Two tournaments left

The Firedogs last two tournaments of the fall are set. We will be traveling to Denison this weekend for the originally named, “Denison Fall 2008 Tournament,” and to Bowling Green next weekend for their, “2 Discs, One Huck,” tournament. Both tournaments will be jam packed with East Plains talent and will be a great indicator of the talent all the teams in the sections have going into the spring.

The Dogs have been practicing extra hard to finish out this fall season. Monday’s practice saw a great turnout in 35 degree weather. The team ran drills and had two scrimmages despite the cold, all with great intensity. Maintaining this intensity in practice is vital for the Firedogs for the rest of the season, as the qualities they show in practice will carry over into the field. We all need to push one another to get better.

The section is looking very strong this year. Ohio State is on top as usual, and Dayton, Miami, and Ohio look to be just as good as last year. It seems like every team that made regionals has the ability to repeat again this year, while other teams are coming out of the wood work as stronger than ever. It’s going to be an exciting spring.

Denison Fall 2008 Tournament

This tournament will be the first all fall that the Dogs have close to a full roster. Senior cutter William Tappan Kenny will be returning to the team after an ankle injury, and the close proximity of the tournament to OWU means no on can claim to have too much school work to attend. The team will only be missing three players for this tournament, Junior Cutters Jake Barnett and Zak Gomes, as well as sophomore Will Conditt.

The Dogs are seeded right in the middle of the pack for this one. It will be interesting to see what match ups will come from it when the pools are released. If it is five pools of four then the Dogs will likely be the third seed in a pool with Kenyon, Case Western and Denison B. If its four pools of five, the dogs will be the third seed in a pool with Ohio X, Denison, Bluffton and Xavier B. Either way the team will have some good sectional match ups this weekend.

2 Disks 1 Huck

OWU has always done well at BG’s fall tournaments, and we hope to continue the tradition this year. The Dogs will however be short on players this weekend due to grad school tours, GRE exams, and other ‘responsible stuff.’

The Dogs have a very tough pool, headed by the very talented Dayton Ghettoforce. Dayton has grown stronger every year and looks to make a run at sectionals and regionals this year. Also in the pool are the vastly improved Denison DFUC, and Wright State Air Strike. It should be a good test for the Dogs while playing undermanned, and a good way to finish a solid fall season.

No Wisconsiquences

It was the trip the team had been waiting for all semester. The Firedogs all crammed into the university van and headed northwest for 9 hours, they were Wisconsin bound. Having only played in small in-state tournaments for the past several years, the veterans on the team were hungry to go to this huge Cultimate tournament. Well organized and packed with talent, No Wisconsiquences was exactly what the Firedogs needed.
The team preformed well overall on the weekend, breaking seed to finish at 31st in the talented 45 team field. Highlights included an upset win over division I school Missouri and the slaughter of Wisconsin B. In the team’s losses they learned a lot about high level competitive ultimate and everybody on the team grew from them.

Here are some clips.


Firedogs at NoWisconsiquences from Yard Yoder on Vimeo.


Layola from Will Yoder on Vimeo.


OWU vs Northwestern from Will Yoder on Vimeo.


Untitled from Will Yoder on Vimeo.

Fall so far

The fall season so far for the Firedogs has been successful but slow. The team has seen quite a few very close games against very good opponents, and has worked hard in practice and games to implement new offensive and defensive strategies. The team as a whole is growing with both its abilities on the field and its knowledge of the game. It’s been a new approach for the Firedogs, but the ultimate goal is still the same, a Regional birth.
The Dogs have really taken a step back early on this year and have decided to use the fall as a learning experience for their younger players. Seeing how far the freshmen and sophomores have grown already in the first two months of the year, it’s looking like it is paying off. The freshmen’s forehands are far more advanced than classes in the past, and the sophomores are learning how to contribute at a high level.
Opportunities for the youngsters to step up into new roles have been plentiful as injuries have marred the firedog veterans all fall. Junior cutter Jake Barnett was lost for the fall after a terrible ankle injury at Wright State, Senior Will Kenney hurt his ankle early on at the Miami tournament, and sophomore Will King Condit broke his wrist. While it is frustrating to not have been able to put the entire Firedogs team on the field together yet this fall, the team hopes to be fully healthy and ready to go by the spring.

Miami Boogie Summer Cooldown

The Dogs first game was against a Miami split squad, the “Miami Dolphins.” OWU came out hard and took the early lead with good handler play from their seniors and conservative cutting from the younger players in the stack. With solid play through the first points, the Dogs looked to run different offenses then their traditional ho-stack. For the first time all year OWU showed a side stack with two Iso’s, along with two handlers. The Dogs were able to use this look to work the disc up the field, isolating their best players, and score with ease.

Things were going the Firedogs way until Senior cutter Will Kenny went down with a sprained ankle attempting to make a D on a deep throw to someone else’s man. With this score, and the crushing blow of the Dogs losing one of their senior leaders Miami went on a 8-5 run and took the game 15-12.

The Dogs played sectional powerhouse Ohio University in two games over the weekend. Both were incredibly close, highly contested games that eventually went down to universe point. While the Dogs inevitably lost both these games, it was the best offense and the most heart the team had shown since their D-III nationals run in 2007. Everyone from the seniors to the freshmen played huge and while they ultimately came up short, they all had a lot to be proud of. Senior Will Yoder and freshman Eric Charett came up huge on D all game, while Junior Jake Barnett scored 8 of the teams 15 points.

The team finished the weekend 2-4 with wins over Denison and Earlham, and close losses to OU twice and Miami X and Miami Y.

Case Western North Coast Open

Due to injuries and illnesses, the Dogs were only able to muster up enough to have a savage roster the morning of North Coast. The Dogs sported 2 seniors and 5 freshman in what became a learning experience to say the least. While the freshman improved tons, it was not a pretty weekend in the win loss category.