 2, The Championship Version

(Ghetto-A, Championship Warm-up, OWU 2008)

As Saturday night began to fall, it was apparent that the OWU EMR Memorial Tournament would be a quick proving ground for many of the section's teams.

That being said, it was also apparent that one team took feelings, emotions, and the like, into absolutely no consideration.

As Saturday closed, Dayton's Ghetto Force proved their worth by absolutely crushing their pool, and earning the coveted first round bye on Championship Sunday.

Dayton-B, as mentioned in Saturday's article, struggled with some fundamental issues, and couldn't consistently get points to connect across the day. However, the successes of Ghetto-B were a plenty. With progress in handling and cutting readily apparent, Dayton-B's record wasn't the main factor...the real point was to give guys a chance to shine and really have some strong on field time.

With Sunday morning rolling around, Ghetto-B had a Pre-Quarters play in game against a gun-slinging Rochester squad, fresh off the road from the big NY. Utilizing two big play handlers and wealth of strong offensive cutters, Rochester put a pretty strong hurt on Dayton-B. Nonetheless, the value of getting guys on the field, against a very capable opponent, is immense.

Post the loss to Rochester, the Dayton-B squad took on another highly capable Eastern Michigan team. With a wealth of talent and experience, EMU would prove to again be a very challenging opponent. Though Ghetto-B may have been handed a loss by the Hellfish, they proved to their captains and themselves, that they have a load of heart, and all the workings to become a truly strong Ultimate team.

El Capitan, Patricio Del Toro, had nothing but positives to harp on after the weekend. Dealing with injuries and playing in harsh conditions are no easy task, but Ghetto-B battled to the end, and had a wealth of time on the field....both very important to the program. As Pat said, the team kept spirits up, fought hard, and though the W-L column maybe wasn't what everyone had wanted, the tournament did exactly what it was supposed to do. Get guys on the field, and let them showcase their skills.

With tenacity and strength, the squad fought the whole weekend...and that's what Dayton Ultimate is all about. As a program continually evolving and becoming better known on the national scene (as we will address more later!), it's absolutely imperative for the program to develop strong, young talent. And, on the whole, this weekend was a success on every front. To have a group of hungry guys fighting on Dayton-B, elevates the level of the entire program. It elevates intensity, furthers program growth, and shows everyone in the area (and beyond) that Dayton Ultimate is the real deal.

And, on that note, Dayton-A felt the hot breath of the Dayton-B, and responded by absolutely pounding the crap out of every team....(for an understatement, see previous sentence)

With the glorious OWU Wooden Paddle at stake, every Ghetto-A player arrived at the fields hungry to continue chewing up opponents and spitting them onto the ice and slush ridden pitch. With the domination of its pool, Dayton-A was afforded the chance to rest late and take advantage of the Pre-Quarters bye. Arriving for the Quarterfinals, Dayton-A began to look back on the day before. Reminiscing on Saturday's whoopings proved to be enjoyable for all to speak about. That was until team leader, Dan Simon, stepped up and spoke some serious words:

"We can't focus on yesterday. Today is a new day."

He couldn't have been more right. And with the desire to come to the fields with a broken cheek bone (mad ballerness), just to cheer on his teammates, everyone listened and obliged. As Pre-Quarters slowly came to a close, the team ran, threw, and stretched. Having the chance to think of more teams being served up as delicious sacrifices, only whetted the palates of the Dayton-A squad more.

Leading the rallying cry was Captain Corc, who stressed that we come out of the gates hard (go figure), and continue to feast on the OATBAG. Ironically, the most motivating quote of the early morning, came from a Hope College player (they'd be Ghetto's first opponent of the day). As Ghetto watched Hope's Pre-Quarters game finish, a Hope player relayed a humorous quote:

"Yea, the games tied, neither of our teams can score up-wind...so, yea, that's kinda how it's going to be today on this field."

