July 16, 2024
By Evan Lepler
Tuesday Toss: Week 12 - Part I
1. Rising Empire Overwhelms Wind Chill
In two straight games against the leaders of the West and Central Divisions, the New York Empire have been absolutely dominant. They have scored 50 and allowed 30 in their last eight quarters, cementing their status amongst the other top contenders in pursuit of the 2024 UFA championship.
“We’re just super deep,” said New York’s Ben Jagt, explaining how the team has improved even when missing several key contributors. “We’ve always been reliant on our depth.”
In the first half on Friday night, Minnesota connected on 7-of-9 hucks, with one of the two throwaways being an end-of-quarter prayer that was easily blocked. The Wind Chill, despite a dropped pull that gifted New York an easy break, trailed just 12-10, but the Empire believed they were firmly in control.
“On the sideline, it felt like it was a blowout in the first half,” said Jagt, reflecting in a postgame interview.
New York Coach Anthony Nuñez was not quite that brash when asked about Minnesota’s first half, but he made it clear he liked the way things were going.
“If they’re gonna try to win by taking those deep shots, I’m ok with it,” said Nuñez, at halftime. “It’s high-risk, high-reward, and I don’t know if they can last the entire game just hucking and [hoping].”
Indeed, Minnesota regressed to the mean, going just 1-for-8 on hucks during a second half in which the Chill were broken seven times and outscored 13-6, as New York cruised to a 25-16 victory.
“Trusting our system, forcing them out, making them huck, and trusting that the turns were gonna come,” emphasized Jagt. “And they ended up coming in the second half.”
New York converted 7-of-8 hucks for the game and kept the turnover count at 10, as Minnesota suffered its second straight home loss. Despite this pair of disappointing defeats, the Wind Chill still know they’ll be at home for the Central Division final, whereas the Empire have another tough challenge on tap against DC this weekend. New York could earn a home game with win by three of more over the Breeze, but a small win or a loss could have the Empire on the road for the opening round of the playoffs.
Regardless of where they play, though, the Empire are showing a level that could very well lead to the first three-peat in UFA history.
“It’s all about peaking at the right time for us,” said Jagt.
2. Salt Lake Victory Marred by Merrill’s Injury
It’s entirely possible that the Salt Lake Shred are now just four consecutive home wins away from their first UFA Championship, but the West Division favorites, who’ve absorbed a good deal of adversity already this season, were dealt another painful punch on the final play of the game on Saturday night in Portland.
Leading 24-20 with time winding down, Joe Merrill raced toward the end zone and leaped for one more score. The disc deflected off his outstretched fingertips and went incomplete as time expired, but Merrill’s landing was not nearly as harmless.
His leg buckled, he stayed down, and he later learned he tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the season.
“It was honestly a big hit to everyone seeing Joe go down at the end of the game,” said Chad Yorgason, who led the Shred with seven assists, two blocks, and one goal in the win over Portland. “I don’t think twice about how it was the last couple seconds and a needless play. It could have happened at any point in the game or any game. So we were definitely feeling it for our boy, but I also saw a fire in each one of us the next couple days knowing we each had to step something up if we were going to pick up the slack from that injury. Joe is a huge part of our team, but looking at our roster we honestly have studs to fill the spot, and I’m excited to see us step up.”
Merrill is the third member of the Shred to endure a season-ending ACL injury this year, joining Ben Hoffman and Devon Terry, who both got hurt in the preseason. Salt Lake has also been missing young phenom Will Selfridge since mid-May and the team remains uncertain about whether he’ll be ready to play in Friday’s season finale against Seattle.
But whoever takes the field, the 9-2 Shred are hopeful they can play their best ultimate against the Cascades and earn the chance to become the second home team to take the field at Championship Weekend in the last five seasons.
