Photo by Jammie Phea

Article by Nate Church

After weeks of losing at home to its West Division foes, Salt Lake pulled off a major upset on the road, taking down the No. 2 seed Seattle Cascades 22-20 in the first round of the playoffs.

The back half of the season has been disappointing for the Salt Lake Shred. After a gauntlet of games in June, the wear and tear began to show as they dropped their last three games of the season.

Despite the struggle, Salt Lake was only losing games by single digits, on the cusp of the big win it needed. That win came at the perfect time.

“We know we can beat Seattle,” said Shred star Chad Yorgason last week after the final game of the regular season. “As long as we are all bought in, we’ll be right there.”

From the opening pull, it became clear that things had changed for the Shred across the board and they finally got “over the hump.”

Salt Lake led almost the entire game, and were dialed in on thwarting Seattle’s game plan. Finishing with 11 blocks to Seattle’s four, the Shred capitalized on possession changes and turnovers.

On the offensive side of the disc, Salt Lake went a perfect 10-for-10 on hucks, with the farthest throw soaring 74 yards from Eugene L’Heureux to Ben Hoffman. Hoffman immediately caught the pass and threw it back to an open L’Heureux for a 16-yard score.

Salt Lake’s success throughout the game was facilitated by Jordan Kerr, who finished with over 350 throwing yards, four assists and two goals. Kimball Pew was close behind with a pair of goals, two blocks and an assist.

Everything was on the line for both teams and after leaving it all on the field, the contest came down to the final minutes. With the Shred rolling and Seattle trying to play catch-up, the Cascades took to the “huck and pray” tactic.

With under two and a half minutes left and down by two, Seattle threw a bomb towards the end zone. Underneath the flying disc, a one-on-one battle raged as Shred’s Simon Dastrup chased down his defender. The disc made its descent and was perfectly placed for a Cascades goal. But Dastrup had other plans in mind.

Leaping up from behind the defender, Dastrup knocked the disc away, saving the score.

Coming off of his big-time deflection, Oscar Brown threw a 72-yard bullet to Chad Yorgason, who stumbled ahead of his defender and just barely caught the disc. Unfazed, he turned around and found none other than Dastrup, who took the disc into the end zone for the game-winning score for Salt Lake.

Not only did Salt Lake pull off a playoff upset, it also made league history, becoming the first team with a losing record to win a playoff game.

The Salt Lake Shred will face the No. 1 seed Oakland Spiders in the divisional championship on Saturday, August 8 in Oakland, California.