July 8, 2025
By Evan Lepler

Tuesday Toss: Week 11 | Part 1

1. Salt Lake shines in another statement weekend

Salt Lake’s D-line produced 27 breaks. Salt Lake’s O-line only gave their opponents seven break chances. Combined, the Shred outscored their two Week 11 foes 56-29 in a pair of satisfying victories. 

On Friday in Colorado, we all were anticipating a fierce battle between the top two teams in the West. But for most of the night, the Shred were completely in control, making big plays in the air and stymieing the Summit attack. 

“I mean, we came down with every huck and 50/50 ball, it seemed, vs. Colorado,” said Salt Lake’s Jacob Miller. “Is that sustainable? Chad [Yorgason], Jace [Duennebeil], and Snog [Matt Russnogle] are elite deep targets, but I don’t expect that to happen every game against good teams. I will say that our defensive game plans are getting more specific, and our D guys are only getting better at implementing them as the season has progressed. They were so impressive on Friday night. Complete team win, but I don’t expect it to be that easy start to finish this coming Friday.”

Indeed, the Summit will have a quick chance for revenge as they travel to Salt Lake this weekend. If they are going to be competitive, they’ll need to force someone other than Chad Yorgason to give them the disc. While Chad went 20-for-23 passing—with eight scores and over 700 yards in a splendid all-around performance—the other six Shred O-liners were a perfect 127-for-127. Russnogle led the charge with six goals, two assists, and one block, while McKay Yorgason went 43-for-43 with 477 throwing yards. Dunnebeil was involved in seven scores, while Jordan Kerr had five, and Braden Eberhard had four scores and several key initiating throws that helped get Salt Lake rolling. 

“I think it started with Braden’s ability to get it off the sideline through any double team trap they threw at us,” said Russnogle. “It’s a minor thing that I think really takes a lot of pressure off the other six guys. Over the course of the season, there’s been more of a reliance on each other rather than a system that I think has really allowed for us to play to each other’s strengths and feel a bit more free and loose and has attributed to some of our bigger wins this season. Our goals for Colorado were simple: establish a deep game early and be aggressive with strikes, trusting the next guy to fill the space.”

Salt Lake finished the night 11-for-13 on their hucks, while Colorado went just 5-for-11. For the second time this season, the Shred managed single-digit turnovers, closing the night with just nine giveaways. 

One night later, the Shred thoroughly obliterated the overmatched Bighorns, creating 39 Vegas turnovers and prevailing 32-11. Up 7-4 late in the first, Salt Lake scored the next 11 goals, keeping the winless and woeful Bighorns out of the end zone for over 17 minutes of game time. 

Five Shred defenders finished with a pair of blocks, while rookie Nate De Morgan led the break train with five assists, two goals, and a block. Recently named Ultiworld’s collegiate Rookie of the Year after helping to lead Carleton to a national title, De Morgan is one of many young future stars who are seemingly poised to all also contribute to the Shred’s present playoff run. 

“It’s been fun playing with Nate,” said Miller. “Braden and I got to coach the U-20 Swarm teams and got front row seats for those two [youth] championships with Nate, Sam [Pew], Kimball [Pew], Oscar [Brown], and Grayson [Rettburg]. We knew they were on a huge trajectory, and playing with them now at this level on gameday rosters is not a surprise. When us ‘older’ guys get played off the roster or retire, Shred will only get better.” 

2. Chicago claws past Pittsburgh on Saturday

It wasn’t nearly as one-sided as Friday’s 10-goal win over Minnesota, but the Union still always felt in control in Saturday’s 21-19 victory in Pittsburgh. Even though Chicago had 10 new players in the lineup who had not seen the field against the Wind Chill, the Union never trailed for a single second against the Thunderbirds, as Daan De Marrée once again led the way with a plus-13 masterpiece, the highest single-game plus/minus for anyone in the UFA this season. 

“If you watch [De Marrée] for any amount of time,” explained Chicago’s Ben Preiss, “I’d say two things become very obvious: one, he is one of the best players on any given field at literally any given frisbee skill, whether that be generating blocks, initiating downfield, getting open deep, or quarterbacking an end zone offense. Two, perhaps more importantly, he has a crazy motor, meaning he can and wants to do all those things at a high effort level for all 48 minutes. Daan won’t stop unless we force him to sit.”

De Marrée tallied eight goals, three assists, four blocks, and over 750 total yards against the Thunderbirds, who struggled to find any decent way to slow him down.

“There’s no good answer for him right now,” said Pittsburgh veteran Jonathan Mast, who led the Thunderbirds with six assists in Saturday’s narrow setback. “He’s relentless. He plays both sides of the disc, always moving, always cutting, yet never seems out of position. He also just has a really good balance of having all the tools, yet not forcing anything. He plays with an edge and is able to quickly recognize what the defense is giving and take advantage of it. I’m not sure where his weak spot is.”