Relieving Evan of his Moron status, will be the dude that offered up this quote. He would be the first of many to earn the highly sought after Noob Stamp. He earned the Mega Noob Stamp minutes later (after he won the flip), as he absurdly chose to start facing upwind. Ah-buh? Cheers to you, Mr. Hope-College-Can't-Score-Upwind-Quote-Guy.

Dayton, reveling in the thought of a team that couldn't score upwind, decided to come out hot and show this Hope team their tournament time would quickly come to a close.

With a voracious hunger for the OATBAG, the Ghetto O and D lines decided to begin feasting early...starting the game on an 8-0 run to take half. Including the end of play on Saturday, this half officially brought Ghetto Force to a 24 point run without giving up a score.

The second half was all of same, except for some Hope noobs wising up and scoring two points. Nonetheless, not much joy could be sufficed from Hope's two scores, and the game quickly finished 15-2, with Ghetto trouncing all of their.....uh, hope.

Ghetto, as it was the theme for every game, found they had finished off their opponent well before the rest of the field. Thus, the Force had to sit idly to find out who would be next on the offering table.

As Ghetto-B found out early in the day, the Rochester team had brought some serious players, and had quickly finished off their first two opponents of the day. This meant, that as their Quarterfinals game against OSU-B came to a wrap, they would make the dreaded Burma Road march over to Dayton's field of feasting.

Rochester, who was quickly sized up as perhaps the best opponent Dayton had faced on the weekend, showed strengths in the areas of handling and disc movement. It would be the first time Ghetto Force would be tested over the weekend, as the Semifinals would not be decided easily.

At least, that's was what we thought. Coming out with the hype and adrenaline pumping, Ghetto rolled the Monster-fueled Pain Train into town by leveling Rochester 8-0 in the first half, and again, bringing home the OATBAG in the first half. Hoover, having the best start of his life, used his Cactus Bomb cleats to pick up 6 assists in the first 8 points, giving Mark Latta a semi. Continuing the killtastic rampage, second half highlights included Foor bringing a sick layout D against two grumbling opponents. And, as if the destruction wasn't enough, Goose, Corbizzle, and The Name Brand began Air Alerting the Ho - big time. So much so, Brentastic dealt so many Deep Deep D's that everyone lost track of the final tally, (though we'd guess it to be between 10-15). Kid Ic chipped in a sick score-saving layout on a wind drifting disc intended for Mark Anderson, firing up the sidelines and further punishing the score. This only helped topple the Rochester beast, and further Dayton's unreal momentum. Rochester, realizing it was done for, decided to make a final stand, scoring it's only point in the game when Dayton reached 14...leaving Dayton OATBAG-less in the second half, closing out the game 15-1, and without the desired OATBAGel.

Nonetheless, Ghetto had done everything it had planned on doing. Step 1, win the pool. Step 2, put your junk in the box. Step 3, make it to the Championship Game. And that's the way you do it!

However, all of Ghetto was just a smidge surprised how everything had come about. A 52-7 point differential on Day 1 was certainly impressive, but was part of the team's goal for pool play. Continuing it into the Championship Game, at a whopping 82-10 point diff, surprised even some of the Ghetto-A players. Not to mention, that word had spread about how bad the beatings had been, and everyone knew that Dayton came to win and meant business (as well as meant to give the business).

Finishing the Semi (not to be confused with keeping a semi) in quick fashion, Dayton again had to sit, and wait, and wait. The other Semifinal, between OWU and Case Western, seemed to drag on and on, till finally, just after the hard cap sounded, CWR took the game 13-12. Leaving Ghetto just one final opponent, the Case Fighting Gobies (who lost the worst team name battle to the OWU Firedogs) in the Championship.

Since Ghetto had roughly an hour and fifteen minutes to watch some of the other Semifinal and prep for the Championship, the dirty dozen (or so) left standing, took full advantage and got a lengthy warm up and toss in prior to the start of the game. Case, all the while, had to pack things up quickly and mull over to the lion's den to start the final. As all the onlookers could tell, Dayton's legs had yet to be tested, and in the case of taking the field, it was obvious one team was ready to take the Championship.

