Photo by Roxanne Duennebeil
Article by Nate Church
The atmosphere was intense on Friday night in Zions Bank Stadium. The Salt Lake Shred, coming off of two straight losses at home, came out of the locker room with one goal in mind, to protect their home turf.
In their final game of the regular season, the Shred faced off against the Oakland Spiders, their bitter West Division rivals, only adding to the intensity and electric atmosphere.
In a back-and-forth battle that came down to the final minutes of play, Salt Lake suffered its third loss at home 22-19.
It was the offensive line up that dominated the first quarter of play, with both teams trading blows. It was also a quarter of cheer-envoking receptions for the Shred.
Just a few minutes later, Chad Yorgason came up big for the Shred with a Callahan goal. After accidentally throwing the disc away, Yorgason made up for his error.
As Oakland picked up the disc and prepared to start their offensive run, Yorgason appeared out of thin air and stole the disc on Oakland’s first pass attempt.
The already raucous crowd erupted and Yorgason’s teammates rushed the field in celebration.
“All of us have to do our job in order to make big plays like that,” said Yorgason humbly when asked about the big-time score. “Frisbee is a team sport so I couldn’t do it without them.”
By the half, Oakland led 14-10, with Salt Lake’s O-line and its ability to hold and score on possessions keeping Oakland from running up the score. However, the Shred’s 67% hold rate couldn’t stand against Oakland’s 91% hold rate.
The Shred D-line struggled during the first half of play, going 0-for-11 on break chances and a 0% D-line conversion rate. Oakland also struggled on break chances, finishing the half with a 27% rate. However, its D-line held strong when it was on the field, finishing the half with an 80% conversion rate, and contributing four points to its total 14.
With the first half behind them, Salt Lake came out strong into the third quarter of play and it was in the third quarter that a shift was felt on the field and throughout the stadium. The Shred found their rhythm and started converting on break opportunities, making three trips to the end zone on breaks. The crowd felt the shift and grew even louder. Players on the sidelines could be seen hyping up the crowd.
Salt Lake gained momentum, forcing two goal line mistakes for Oakland and responding with two back-to-back scores. The crowd roared and feet pounded the metal bleachers, a booming approval of the Shred’s performance. Oakland maintained the lead, but Salt Lake creeped closer throughout the quarter. At quarter’s end, Salt Lake had outscored the Spiders 4-3.
Oakland, however, still held a three point lead over the Shred going into the fourth. But within seconds Salt Lake cut it to two on the opening pull. The two teams went back and forth, causing turnovers and capitalizing on penalties.
But as time ebbed away Salt Lake’s too-little-too-late pattern started to show. Each time the Shred scored, Oakland responded. Adding salt to the wound, Salt Lake came up with a huge turnover with under two minutes left and immediately threw it away in the end zone.
Oakland would go on to score two more times and cement the win, 22-19.
“We are right there,” said Chad Yorgason of the Shred. “We’ve had so many games that could’ve gone either way … we’re not letting it get into our heads that much because we know that we are right there.”
Salt Lake lost their three final home games by single digits, including a loss to the Cascades just a couple weeks ago.
“We have just a couple things that, if we can flip the switch on, it will change the game,” said Yorgason. “That’s our mentality going into the playoffs.”
Despite the loss, the Salt Lake Shred will continue into postseason play as they take on the Seattle Cascades in the first round of the playoffs on Saturday, June 25.