Along with De Marrée’s dominance, Paul Arters and Brandon Van Deusen each tossed four assists in the win over the Thunderbirds, while William Wettengel also recorded multiple blocks for the second straight day. 

“We played with a roster missing some of our higher usage players on the second day of a back-to-back after driving seven hours,” said Preiss. “That being said, the game never felt out of our control since our offense was able to keep getting clear easy looks all game. All in all, the game was a fun challenge and gave us a chance to test our depth and legs.”

3. Minnesota bounces back at Detroit

With apologies to Pittsburgh, the Mechanix have been virtually everyone’s 'get-right game’ for the past seven seasons. On Saturday, the Minnesota Wind Chill needed a boost, and they led 13-3 through the first 16 points. 

“It was a hard reset,” said Wind Chill Captain Bryan Vohnoutka. “The messaging was to take your frustration and use it to fuel the improvements we need to make from that loss.” 

Vohnoutka had five scores, Paul Krenik had six, and Max Hanscom produced four blocks as Minnesota mauled the Mechanix 25-14. Detroit’s Jake Felton had five assists and a goal, but also played through five turnovers, as the Mechanix lost for the 93rd time in their last 95 games. 

Minnesota’s triumph in Detroit, of course, did little to ease the sting of what happened on Friday in Chicago. 

“We will have to beat Madison in the [first round] game to take on Chicago again,” said Vohnoutka. “We know that any [future] performance against Chicago has to be drastically better if we want to go to Championship Weekend and defend our title.”

4. Austin rolls in another Texas tussle

Outside of Daan De Marrée, arguably no one in the entire league has been more dazzling than Austin’s Mark Henke over the past two weeks. The 21-year-old followed up his six-goal, four-assist, two-block effort at Carolina with an eight-goal, four-assist night in Houston, as the Sol rolled over the Havoc 29-20. 

“We need a pair of brothers on the Sol offensive line, so when Myles Armstrong went down, Mark was ready to step up and the older brother to Kyle that he never had,” said Austin’s Elliott Moore. “Playing with Mark on offense has been awesome. Adding another guy who can consistently make plays has added another dimension to our offense. He is a great continuation cutter and has pulled out some pretty awesome hucks that I didn’t know he had.”

The Sol actually trailed 9-7 early in the second quarter on Saturday night, but Austin closed the first half on a 5-0 run and opened the second half with another 6-2 spurt to completely seize control. The Sol finished the night with 11 breaks, while Austin’s offense was broken just twice, as the team registered a season-low nine turnovers. 

“We focused on improving our mental focus,” said Moore. “We did that by playing our level of frisbee.” 

Assuming the Sol can take down the Aviators in Texas this weekend, I think Austin will be the number one seed in the South. Here’s why: if the Sol get to 9-2 (with a win this weekend), they would clinch the top spot if Carolina beats Atlanta. And if the Hustle get the better of the Flyers, the Sol would then need to beat Carolina in Austin on July 18. But a Flyers’ loss this weekend would also eliminate Carolina from playoff contention, so Austin would clearly be the more motivated team in their regular season finale. 

Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but I like the Sol’s chances to be hosting the South Division championship game next month.

5. San Diego handles its business in LA

Interestingly, San Diego’s 21-19 victory over the Aviators put pressure on the Flyers, but also means that the Growlers’ playoff hopes are no longer in their control. At 7-4, San Diego will now wait and see how Carolina plays down the stretch.

If the Flyers win their final three games, they will make the playoffs and the Growlers will be eliminated, regardless of San Diego’s finale against Oakland. But if Carolina stumbles just once—either vs. Atlanta, at Austin, or at Houston—the Growlers would make the playoffs in their first season in the South Division.

“We know our playoff situation isn’t 100 percent in our hands, but we wanted to do everything we could to get better and come out with the win [over LA],” said San Diego handler Matt Miller. “Whatever happens with [Carolina], we need to make sure we are ready for the playoffs when the opportunity comes.”

Khalif El-Salaam and Daniel Brunker each had six scores to lead the Growlers on Saturday, as San Diego improved to 4-0 this season against Los Angeles. The Aviators actually generated more break chances, but the Growlers were more efficient with their opportunities, going 7-for-10 while LA went 4-for-12. 

“I am proud of our defense’s ability to move the ball after a turn,” said Miller. “It was huge having [Stefan] Samu and [Max] Gibson back in the lineup after missing a few games. Our doffense is much more dynamic having those two’s throwing and cutting ability.”

6. Madison massacres Indy for second time at Breese Stevens Field

Six minutes into the first quarter, the AlleyCats led 4-1 on Saturday night at Breese Stevens Field. Midway through the second quarter, Indy was still keeping it close, trailing by only two at 10-8. And that’s when the Radicals completely took charge, outscoring the Cats 18-4 over the final 29 minutes, as Madison won 28-12. 

