May 14, 2026
By Alex Rubin

The Colorado Apex are making their first ever trip to the east coast, beginning with a “Friday Night Frisbee” matchup against the DC Breeze in our nation’s capitol.

For the Breeze, this will be their second straight week featured on “Friday Night Frisbee”, after their stunning win on the road in New York last weekend. The Breeze were down by as many as three goals in the second half, but rallied in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime. The first 4:46 of the extra period produced another deadlock, but Wiebe van den Brink sprang in front of John Randolph’s leading pass to Jack Williams for a clutch interception and quickly flipped the disc forward to Luke Rehfuss for the game clinching score. 

Going for a second straight win, the Breeze have become incredibly reliant on their younger stars. Already, AJ Merriman, Miles Grovic, and Isaac Lee are enjoying impact seasons in bigger roles. Supporting them, rookies like van den Brink, Gabe Dowd, and Raymond Lu have all made their marks on this young season.

Likewise, Colorado is still getting used to their new collection of talent, which relies heavily on younger talent. Timothy Elliott has become the centerpiece of the offense. In three games this year, he already has nearly half the total competitions that he threw all of last season. Per Shown Space, Elliott ranks in the 98th percentile for assists thrown so far this season as well. 

In his second year on the O-line, Seth Faris is enjoying a breakout campaign as a downfield hybrid. Though his UFA player profile still lists him as a defender, Faris has blossomed into a multi-talented threat who can create space for himself on offense and is not afraid to take a deep shot if there is a good look. While Quinn Finer is still out nursing a lingering injury, Faris has stepped into a bigger role to absorb some significant playmaking responsibility.

Alongside the younger players, veterans like Sam VanDusen, Jeremy Knopf, Logan Pruess, and Jay Froude all raise the floor for Colorado and can keep them competitive on a point-to-point basis.

With a lot of change in offensive personnel, the Apex are still working to find their peak performance. So far this season, Colorado has the second worst completion percent in the league, 89.10 percent and the second fewest completions per game. One culprit might be the team’s propensity to look for the long ball. The Apex so far have thrown the most huck turnovers per game, and might benefit from focusing on shorter, easier looks even if it means making more throws to punch in a score.

For the Breeze, this matchup might present an opportunity to get their defense back on track. Aside from van den Brink’s late game heroics, DC has largely struggled to generate turnovers against their opposition, ranking 16th in blocks per game. If Colorado is particularly loose with the disc, it will be up to DC’s defenders to take advantage. On the other hand, Colorado might see this game as an opportunity to extend their possessions longer against a defense that has let other teams do the same in recent weeks. 

Just under a week after DC pulled off an improbable upset, they have the challenge of preventing Colorado from doing the same. If the Apex are able to limit their turnovers and adjust to playing their first game on the East Coast, they’ll have a chance to give "Friday Night Frisbee" a second straight shocking result.