June 8, 2024
By, Quincey McKeen
The Salt Lake Shred took on the Colorado Summit on Saturday in this exciting rivalry game. The Shred played the Summit on their home turf in mid-May and won the game 20-15, so the Summit were definitely looking for revenge.
The Shred jumped out to an early lead, with four breaks throughout the first quarter. The Shred began with their trademark patience, with the O-line unafraid to keep passing until the perfect shot opened up. The first break opportunity came from an overthrown huck, with a valiant effort from Summit player Dennis Bechis to toe it in. The Shred capitalized, with a crossfield huck to Joe Merrill. The second break was set up by an excellent pull and the D-line hustling to set up, trapping the Summit in the end zone. A floaty throw was picked off by Simon Dastrup and quickly thrown to Merrill for another Shred goal. The third break began with excellent defense from Oscar Brown, who intercepted a Summit deep shot. He quickly picked up the frisbee and hucked it to Ben Ashton for the goal. The final break of the quarter came from another Summit misthrow. The Summit looked tired, coming off an intense game versus Oakland the night before, where they were in a similar position after the first quarter, down a few points.
In the second quarter, the Summit brought the fire and the fight, answering Shred’s breaks with three of their own. An overthrown Shred huck led to a big throw from the Summit that Alex Atkins reeled in. Another floaty huck attempt in the next point was picked off by the Summit for their second break. With the score at 10-8, the Shred were stalled out, a lapse in their normally crisp O-line flow. A timeout call got the D-line on the field, but they were unable to get the frisbee back and the Summit got their third break. A few holds later, the second quarter ended 12-10 for the Shred.
The teams seemed to be trading quarters and the third quarter went back to the Shred. The first point was a marathon, with a couple break opportunities for the Shred. The Summit had a bobble drop and a misthrow, but the Shred gave it back twice on misthrows of their own. The Summit held, bringing the game to 12-11. After a few holds for each team, the Shred got a break when the Summit’s extremely patient offense broke down on the end zone line, with a bladey throw that went awry. Sean Connole hucked it deep to Dastrup who dished it to Merrill. The Shred ended the quarter with another break after an excellent run through D from Ashton, bringing the score to 17-13 for the Shred.
Unfortunately for the Shred, the pattern held and the fourth quarter went to the Summit. The Summit opened the quarter with two breaks, both after a Shred huck was D’d by a Summit player. A Shred D-line went out on offense to give the O-line a chance to regroup, and scored with a Matt Russnogle goal. The Summit held and then got another break after a huck from Jordan Kerr to Ben Field was intercepted by Summit player Kai Marshall. The Summit followed with another quick break, when Sam Goldstein intercepted a throw from Luke Yorgason to Jacob Miller and quickly dished it to Seth Faris for the Summit goal, bringing the score to 18-18. The Shred D-line came out on offense again and got the Shred hold, 19-18. The Summit followed with their own hold, 19-19. In the final minutes of the game, an unfortunate bop from Jace Duennebeil, who was under tight defensive pressure, led to a Summit break. Duennebeil got it back for the Shred with great defense in the Summit endzone, but a misthrow from Miller to McKay Yorgason gave possession back to the Summit, who went on to score. The score was 19-20 for the Summit with 16 seconds on the clock. Connole ripped it for three Shred players streaking deep, but Atkins got the interception and ended the game in the Summit’s favor, with a questionable triple spike.
It was advertised as a rivalry game and it did not disappoint in that regard. The Shred vs Summit matchup seems to go one of two ways - every game between the two teams has either been a win by five or a win by one, with both teams on the winning and losing side of that equation. This was the Summit’s second win of the season, a much needed boost for them with play-offs approaching. The Shred’s win streak is over, but they maintain their top spot in the West Division and have discovered some areas to strengthen through the rest of the season.