Starting downwind on O, Ghetto received the pull, and in a matter of moments (probably no more than 20 seconds) had worked it with ease into the endzone. As had been the case all weekend, Dayton relished playing defense and brought the punishing Zone-D and rattled off the next two breaks by getting turns and working the scores to Gieseapalooza. Dayton, unable to comprehend anything other than utter annihilation, pressured more and more, taking the first 6 Championship points, without fail. Dayton pieced together more d's and offense by working swiftly to an 8-1 half.

It was everything Ghetto had worked for, all coming into place. With a Chuck Norris Roundhouse kick-sized first half, Ghetto knew the Championship was in reach, and firmly set eyes on victory. Halftime was built on forceful words from Papa Corc and Coack Pak, focused on getting back out there and driving the game home. To keep the energy up, Ghetto players devoured purple Monster and some big helpings of hater-tots before taking the field with vengeance.

Starting with the same pattern, Ghetto scored early, and often, bringing the game to 11-1. Then, to the surprise of all, something happened. Case began to fight back, taking two points in a row (the first team to take two in a row from Ghetto, the entire tournament). Corcoran, appalled by Dayton's tomfoolery, insisted that the massacre must continue, and no time could be spared.

Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Papa Corc unleashed all his fury in the form of a full field flick to none other than the Name Brand. In doing so, the duo lit the fire again, producing instant hunger for carnage throughout the entire team.

Hungry for blood, Mark Anderson brought his D game, finding layout sexiness in every corner of the field, producing turn, after turn, after turn, from the zone mid mid position. Combined with the offensive prowess of the handlers, mixed with the desire to score from everyone (did anyone see Evan streaking deep?) the whole unit was hungry to be the one to finish off the bloodbath.

And, as if written, the finish proved to be picture perfect. Coming back to the field against doctor's orders, Joe Bayer entered the game for the final points, accompanied by his 8, "Pain Level 4" stitches, sewn just above his left eye. Ready to rock, Darth Bayder enlisted all of his Darkside Jedi Powers into finishing the tournament...which he aptly did, reeling in the final two scores of the day, leading Ghetto to a 15-4 Championship victory.

Lets just face it. Ghetto Force came to win the OWU tournament, and anything less would have been a complete failure.

Producing an astonishing 97-14 point differential, Ghetto came, saw, and pwn'd.

In all truth, it wasn't the best competition, however, the teams were solid Sectional opponents, and Ghetto did everything it was supposed to do. With wins over area competitors, Ghetto strove to make a statement, and in the winning style used, made a serious impression.

OWU, who, as I called days ago, ignorantly knighted themselves as the #1 seed in the tournament, didn't even make it to the Championship game. And in losing by one point, watched the team they lost to, go on and get punished 15-4. OWU will never have us back for anything again, calling it right now.

It was everything Ghetto Force had wanted, and in many ways, everything Ghetto Force expects. The best teams know they go into every game looking to pounce, and not let up, until the game is done. And with a program on the rise, it was exactly what Dayton did all weekend.

As the season goes on, Dayton will only see better competition (Boogie Nights, Roll Call, etc.) and needs to realize that this obliteration is just a step, and isn't going to be the foundation for bragging rights.

Ghetto Force is becoming what everyone wants it to be, a Regional contender and consistent threat, but we're not there yet. There is much work to be done, and the focus, drive, and intensity, must continue.

Great weekend Ghetto - across the board. From the bottom to the top, effort was huge in all facets and the Championship Paddle is a prize for the entire program. Let this be a focal point for when the practices are hard and morale is down. This is what we want to happen every weekend, and if that's going to happen, this is just the first piece in the puzzle.

Keep up the outstanding work, and lets keep this rolling!

Ghetto Force

The Ohio Wesleyan University Evan
Matthew Reas Memorial
2008 Tournament Champions