Tuesday Toss: The Beauty and Agony Of Elimination Frisbee

August 13, 2024
By Evan Lepler

Unforgettable, thrilling, exhilarating, and heartbreaking, the drama and impact from the UFA’s Divisional Championship Weekend will resonate far beyond the league’s upcoming semis and finals. 

Every year, these four division title games seem to deliver an avalanche of fascinating storylines, along with a wild blend of jubilance and devastation. It’s truly become, in my opinion, the most underrated ultimate weekend of the entire year. 

(Frankly, it could use a better name than “Divisional Championship Weekend,” which is far too big a mouthful and lacks the gravitas and emotion that these games always evoke. I went to sleep Monday night contemplating how we can best brand these four climactic divisional competitions, and so far I haven’t landed on anything super appealing. If you have any brilliant ideas, please send them my way!)

By the end of the night on Saturday, a final foursome that nobody predicted in the preseason was set. In 10 days, we’ll see two matchups we’ve never experienced before, DC battling Minnesota in the first semifinal, followed by Carolina and Seattle squaring off in the nightcap. Amongst this quartet, only the Wind Chill were part of last year’s Championship Weekend, and only the Flyers have ever hoisted the UFA championship trophy. 

We’ll have plenty of time to break down all the intricacies of these upcoming interdivisional contests, but first we must examine how we got here, as two road teams snuck away with euphoric one-goal wins, two regular season division champs saw their dreams destroyed in undeniably difficult fashion, and two other coronations occurred in front of massive home crowds, with fierce competition evolving into cathartic celebration. 

The Full Field Layout

The most unlikely 2024 division champ is clearly the Seattle Cascades. 

This is a franchise that went 4-8 last year and 23-53 from 2017 to 2023, never once advancing to the playoffs during that stretch. Going 9-3 this season was absolutely impressive, but even their head coach fully acknowledged that they enjoyed a pretty friendly schedule. 

By winning at Salt Lake to deny the Shred the chance to play at home for Championship Weekend, the Cascades emphatically announced to the world that they are a contender. They did so many good things, offensively and defensively, on Saturday night, that we now have to wonder how much damage they can do against the other top teams in the league. 

After all, very few expected them to win at Salt Lake on Saturday. Looking ahead, it’s doubtful that many if any will pick them to beat the Flyers in the semis, but this could very well be the start of a magical run, a journey in which they have already conquered certain fears and shown they can adapt to the Utah elevation. 

“I think Lukas [Ambrose] said it right in his interview last week,” explained Cascades Co-Captain Garrett Martin, the lone Utah-native on Seattle’s squad. “We were scared last time [at Salt Lake]. We let the moment get too big for us. I think having that game at the end of the regular season was so valuable for us. It was almost a dress rehearsal for this one. We got a chance to feel the heat, hear the crowd, to play a big game against a great team. We weren’t ready for that moment in July, but we sure were [on Saturday.] We were just able to execute our game plan at a much higher level this week.”

Interestingly, the Cascades finished with the exact same number of turnovers, 17, in both their two-goal loss on July 19 and their one-goal victory on Saturday, but whereas the offense held just 50 percent of the time last month, it converted two-thirds of the time in the West Division final. Defensively, the ‘Scades D-line created four more break chances and one more break in the playoffs against the Shred compared to the regular season. 

It wasn’t perfect, but they certainly didn’t play scared. Even when they fell behind by three five minutes into the third, Seattle showed remarkable poise, energy, and grit to battle their way back. 

“We were still fine,” said Cascades Co-Captain Khalif El-Salaam. “Remember when we were also up by three in the fourth? UFA games are long, breaks can happen in literally six seconds of game clock, so I believe as long as you can keep it within a big play, you are good.”

After trailing 14-11, Seattle scored four straight to take the lead and carried a 17-16 advantage into the fourth. With two more breaks to begin the final quarter, the Cascades had rampaged on an 8-2 run to lead 19-16 with 6:37 to go. But, as El-Salaam mentioned, three-goal margins can vanish quickly, and the Shred furiously responded with some intense sideline double-team pressure, tying the game again at 19-apiece with four minutes left. 

At the very end, though, Seattle was the more composed side. The ‘Scades punched in clean holds to go up 20-19 with 2:40 remaining and again to lead 21-20 with just 31 seconds left. On the game’s final possession, Salt Lake marched the disc to within a few yards of the goal line and the potential tying score, but Will Selfridge’s cross-field hammer with two seconds left never had a chance, landing shy of the end zone and launching the Seattle sideline into a celebratory frenzy. 

