By Nate Church

The Salt Lake Shred pulled away late in the fourth quarter in their Friday night win over the Oregon Steel.

A seven-break run in the fourth quarter gave Shred the push they needed to overcome Oregon Steel 25-18.

The Salt Lake Shred started off strong after a disappointing loss to the Colorado Apex last weekend. Winning the first two quarters in points, the Shred were in a good position moving into halftime  However, the Steel rode a momentum shift coming out of the half, out scoring Salt Lake 8-5 in the third quarter.

With less than 30 seconds left in the third quarter, Chad Yorgasen ripped the disc underhanded across the field, finding Ben Ashton in the endzone, giving Salt Lake a shred of hope.

The close second and third quarters put Salt Lake in a difficult position late in the game. Tied to start the fourth quarter 17-17, a rough stretch for the Shred looked like they might take back-to-back losses.

But as time wound down, the Steel began to struggle.

Despite their eight-score third quarter performance, the Oregon Steel crumbled both offensively and defensively to close out the game. 

“Great response from both D lines tonight,” said coach Bryce Merrill. “They were steady all game and built nice pressure.”

Mistake after mistake put the disc back into the Shred’s hands. And each time the Shred took it to the endzone. Over the span of the fourth quarter, the Shred outscored the Steel 8-1, flipping what momentum Oregon had gained in the third on its head.

“We weren’t getting the ball from the Steel,” said Merrill. “In the fourth quarter we got desperate and that was all we needed.”

The Steel ended the match with a 26% break rate, with seven of the last eight points for the Shred coming off of break chances.

Sealing the win, Salt Lake moved on to the next with a must-win matchup against the Seattle Cascade on Saturday, June 13.