June 27, 2025

Jason Christensen

Salt Lake Shred washes the Spiders out 21-25

Another week, another win for the Salt Lake Shred, who clinched a Playoff berth in their second game against the Oakland Spiders June 27. The Shred now sits at 7-1 and improves to 2-1 this season against teams with a win/loss record over .500.

Answering Oakland’s adjustments

Things started off slowly on offense, not unlike the Shred’s first game back from its first bye week this season, resulting in a three-point first quarter.

“They know how we like to move the ball on offense,” said Shred head coach Bryce Merrill, “and they did a great job, especially in the first quarter of taking away the lanes and angles that we like to use to set up our plays. And so kudos to them for forcing us to the back half of the playbook.”

“I think our O-line sometimes takes a second until we get our feet under us,” said Chad Yorgason. “We always get a feel for it and it sometimes just feels like we got to get some throws in, get some passes in at full speed and then we've really got it locked in.”

C. Yorgason noted the impact of the bye week on the beginning of the game.

 “I think part of it was that, and part of it was our legs,” he said. “Sometimes just at the beginning of the game, it's like, oh, this is hard. And like, we're tired. And then you get kind of used to it throughout the game and then your legs kind of get numb, maybe you could say. And then you just keep running. So I think that was part of it too.”

C. Yorgason returned to the O-line after an injury kept him out of the Shred’s second game against the Steel.

“It's hard to be on the sidelines and not, you know, contribute as much,” he said. “I feel like I have more of an impact and an influence on the team morale and how we play when I'm actually able to be out there with them.”

C. Yorgason demonstrated that influence against the Spiders, posting another strong statline of three goals and four assists. This was also the first game of the season where all three Yorgason brothers saw the field.

Fighting the good fight

Speaking of strong statlines, no Shred player had as strong of a night as Jace Duennebeil. Duennebeil had his best performance of the season against Oakland. In 17 points played, he posted an assist, two blocks, five goals, and zero turnovers. He and the D-line had several breaks that pushed the Shred out of the back-and-forth scoring of the second and third quarters and built a five-point lead.

“We just kind of focused on just winning our matchups,” Duennebeil said. “We got some nice poaches because we were putting pressure on the handle set, and we were getting those pressures on the downfield under, so I feel like that’s where I found success getting D’s, and we were off to the races from there.”

That race was highlighted by a point that lasted three minutes and flipped possession five times in the fourth quarter. It began with a  Spider drop on a backwards pass that got the Shred on the doorstep of a score, but an errant throw from Kyle Weinberg gave the disc back to Oakland. Weinberg made up for this with a block that gave Salt Lake the disc again, only for the disc to be thrown away again. Then a block from Ben Ashton led to a huck that had Sam Pew huffing and puffing to make the catch just shy of the goal line and pass to Nathan Huff for the score. Pew collapsed on the sideline after expending all his energy to put pressure on Oakland and secure the goal for the Shred–and the whole team brought that same level of effort to secure the 21-25 win.

The 2025 season still has some hurdles for the Shred, with games against Colorado and Minnesota still on the horizon. Games against strong teams like the Spiders are exactly what the team needs if it hopes to do well and advance to Championship Weekend.

“That back and forth is what playoff ultimate is going to be like for us,” said Merrill. “If we feel like we can get used to the rhythm, you know, these are great coaches, great players. They're going to punch. And they're going to adjust. And so I think for us, it was just a matter of, okay, can we stay confident? Can we stay on our game plan, even though we're making those adjustments?”

Those questions will continue to be answered with back-to-back road games against Vegas and Colorado before the Shred returns home for another match against Colorado.