This past weekend, UGA's Jojah upended Michigan State's Burning Couch in the championship game to take the title. In a weekend where most things did not go to plan, we were able to focus on our goal, which was to put ourselves in a position to win a championship. This is the third time in four years that Jojah has won this tournament. Last year, we won this tournament only to go 0-8 at the Stanford Invite. We hope history does not repeat itself.
Jojah alumnus, Alex Deckard, made the trip up to Charlotte to observe the team. Thank you Alex for coming up and supporting your team. It made a huge difference.
Here's a brief recap of the tournament :
FRIDAY NIGHT
5 Hotel rooms, 10 beds, only 11 players and 2 coaches. Most of our team was back in Athens waiting around until the roads cleared up. We also learned that our pool had a team dropped, so we had a 4 team pool while the other pools had 5 team.
SATURDAY
We were supposed to start our first round at 9 am. The start time was pushed back until 11 am so the fields could thaw. We got to the fields and saw that they were covered in about 2 inches of snow. So much for letting them thaw.
East Carolina Irates - East Carolina beat us in Clemson, SC, so we wanted to avenge that loss. We started the game with 11 players because the other cars were either late or had a blown tire. ECU took half on us by about 3 breaks. By about halftime, the rest of our team started showing up, but with very little warm up. At the end of the game, the last car showed up, and Jojah had finally arrived, only to lose this one 10-8. ECU played great, bidding everywhere on defense and moving the disc aggressively on offense.
William and Mary Dogs - Our entire team warmed up before this game, so we were finally all on the same page. With a 10 mph upwind/downwind breeze, we used zone to make it tough on the other team. The couple of zone looks we used were effective. Jojah wins this game 11-0.
Ohio State Leadbelly - This game was awesome. I remember very few things from this game, except for the fact that, by the end of it, we had beaten a worthy opponent. The offense AND defense both played well in this game. Jojah wins this game 11-8.
SUNDAY
Woke up and learned we were going to play Georgia Tech, another team that had beaten us this season already (at the Classic City Classic tournament in December). Also, the start times were pushed again from 9am to 11am. Teams were running laps and doing active warm ups in the parking lots. The first two rounds were to be played to 11 instead of 15, which means early breaks were crucial.
Pre-quarterfinals (game to 11)
Georgia Tech Tribe - We went up 3-0 on Georgia Tech when we got an upwind break. We took GT to half with a score of 6-3. After half, we traded and broke each other. Georgia Tech had some spectacular catches in the endzone. The cap was put on and Jojah put this game away 10-7.
Quarterfinals (game to 11)
UNC Darkside - We went up early on them 2-0, getting a break. There were some shifts in the game, as UNC broke our offense. Jojah responded with another break. The cap was put on and Jojah won this game 7-6. Play of the game : Peter Dempsey jumps over UNC defender for a goal.
Semifinals (game to 13)
Ohio State Leadbelly - This game was all about heart. After playing an exhausting game with UNC Darkside, our legs were almost out of gas. We had a core set of players who played the majority of the points. The game started out with UGA going up 3-2, both offenses trading. Ohio State turned on their defensive pressure and came up with an offensive point and 3 straight breaks to take a 6-3 advantage. We got a couple of breaks before half, 8-7 Leadbelly. OSU took the lead 9-8; however, Jojah D took care of the rest of the game coming up with another break, to take the 10-9 advantage. With one more break at the end of the game, Jojah won this game 12-10.
Finals (game to 15)
Michigan State Burning Couch - Last game....late in the day.... all the other teams left. It was a chilly and windy finals game. Jojah took the early 2-0 advantage after a break by the defense. After Jojah scores again, we are up 3-1. Jojah defense comes up with 2 huge breaks to take the lead 5-1. Both the teams trade until halftime, Jojah up 7-3. Jojah breaks the first point after half and a couple of points later to take the 10-4 lead. Jojah gets 2 more breaks to take a 14-6 lead. After the all rookie line fails to convert their D, Jojah wins this game and tournament 15-7.
After the game, Travis Smith got a celebratory Gatorade bath. Kevin Terry would have received one too, but he was able to escape right after the game. Both of our coaches made timely adjustments in our games throughout the weekend.
