August 27, 2026
By Ryan Baker
The two powerhouses of the Oakland Spiders’ defense and the New York Empire’s offense met in the semifinal, but Oakland’s speed and athleticism were too much for the Empire to handle. Oakland punched their ticket to the finals tomorrow by a score of 27-21.
The Oakland Spiders were firing on all cylinders from the start. A major lineup switch had Adam Rees playing D-line, guarding Daan De Marrée. The Spiders looked comfortable with their O-line, seeing their full lineup for the first time this season. Meanwhile, the Empire’s jitters got the best of them.
“These guys are competitors,” Head Coach Liam Kreiss said. “They love to compete. We were so excited to have this matchup. We know that a lot of people thought New York was the better team, and getting a chance to show what we can do really motivated the team today.”
On the fourth point, an uncharacteristic turn from Braeden Eberhard gave Oakland a chance for their first break, capped by a beautiful Jason Vallee huck to Robin Vickers Batzdorf. New York answered with a smoother O-line point from their defensive personnel, but that created a problem with the lines New York was putting on the field.
The wound opened more when Alex Atkins threw an impatient huck to De Marrée into double coverage that hit the turf. Dillon Whited finished the second break to Raekwon Adkins, who rose over two Empire defenders to put them up 5-2.
In the first half, the Spiders baited the Empire into deep shots and turned their easy resets into challenging throws on every point. Even when New York seemed hopeful, they made a mistake within the next couple of throws.
Everything went in the Spiders' favor when, at the end of the first quarter, a sky by Empire’s Nicholas Whitlock was waived off due to a Ben Jagt foul. Oakland led 7-4 by quarter’s end.
The second quarter was much the same. New York kept making mistakes from the start. On the first point, Jagt dropped the disc, and though the Empire recovered it, Vallee intercepted an easy swing to create a short field and a break for the Spiders.
The Empire’s offense has been historic this year but fell apart when it mattered most. A turnover from Solomon Rueshemeyer-Bailey gave the Spiders another short field. Anton Orme tossed a cross-field hammer to Dylan Vilenueve to push Oakland’s lead to five. Oakland led 14-10 at halftime.
At the break, New York was 0-11 on break chances, while Oakland had four breaks. For a team with the best completion percentage in the league, they sat at just 94 percent at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Empire’s offense looked more solid, but the deficit was too much. Oakland kept capitalizing on their mistakes. Stefan McCall had a massive sky over Oliver Chartock to push the Spiders further ahead, 19-14.
Then, with three seconds left in the third quarter, the Rees and De Marrée matchup paid off even more for Oakland, hand-blocking him to prevent any chance for the Empire to sneak in a buzzer-beating score.
During the last 12 minutes, Oakland controlled the pace and coasted to the win, never letting the Empire get within three points. More salt was added when New York committed a technical foul, giving Oakland a chance to pull from midfield. After pinning the Empire in their own end zone, Max Zwerin raced down and snatched a layout callahan, sealing the win at 25-19.
Oakland’s speed was too much for New York. There were countless throws where the Empire failed to get a mark, and the Spiders made them pay by using the entire width of the field point after point.
The Spiders played nearly perfectly, throwing only seven turnovers all game, going 9-10 on hucks, and holding at a 91 percent clip. The Empire were the opposite, throwing 14 turnovers, completing just one break chance, and holding at a season-low 69 percent.
“We saw in that last stretch of points that their offense is absolutely incredible,” said Kreiss. “We knew exactly what was coming there at the end, and we still couldn't stop it. That's a testament to them. They have some amazing players. We were lucky to get some D's early and execute on our game plan. That was the difference.”
Individually, Walker Frankenburg led with seven assists, five in the first half, while adding 841 total yards, a goal, and a block. Leo Gordon threw four assists and added a goal and block. Whited led goal scoring with five. Dexter Clyburn and Chander Boyd-Fliegel scored four apiece. Lastly, Daniel Ritthaler didn’t light up the stat books but amassed 612 yards and a perfect 49-49.
“It's just team ball,” said Frankenburg. “Whoever comes out with the stats doesn't really matter. Guys made the extra pass to set me up, so today it fell my way, and tomorrow I'm sure it'll fall somebody else's. That's just because we got seven guys who are better than their seven guys. Simple as that.”
Now, Oakland will face the winner of the Minnesota Wind Chill and Austin Sol tomorrow night.
“We had three weeks to prepare against this team, and we have less time to prepare against the next team,” said Kreiss. “Luckily, we've done some pre-research. Watching this next game will be really important. Job's not done, and we know we came here with a bigger mission than just beating New York.”