“I was shocked at first,” said El-Salaam. “Who would have thought that the good old Cascades make so much history in one season, on the back of players unknown to the public but very known in the community. Then [I was] obviously excited out of my mind. You do not get these moments very often. You don’t get that Cinderella story more than one, maybe two times in your career, and I could tell by the level of excitement, happiness, tears, that was felt in the locker room.” 

Many members of the Cascades raised their games to pull off the win. Offensively, Spencer Lofink, Marc Muñoz, and Aaron Wolf all completed at least 33 passes with just one turnover apiece. Lofink tossed a career-high seven assists and produced a game-high 475 total yards. 

Defensively, El-Salaam delivered two blocks, while Jasper Dean orchestrated several breaks, finishing with three goals and one assist. Ambrose also added a pair of goals and one block, along with helping to set the tone of confidence and belief for the young, rising Seattle organization.

“This has been such a special year,” said Martin, who registered a game-best plus-seven with four goals, three assists, and no turns. “People throw that phrase around really loosely, but I really mean it. We have an incredible crew this year, and teams like this don’t come around often [...] When [Selfridge] threw the hammer into the ground, my immediate reaction was honestly disbelief. That was the first emotion all night that really hit me. As soon as I saw everyone else running onto the field, that disbelief turned into pure joy and excitement.” 

Of course, as Seattle stormed the field at the buzzer, the Salt Lake players, coaches, and fans also could barely believe what had happened, forced to confront a new reality where the Shred would not get the chance to compete in Championship Weekend at home. 

“For better or worse, when they announced Championship Weekend was coming to Salt Lake back in January or February, that adds this layer of expectation to everything that we do,” said Shred Coach Bryce Merrill. “And there’s a new onus of ‘you better not screw it up.’ And even if you don’t want that or address it or talk about it, it’s there constantly. I think that makes the loss a little bit stingier.”

Merrill also recognized that his team had stumbled a bit throughout the season, failing to match their league-best efficiency metrics from a year ago. 

“The things that plagued us all season were the things that doomed us on Saturday night. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse, but at least it makes sense. We struggled with unforced errors this season.” 

Merrill went on to praise Seattle’s performance, but also understood that while the Shred had 19 total turnovers, the Cascades finished with just seven blocks. Certainly, defensive pressure ushered several throwaways that were not deflected, but Salt Lake’s distributors just were not as sharp as they needed to be. In contrast, the Cascades connected through many tight windows up the line, which were also the throws the opposing defense was trying to bait, but often to no avail.

On the final possession, Merrill debated whether or not to call a timeout as Selfridge caught the disc near the first corner of the end zone with around five seconds left, but he also did not second guess his choice to let it play out. 

“I had the disc in the guys hands that I wanted it in,” he said. “We had good looks, and I will live with that. End of quarter situations require a little bit of luck, and we had put ourself in a position where we needed luck to try to force overtime.”

“We had run out of space and out of time,” said Selfridge, asked about the final sequence. “I wouldn’t say I’m risk-averse, but I would have preferred to have to work my way to the break-side cone and walk into a goal. I must have realized the clock a few ticks too late because I remember seeing a half open McKay [Yorgason] along with a few other black jerseys in front of me, but I was hoping for something better. The rest was history. It was our game to lose, and we lost it.”

Now, as Shred embark on the offseason, the Cascades are primed for their first Championship Weekend since 2016.

“I’m so excited for my first Championship Weekend,” said Martin. “The feelings are similar to making my first college Nationals with Utah State. Underdogs that no one believes in. I think that attitude is going to carry over to Champ Weekend too. We’ve already proved so many people wrong. Why not add a few more to that list? It’s no doubt Carolina is a phenomenal team. They’re the most recent champ not named New York. Our coaching staff is already working on our game plan. I caught them already watching Carolina film in the airport on the way back to Seattle. I’m confident they’re going to do whatever they can to give us the best chance to win.”

******

One day earlier, those same Flyers were trailing for most of the opening half in the South Division final. In fact, for the opening 18 minutes of the game, the Atlanta Hustle played 100 percent flawless frisbee, building a 10-7 lead by the midway point of the second quarter. 

“They’re really good,” said Carolina’s Ben Snell. “I had a brief second where I was like, they could pitch a perfect offensive game.” 

But after one-throw huck hold—Allan Laviolette launching a 55-yard missile for Anders Juengst— made it 10-8 score, the momentum flipped. The Flyers defense got their first two turns on the next point, including Christian Belus’ spectacular layout block, and eventually punched in their first break to inch within one. Shortly thereafter, it was 10-all at halftime, and Atlanta’s early cushion had completely disappeared. 

“I still felt ok most of the game, even when they went up by one,” said Hustle Coach Tuba Benson-Jaja. “I felt, ‘ok, this is part of it,’ and we had a few miscues that got them back in the game.”