“I’d say a couple keys for the Seattle game are to focus on us and play like athletes,” said Yorgason. “Seattle’s got dogs, and if we’re going to make it, we’re going to have to keep our mind on things we can control and do them full speed. I’m not even worried about doing them perfectly, but as long as we go full speed all game long, I think we’ll play our best game.”
3. Carolina Clobbers Dallas
Even though the Flyers finished with their third highest turnover count of the season, Carolina still cruised to a 25-12 triumph on Friday night. The Flyers had 20 turns, but forced 34, creating 14 breaks in 29 chances. It was just an 11-7 game at halftime, but the Flyers outscored the Legion 8-4 in the third and 6-1 in the fourth, blowing it open in the second half.
Henry Fisher, Matt Tucker, and Michael Lee all recorded two blocks apiece, and eight other Flyers tallied multiple goals in the lopsided victory. Tobias Brooks finished with four goals, three assists, and a team-best 489 yards, while Allan Laviolette added four assists and two goals.
The Flyers carry a three-game winning streak into Saturday’s high-stakes showdown in Atlanta, though none of Carolina’s last three victories have come against a team with a winning record.
4. New Faces Shine as AlleyCats Dispatch Mechanix
When the AlleyCats took the field against Detroit on Saturday, several mainstay veterans like Cameron Brock, Travis Carpenter, Levi Jacobs, and Nick Hutton were not in the lineup. All played Sunday against Pittsburgh, but Indy chose to save their legs for the Thunderbirds, enabling some other youngsters onto the field vs. the Mechanix. Overall, seven players made their first appearances of the season for the AlleyCats against Detroit, a glimpse into the future perhaps for an Indy team that knows many of its decade-long contributors are planning to step away after the season.
“We had a ton of guys making their first start of the season, and some their first start ever,” said Brock. “They played really well, and I came away with a lot of excitement for that those players can do next year with the departure of so many guys at the end of this season. We all saw what happened earlier this year when Pittsburgh took an unrecognizable roster up to Detroit, but our guys were 100 percent up to the task, and they deserve a lot of credit for that, whether it was against Detroit or not.”
To Brock’s point, the Indy seven who were taking the field for the first time this season combined to complete 109 passes with just two throwaways. Cole Hyzer had three assists, Jack Kempe scored three goals, and Mace Chope produced four blocks.
There was definitely a little suspense as the Mechanix used back-to-back scores to take a one-goal lead early in the second half, but the AlleyCats recalibrated and dominated Detroit by a count of 10-3 over the final 20 minutes in their 20-14 win.
“When Detroit took the lead in the beginning of the third quarter, I only got a little nervous,” said Jacobs. “But when it came down to it I had all the faith in our team and guys there to make sure they sealed the deal. They all played really well and showed a lot of promise for their futures in ultimate and hopefully our team if they choose to stick around.”
5. Summit Soar Past Aviators in Colorado’s Season Finale
Too little, too late for Colorado’s playoff chances, but the Summit’s 26-16 rout over Los Angeles was arguably the team’s finest performance of the season. The offense held on 16-of-18 points, its highest rate of the year, while the defense recorded 10 breaks, tied for the second most in any Summit game all season.
“It was nice to come out and play a game with less pressure,” said Colorado’s Alex Atkins, who tallied nine scores and 733 total yards in the 10-goal win. “We’ve had a lot of close games this year, so it was nice to come out and have some fun, let loose a little bit.”
Quinn Finer also finished with nine scores, seven assists and two goals, to go with 646 total yards and no turns. Summit Captains Alex Tatum and Mathieu Agee each had three blocks.
It will be a fascinating offseason ahead for the Summit, as they aim to diagnose exactly what went wrong throughout the disappointing 2024 campaign, which they concluded with a 6-6 record. Four of their six losses came by two goals or less.
“For me, personally, it was a humbling year, and those are the years that generally you can learn the most from,” said Atkins. “I think we’re gonna hit the drawing boards. We learned a lot this year, and hopefully we’re gonna come out a lot stronger next year.”
