June 20, 2023
By Shaggy Shragis
The Philadelphia Phoenix demolished the Montreal Royal in Northeast Philly on Saturday to the tune of 22-13. It was Philadelphia’s largest win of the season. With the blowout, the Hotbirds notched their fourth straight win in a row, and improved to 4-4 on the year. The Phoenix can rest easy after the big win as they enter a well-earned bye week.
While a nine point victory in the AUDL—particularly in the lower scoring Eastern Division—is a blowout, the game was even more one sided than the scoring margin indicates. The Phoenix never trailed, and after 0-0 were never even tied with Montreal, as the Hotbirds held on offense to start and followed it up with back to back breaks. With just 18 total points of the offense, the O-line rarely saw the field, and Philly’s deep D-line was able to grind out break after break.
After snatching a 9-4 lead off an exciting tipped buzzer beater at the end of the first quarter, the scoring markedly slowed, with both the second and third quarter going an even 3 points to each team. Both teams were worn out by the pace, as players who were used to quicker points spelled by rest were out there for marathons, as Montreal continued to turn it over and the Hotbird D refused to either score or give the disc back. The results were technically magnificent—if highlight sparse—from Philly defensive personnel playing offense. The Hotbirds D put together an incredible four and a half minute point in the second quarter, and followed it up with a nearly seven-minute point in the third. While Montreal managed to keep pace with Philadelphia after the first, exhaustion kicked in as the game wore on.
That was evident when Philadelphia scored six of the first seven points to open up the fourth, putting the final nail in the coffin of what had been a disappointing double-header for the Royal (they also lost by 9 to DC the night before). The Hotbird O-line was on the field for a little over two minutes of the 4th, as the defense ran the show for the most of the game. This was likely the least the Philly offense has played in any game in Phoenix history due to the right combination of their classic big play ferocity and the defense’s dominance.
Everyone on the team played well, but a special shout out to Paul Owens, Eric Witmer, Andres Rodriguez, and Mike Campanella. They all topped seven in completions this game, perhaps for the first time in their careers as defensive specialists. Through arduous, multiple turn, several minute points and possessions, these four maintained their poise and quarterbacked the defense to an impressive 55% break rate. Consistency is a valuable, often overlooked, ultimate skill, and these four played possession ultimate for an entire game, despite the best efforts of the Canadians.
On the other side of the disc, the Hotbirds continued their impressive end of quarter tomfoolery, with not one but two buzzer beaters: one in the first and one in the fourth. The first was on a slightly short huck from Alex Thorne that Greg Martin macked into the endzone for an impressive grab by CJ Colicchio. The second was another Thorne huck that sailed over the pile into the hands of James Pollard. Speaking of James Pollard, the Phoenix big man has scored, assisted, or blocked a disc as time expired seven times this season, nearly twice as much as any other player in the league. Big Game James indeed.
The Philadelphia Phoenix are heading into their bye week at a comfortable 4-4, with just one game remaining on the schedule against a team that made the playoffs in the last two seasons. Furthermore, three of those four games will take place at home in Philly, where the Hotbirds have been a different sort of winged creature. The Phoenix have been outscored by 8 on the road and gone 2-3, and have outscored opponents by 11 at home and gone 2-1. If Philadelphia can continue to put on pristine performances at home, then they could very well earn themselves a home playoff game, something which has never happened in Phoenix history.
