Atlanta Chain Lightning Scrimmage Results

We scrimmaged Atlanta's Chain Lightning last Wednesday night and lost 14-12. The plays of the game were Peter Dempsey's layout D and converting a couple of key breaks with the defensive offense. Thank you Chain for letting us scrimmage you guys and for the defensive pointers.

Chain Scrimmage Tonight

Tonight Jojah scrimmages Chain in Atlanta at the Emory Fields at 6 3o PM. We are bringing the video camera to film the madness. Come out and support both of the teams tonight as they duel it out.

Peter Dempsey for Callahan

Peter Dempsey #11, 6'0'' 5th year at the University of Georgia.

From the Callahan website -

"Each year the Callahan trophy is presented to the man and woman who combine superior athleticism with outstanding sportsmanship, leadership and dedication to the sport of ultimate.
In the eyes of his or her peers, the Callahan winner is the personification of the ideal ultimate player."

Athleticism

Peter Dempsey may be the best athlete to play for Jojah ultimate. Peter has been a play maker since his freshman year. Defensively, he is able to slow down or neutralize the best player on the other team and help his teammates with their assignments. People know Peter for his high flying defensive plays, his closing speed, and his reaction speed/agility. This year, Peter made the transition to offense because we lost a lot of offensive weapons last year. Pete has been our offensive play maker. If you need to see Peter's offensive production, please check his stats from the Jojah blog.

Pete has developed into a better all-around player year after year. For his first two years, Peter was primarily a star defender/deep cutter. His main throw was a laser huck which no one could catch. Since then, Peter has transitioned himself into a dynamic handler and cutter. This year, I remember watching Peter shred zone defenses with his low IO throws and his over the top throws. Whatever skill Jojah has needed, Pete has filled in and learned it.

Sportsmanship

Peter is well known for playing for his team. As his teammate for 4 years, I have watched Pete exhibit "good spirit" or sportsmanship throughout his prolific career. He is level headed during intense game situations, he listens to other people's arguments, and he doesn't try to cheat people out of calls.

Leadership

Pete is an invaluable piece to the Jojah team. For the past 2 years, Pete has served as the defensive captain for the Jojah team; however, Peter has been the defensive role model for the past 4 years. Here's an article by Michael Aguilar written about Pete's leadership and performance : http://monup.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/easterns-2010-previews-georgias-peter-dempsey/.

Dedication

This past summer, Pete wanted to get better so that he could give Jojah a chance at making/winning Nationals this year, so he joined Chain Lightning. Pete's summer/fall with Chain Lightning taught him a lot about leadership, as he was able to play with some of the country's best ultimate players. Pete's performance on Chain Lightning reminded me of Will Neff's performance last year with Ironside. In the finals of Club ultimate, Pete came up with a near Callahan lay out. It was one of those quick reflex plays that Pete does on a regular basis.

Ideal Ultimate Player

If you think about the ideal ultimate player, a Peter Dempsey type player comes to mind. His workhorse work ethic, his ability to perform and dominate the highest level of ultimate, his insane athleticism, his sportsmanship, and his character all make Peter Dempsey the ideal ultimate player in the college arena.

Lastly, it has been an amazing adventure playing with Peter. I credit a lot of my improvement to watching Peter play and hustle. He has motivated me and other guys on our team to stop talking and sell out on every play. It is this mentality that has enabled me to become a better player, leader, and person (in the long run).

When Pete caught the Nationals birth catch, it was fitting that everyone sprinted towards Peter and hugged him and celebrated with him. He is our leader.

-Taylor Nilan
#20, 5th year defender

GO VOTE FOR PETER DEMPSEY.

Nationals Bound!

What a weekend! We took the third bid to Nationals at the Atlantic Coast Regionals this past weekend in Tallahassee, FL. That's the 6th year in a row that the Jojah Ultimate program will be headed to UPA College Nationals. Another interesting statistic, Peter Dempsey is UGA's first member to go 5 for 5 with Nationals appearances.

Here's a brief recap from Sunday :

Georgia Tech Tribe - We lost to Tech the past two times we played these guys. They beat us at both Terminus AND Sectionals (in front of all of our friends and family). Defense paved the way for this victory, as Taylor Nilan, Andrew Mistretta, Dustin Graham, and David Hooten played some of their best defense (and offense) of the year. After half, our offense came together and played as well as they have in the past. Peter Dempsey and Matthew Bailey came down with huge catches, and Rob Herrig beat his man everywhere, distributing the disc well.

Florida C - In our first game to go, it's okay to say that our offense wasn't clicking. After opening up the game 5 or 6 to nothing, we decided to focus on the third bid. Florida was playing as well as they have been. On top of getting beat 15-1, we lost Caleb Edwards for the rest of the year due to a broken collar bone (clavicle). Thanks Brodie! Dustin Graham caught our only game after destroying his man deep. We didn't have a single defensive point until half time.

Tennessee Agent Orange - In our game to go to the game to go, we were down most of this game. Chris Mullinix and the Tennessee team willed their way to a 9-6 lead before Jojah's defense started feeling all sexy and stuff. With a strong defensive presence from Charlie Herrig, Fletcher Hartline, Taylor Nilan's PMF, and Peter Dempsey, Georgia won this game 15-14.

Georgia Tech Tribe - In our last game to go, Jojah was focused from the beginning. The team was crashing all hucks and skying each other. Peter Dempsey was Jojah's monster this game, throwing goals, making insane defensive plays, and of course, catching the winning goal.

Pictures of the tournament to come later. Thank you to all the parents and fans who attended the tournament and provided support.

Tomorrow's Line Up

Tomorrow, we play the following teams :

10 AM - William and Mary

12 PM - Tennessee

2 PM - North Carolina - Wilmington

4 PM - Cross Over

We may have someone "tweeting" the results. Check out our Twitter page at : http://twitter.com/jojahultimate

Here's the link to the website : http://scores.upa.org/scores/#college-open/tournament/6592

Regionals This Weekend

We will be traveling this weekend to play in the AC Regionals in Tallahassee, FL. To qualify for Nationals, we need to finish in the top 3. After a solid week of practice and a fun day down the river, Jojah is ready to compete. I will post the schedule when it becomes available.

This week is exam week for a lot of college students. Good luck to all the ultimate players with your school work.

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Support the Hodawgs on Sunday

This weekend, the Hodawgs are playing for a spot to go to Nationals at the AC Regional tournament. Today, they went 2-1 in pool play. They beat Central Florida 15-10 and Virginia Commonwealth 15-4. They lost to Emory 15-11.

In the crossover, they stayed alive by beating East Carolina 15-11.

Tomorrow morning, the Hodawgs try to earn a Nationals bid. Come out and support them in the morning at the IM fields.

Here is their schedule :

8:30 AM - North Carolina State University

10:30 AM - Virginia Hydra

12:30 PM - Emory Luna/Florida Fuel

2:30 PM - Game to go to Nationals

Here's the tournament website.