6. The Cooling Callahan Craze
Last year, in large part because of the rule changes that moved pulls 20 yards forward, we witnessed 42 Callahans in 155 games, including the playoffs, a rate of 0.27 Callahans per game, by far the most in UFA history.
And through the first few weeks of the 2024 season, this Callahan craze continued, as there were 11 Callahans recorded during the first 28 games this year, a rate of 0.39 Callahans per game. With the new frisbee and some iffy early spring weather, this was not completely stunning.
But the Callahan count has dipped dramatically since the calendar hit mid-May. There have only been 13 Callahans in the last 102 games, a rate of 0.13 Callahans per game.
For the full season, there have been 24 Callahans in 130 games, a 0.18-per-game pace that has dramatically dipped from a season ago.
With that said, we have experienced a little history this year, as this is the first time in any UFA season that multiple players have recorded multiple Callahans. Madison’s Jake Carrico and Seattle’s Tony Goss each have caught two Callahans this year. Carrico also had one last year, making him the only player in UFA history to have three Callahans in his career.
7. Stat Leaders Entering The Final Weekend
A lot can change with 14 games on the Week 13 schedule, including doubleheaders for Boston, Detroit, Oakland, and Seattle, but here are the contenders to claim regular season statistical crowns atop the major categories for the 2024 season.
Goals
1) Alec Wilson Holliday, DAL, 53
2) Anthony Gutowsky, MAD, 49
T-3) Ben Lewis, HTX, 40
T-3) Wilson Matthews, CHI, 40
Assists
1) Jake Felton, DET, 53
2) Travis Dunn, SD, 48
3) Austin Taylor, ATL, 47
Scores (assists + goals)
1) Travis Dunn, SD, 72
2) Alec Wilson Holliday, DAL, 71
3) Alex Atkins, COL, 67
Blocks
1) Lukas Ambrose, SEA, 20
2) Jake Rubin-Miller, CHI, 19
3) Tobe Decraene, MTL, 18
Completions
1) Pawel Janas, LA, 611
2) Alex Atkins, COL, 593
3) Sam Kaminsky, CHI, 515
Throwing Yards
1) Pawel Janas, LA, 4439
2) Alex Atkins, COL, 4218
3) Matt Miller, SD, 4156
Receiving Yards
1) Alec Wilson Holliday, DAL, 3981
2) Ben Lewis, HTX, 3795
3) Travis Dunn, SD, 3317
Total Yards
1) Alex Atkins, COL, 6691
2) Matt Miller, SD, 5962
3) Jake Felton, DET, 5910
Completed Hucks
1) Ben Thoennes, POR, 31
2) Jake Felton, DET 30
T-3) Dex Dremann, CHI, 26
T-3) Bobby Ley, ATL, 26
The Hammer
A common question around this time of year is how are teams seeded at Championship Weekend. Here’s a breakdown.
After four division champs are crowned on the weekend of August 9-11, those four squads will be seeded based upon their regular season record, with each team’s regular season point differential serving as the tiebreaker.
Currently, there are 13 teams still alive for the 2024 UFA title, and here’s how they rank from 1-13 in terms of Championship Weekend seeding.
1) Atlanta, 9-2, +50
2) DC, 9-2, +48
3) Carolina, 9-2, +46
4) Salt Lake, 9-2, +29
5) Seattle, 8-2, +44
6) Boston, 8-2, +36
7) New York, 8-3, +37
8) Minnesota, 8-3, +26
9) Madison, 7-4, +41
10) Oakland, 6-4, +5
11) Austin, 6-5, +25
12) Chicago, 6-5, +16
13) Indianapolis, 6-5, +5
Obviously, these records and point-differentials will be updated based upon this coming weekend’s results, and there’s plenty of room for movement with the top eight teams separated by just a single game. By the end of the night on Sunday, we’ll have a dozen teams left in the chase, and as every playoff game unfolds, another team will get crossed off the list until we’re left with the final four.
