Photo by Derek Frazer – UltiPhotos.com
MAY 19, 2026
By Will Stuntz
The DC Breeze (3-1) found another victory on “Friday Night Frisbee” in week four against the Colorado Apex (1-4). Although it wasn’t quite the thriller of last weeks matchup with New York, DC dominated on both lines, with the offense flowing and scoring with ease, and the defense not giving up anything easy.
Colorado is clearly experiencing some growing pains in 2026. The departures of their 2025 stars, Alex Atkins, Noah Coolman, and Tobias Brooks, and the injury of Quinn Finer are proving to be major hurdles for the Apex. Colorado have given up the third-most turnovers in the entire Ultimate Frisbee Association (UFA) this year, and DC kept that trend going on Friday, forcing 25 turnovers.
DC’s hands were active on defense all night, racking up 17 blocks as a team between 11 different players. The Breeze D-lines were executing on converting breaks, as well, cashing in on 16 of their 34 chances.
The Breeze’s rookie defensive core was on full display, with Wiebe van den Brink and Raymond Lu shining, and second-year playmaker Micah Wagner continuing to contribute in only his sixth UFA game. The trio notched three goals each with none of them playing a single offensive point.
The offensive play from DC was also stellar, as the O-line went 16-for-18 and were perfect outside of the third quarter. DC’s huck game was the best it has been all season, completing a perfect 11-of-11 attempts. Sean Mott was the headliner once again, dishing out seven assists and and completing everything he threw, including three hucks. Theo Shapinsky was getting it done in the endzone for DC, pulling down five goals while also completing 100% of his attempts. Miles Grovic was also hunting for the endzone with tallies of four goals and two assists between his offensive and defensive points. Although they performed well, the DC O-line had a relatively easy night, as their defensive counterparts were able to account for half of the scoring.
The first point lasted three minutes and 46 seconds, with Colorado starting the point off with a dropped pass in the endzone before DC dropped a pass of its own soon after. Each team turned it over once more before Colorado took another shot at the endzone, but Luke Rehfuss soared to make the block over Benen Shea. DC worked its way to the midfield, and Grovic let off a 47-yard flick to van den Brink to break on the first point. Sam VanDusen tried to get one back with a huck at the endzone that was swatted away by AJ Merriman, and DC made it down the field to Lu, who connected with Brandon Lamberty to go up 2-0 with DC’s offense yet to make an appearance. Seth Faris connected with Jay Froude on the next point for Colorado’s first hold, and DC’s offense held quickly on the next point with Jacques Nissen throwing crossfield to Merriman to push DC’s lead to 3-1. DC broke Colorado’s offense on the next two points to go up 5-1, and Isaac Lee made a block to give DC another break chance, which was taken back by Timothy Elliot, who ended up connecting with Thomas Brewster for Colorado’s second hold. DC found another quick hold with Mott dishing out his first assist of the night to Grovic to take a 6-2 lead before both teams held to end the quarter with DC holding a 7-3 lead.
The second quarter followed a similar pattern, with DC’s O-line getting quick holds on every chance and the defense finding turnovers galore. DC’s offense got out quickly with a hold from another Mott-Grovic connection before finding their fifth break on the next point, thanks to a Tanner Gesell interception that led to Xavier Schafer hauling in a goal to extend DC’s lead to 9-3. Both teams held before van den Brink laid out for a block, and just one swing pass to Merriman allowed him to uncork a 63-yard backhand right into the arms of Rehfuss. Colorado’s offense got it done on its next point before Mott and Grovic connected again from deep to extend the lead to seven. This was the start of a 3-0 run for the Breeze, as a Colorado throwaway and a block from Lu led to two more breaks. Both teams held cleanly to end the half, with the Breeze holding a 9-point lead.
The third period started similarly to the first two, as DC followed Colorado’s opening hold with another 3-0 run to extend DC’s lead to 11. Something then clicked for Colorado, as its offense started flowing and the defense found its first two breaks of the game throughout the rest of the third. The squads traded two holds before Colorado got its first two-point swing of the game with a hold and a break to cut their deficit back to nine. DC cleanly held to extend the lead back to 10 before Colorado got one back from a goal-line dish from Jeremy Knopf to Aylen Learned, which was set up from a foul call. The Breeze offense continued to shine with another quick hold from Jeff Wodatch to Christian Boxley before Colorado held and kept things separated by nine. Then, Colorado broke DC for the second time in the quarter when the Breeze threw it away, and VanDusen took no time to let off a flick huck to Andrew Muller in the endzone. With 22 seconds remaining, the Breeze had a chance to extend their lead back to nine and found Boxley on the goal line, who made the easy dish to Grovic with two seconds remaining, giving DC a 23-14 lead heading into the final period.
The third period was closely contested despite the Breeze’s dominance in the first half, but DC regained its first-half form in the fourth, outscoring Colorado 9-2 in the period. Merriman threw a flick up the sideline to Boxley in the endzone for a hold to start the fourth before Knopf found Alex Piper for a hold of Colorado’s own to bring the score to 24-15. Wodatch thenassisted Shapinsky's fifth goal to extend the Breeze lead back to ten. This is when things went really downhill for the Apex, as DC ripped off five breaks in a row to take a 30-15 lead. Colorado held again, but so did DC before recording another break to end the game with a 32-16 lead.
The Breeze will look to extend their three-game win streak this Saturday in their rematch against the New York Empire at Carlini Field. First pull flies at 7:00 p.m. ET. Tickets available at thedcbreeze.com and streaming live at watchUFA.tv.
