Devon Ultimate

Tour 2 Nottingham: 25th & 26th of June 2011

The Team: Scott Thompson, Nick Williamson, Rob Mann, Melanie Melrose, Chris Ayles, Jamie Banks, Mark Lemon, Danni Barriball, Bradley Jarman, Kieran 'Tank' Guppy, Matt Jenkins.

So with one win already under the belt of the Steamroller we made our way to a rainy Nottingham. This Tour saw us have a similar size squad in numbers but had lost some of the speed with no Duke, Bread (Tour 1 MVP), and Ginger Lightning. But we were bolstered by some safe hands in Chelsea and Phoebe and some new keenness from Brad.

First game up saw us face Yopen 2. They looked very similar in make up to Devon 2 with a mixture of youth and experience. Played hard and ran fast. The weather meant they started off with a zone and we tried to play around it but the time old problem of the Steamrollers slow start was evident again. But soon we started to gel and made them up there game. They were top of our group and took the game 13-2.

Next up Strange Blue 2, with their first team filled with juggernaut geeks it seemed the ‘normal’ people were in the 2nd team. As at Tour 1 they came out hard with their zone and this caused us problems yet again. We tried to get our offence going but again simple mistakes were costing us dear. Final score 13 – 2.

Last game of the day saw us match up against GB Under 17’s, a usual game for us at Tour 2 it seems. This year again saw the GB team have a host of Airbadgers. The plan was to get at them early, be physical and get the wind up them and force mistakes. D3 start of D with a big pull. Ollie Slee attempts a one handed catch and drops it. Ollie was under the impression that you can drop the pull as you can indoors, not so. As soon as the catch was dropped Jam is sprinting as fast as his old legs can carry him to retrieve the disc from the back of the end zone. D3 set up quickly into an end zone formation, a pop pass over the top to Lemon. 1 – 0 to the D3 Steamroller!!!! With big shouts of Devon in the lead come from the 7 on the line. We pulled again. It is at this point our game plan sort of went down the pan and we only managed to put one more point on the board final score 13-2 (a pattern for the day), but a bright future for Devon Ultimate with the promise the Devon based GB Under 17’s showed to close out the game.

This brought on some quick showering, taking over the local pub (2-4-1 on everything, thank you very much!!)

Sunday brought us back into play in the bottom half of the C Tour. Man Up 2 were our first opposition of the day. With maybe not the most technically gifted players at there disposal they used there speed and physicality well (they even had a player who when running sounded like he was a train) they closed out the game early, shut down our O and punished us for our mistakes. Final score 13-2.

Next up Jester's (or some incarnation of them). With only 7 players on their team we though we might be able to push them with our younger (in parts) legs. But in Devon we know what it’s like playing for and Iron man team. They cut where they needed to, used the long punt when it was on. Devon tried to get a come back on the cards, even a Jam layout couldn’t push the Steamroller further. We rallied in the second half but the Jester’s Ironman team had put to many points on the board and took the game 13-7.

Another tradition at Tour 2 sees us playing Flight Club 2 in the final game, and this was they way we saw out Tour 2 yet again. The teams were equally matched, each making use of turn over discs and punishing the opposition. The D3 Steamroller has started to make a habit of making comebacks (this is something we will have to work on for next season). Flight went ahead with D3 trying to stay in touch. The half was taken by Flight. The Steamroller was having none of this. With some MTFU pills being swallowed by the whole team we came out strong and pushed for our second big come back of the season. With one of the Flyght players making ridiculously stupid/lame calls (so much so his own team hate him!!) we pushed for every disc, stepped up the D and tried to make the O flow. But alas we had left it too late. Final score 13-8.

MVP: Chris Ayles (Bieber)

MIP: Scott

Jam #0

D3 Steamroller Captain

DTiD