“Indy was putting on some awesome pressure in the opening phases of the game,” said Madison’s Noa Chun-Moy, who tallied four assists, one goal, and two blocks. “They were flying around, and credit to them getting some early blocks [...] If it wasn’t for Matt Grande making an exceptional defensive play to gain back possession and the O-prime line quickly punching it in, it very easily could have been a 5-1 deficit. That possession helped right the ship and allowed our vaunted defense to start rolling.”

By the end of the night, Madison had 19 breaks, while Indy produced only four. 

“Our zone seemed to give Indy fits, and we executed so well down the stretch,” said Chun-Moy. “Later in the game, you could feel the pressure mounting and knew the turns were almost inevitable.”

Anthony Gutowsky caught five goals, tossed one assist, and registered two blocks. Luke Marks and Kai DeLorenzo each added three blocks for the Radicals, who travel to Minnesota this Saturday. 

If the Rads could upset the Wind Chill in St. Paul, Madison could potentially steal home-field from Minnesota in the opening round of the playoffs. 

“The team is excited for the challenge,” said Chun-Moy. “We believe in ourselves and know we have the talent to compete with and beat anyone in the league.”

7. Toronto captures Friday night road result over the Royal

With their playoff hopes already dashed, the Toronto Rush could’ve coasted to the finish. Instead, they traveled light to Montreal and delivered one of their most inspired performances of the season, stunning the Royal 21-18 at Claude-Robillard Stadium on Friday evening.

“We were just ready,” said Tom Blasman, who tossed four assists, scored two goals, and registered one block to anchor a spirited Rush effort. “We were completely devastated with the loss against Pittsburgh and took a couple of days to get over that, but we were ready to finish the season off strong.”

Toronto’s win came despite a shortened roster, and multiple injuries during the game further thinned the rotation. But the Rush never flinched, leaning on returning Team Canada U-24 standouts Oscar Stonehouse and Aarav Sehgal to bolster both lines and recapture the team’s early-season rhythm.

“Our O-line seemed to have our mojo back, and the D-line crushed the whole game,” said Blasman. “From the beginning until the very end of the game, I was sure we were going to win, and I could feel that the team felt that too.”

The Rush jumped ahead 4-0 in the opening quarter and never trailed, maintaining their multi-goal lead the rest of the night. Toronto and Montreal are now both 3-8, and they will square off one more time, on Saturday, July 19 in Quebec, to cap their seasons. 

“We are going to do everything we can to win that and end the season on a high with beating Montreal twice at their home,” said Blasman. “We are ready to show that we are not to be forgotten about. We want to show [Rush Owner] Jim Lloyd that we love him and appreciate so much what he does for us by getting this last W.”

The Hammer

The penultimate weekend of the 2025 regular season begins Friday night with Boston and Philadelphia, then culminates on Sunday afternoon with Philly at New York. Overall, eight of the 10 games on the schedule have some postseason implications. Looking ahead, it’s also possible that nine of the 14 games in Week 13 will also matter in regard to playoff seeding. 

It’s not Friday Night Frisbee or the “Game of the Week,” but one could argue that, among the superb slate of games this weekend, Atlanta at Carolina is the most fascinating contest that’s on tap in Week 12. The South’s oldest rivalry has significant historical context, and the result will clearly impact all four potential playoff teams in the division. 

There’s no doubt that San Diego’s rooting for Atlanta, as the Growlers would clinch a playoff spot if the Hustle prevail. Austin’s probably pulling for Carolina, as that would secure the number one seed in the South for the Sol, assuming they are able to prevail against Los Angeles. 

Those are the external impacts. Internally, the feelings and emotions are even more intense. 

Last year, Carolina and Atlanta split their four regular season meetings, with both sides winning at home. Of course, the Flyers stunned the Hustle in Atlanta in the playoffs. 

This season, the Hustle handled Carolina in Atlanta twice in May, but the Flyers responded with a huge win when the series shifted to North Carolina in June. If the Flyers could beat the Hustle again this Saturday, that would be Carolina’s sixth straight win after an 0-4 start, and it would deny the Hustle home-field in the South final. Even more importantly, it would mean that Carolina would likely be there to cross paths with Atlanta again in the playoffs, and, to be frank, that’s not the matchup the Hustle are hoping for.

Conversely, an Atlanta victory at Carolina would be a seismic moment for the 2025 Hustle, as they attempt to halt the Flyers’ winning streak and eliminate their biggest rival from the postseason in one fell swoop. 

Whatever happens, Saturday’s result and its multi-tiered impact will ripple across the South Division and throughout the entire league throughout the rest of the season. 

Suffice to say, when Atlanta and Carolina battle with nothing on the line, it’s wildly intense. This week, with so much at stake, I am expecting even more frisbee fireworks.