The two fierce rivals traded eight holds back and forth in the third, keeping the score even at 14-all heading into the fourth, when Carolina took its first lead of the game 52 seconds into the final quarter on a cool conversion from Laviolette to Elijah Long

Every possession the rest of the way—and really all night long—was packed with pressure. And down the stretch, the Flyers played like the team that had done it before.

“They executed really, really well,” said Benson-Jaja. “And that’s [Flyers Coach Mike] DeNardis. That’s his ability to do that, and those guys have been with him for years. That’s trust.”

Indeed, Carolina scored its final goal of the game with 6:25 left, when the Flyers delivered their third break of the night, again Laviolette to Juengst, to go ahead 17-15. Atlanta answered on a Bobby Ley huck to Jeremy Langdon with 5:44 remaining to bring the Hustle within one, though no one at that point fathomed it would be the very last score of the night. 

Jakeem Polk’s massive layout D earned the Hustle one more chance, but after a timeout, the Hustle O-line failed to convert, with Belus blocking Ley’s under-thrown flick intended for Christian Olsen near the front of the end zone. 

“That line has to be able to score that disc,” said Benson-Jaja. “Until we can do that in a game that matters, we don’t deserve to win.”

After that, the Flyers ruthlessly completely 53 consecutive passes, bleeding the final four minutes off the clock, to complete the victory and hand the Hustle hometown heartbreak for the second consecutive season. 

“That last five-minute stretch there really proved that no one can hang with us and no one can take it out of our hands,” said Juengst. “I think it was our best performance of the season.”

Long dished 14 of his game-high 56 completions on the final possession, while Snell had 19 purposeful throws during these closing minutes, where the Flyers knew they did not need to score as long as they kept completing passes.

“I was intentionally trying not to score,” said Snell. “If we had a free goal, I would take it. I think for their team, it actually would have been better for us to score and then they could roll [a pull] out or do something to try to generate a turnover. But I was just like, we can literally run out the clock. Their guys were more tired than we were. It’s not really fair when you think about the amount of points, like I played half or less of the D-points; their O-line played every O-point. So then I have legs and have people guarding me who’ve played a lot more than I have. That was definitely in my mind during the point.” 

Less than 30 seconds into this four-minute possession, the Hustle started to sense what was happening, but were virtually powerless to stop it. There were still a few dramatic moments, including Olsen contesting an Ethan Bloodworth catch near the end zone that, for a split second, looked like it might be a remarkable game-tying callahan, but the Flyers were able to use the rules to their benefit and simply play keep away all the way to the division title.

“It was an amazing game,” said Juengst,” which finished with six goals and three assists. “Credit to the Hustle for pushing us all year, challenging us down to the wire, and I think all year we knew we came down here and didn’t give our best showing. We’re so happy we took care of business [vs. Austin] and got one more shot to come down and prove who we are, and that the division runs through us.” 

The postgame feeling in the Hustle locker room was full of disappointment, though it was a different vibe from last year, when a bevy of late mistakes proved to be their double overtime demise against the Sol. This year, though the pain of losing still brutally stung, there was a feeling that they still played a really strong game.

“The game was pretty much exactly what I felt it would be going in,” said Atlanta Captain Brett Hulsmeyer, “a battle at the highest level with both teams sending out their best game. We were certainly cruising early on and our first turn was just a drop. I think it’s hard to see how much better either team’s offense could have played [...] That’s the reality of these games and what it takes to win a championship. We’re nearing a need to be just about perfect.”

The Flyers finished the night with a 96.9 percent completion rate, while the Hustle were at 96.0 percent. Both teams had just 10 turns, but Carolina went 3-for-8 on break chances, while Atlanta went 2-for-4, failing to record a break in the final three quarters. 

“Honestly, I thought we played a good game,” said Benson-Jaja. “Last year, I thought we dropped below our base and Austin elevated. This year, I believe we played a great game and Carolina played a great game, and they beat us by one point.” 

Overall, it was another impressive and promising season for the Hustle, going 10-2 for the second straight year. But despite a 37-11 record in regular season action since the pandemic, the Hustle have gone winless in three playoff games during these last four years, with two of the losses coming in overtime and all three being decided by just a single score.

“I think the worst part is not being able to do it for some of the guys that are done this year,” said Hulsmeyer. “Guys who I watched or started playing with when I first came into the Atlanta scene and who will probably never get to the finish line. It’s something I think I’ll always hold, even thought I firmly believe we will climb that mountain soon.” 

Coming up later today in “Seven On The Line”, we’ll explore how DC and Minnesota earned their own emotional victories, how Divisional Championship Weekend always seems to deliver, and whether anything needs to change in the rules to prevent someone from simply playing keep away to cap someone else’s season.