Texas Shootout Open Division Recap
by Daniel Poindexter
The UT intramural fields hosted a showcase of world-class Ultimate last month for the annual Texas Shootout. Austin’s Doublewide, fifth in last year's UPA national championships, hosted ’09 runner up Revolver (SF Bay area), '09 #3 Sockeye (Seattle), UK powerhouse Clapham, and local stud teams Seuss (Austin) and Super Club (Houston). The open division brought together perhaps the strongest field in the tournament’s history. With the World Ultimate and Guts Championship in July, three of the top US teams and one of Britain’s best gathered to use Shootout as a final tune-up before traveling to Prague.
Revolver was the top overall seed. After a close finals loss, they got even deeper, cherry-picking the remnants of 2008 UPA champion JAM out of an absurdly deep Bay Area. Sockeye, a perennial semifinalist, brought the majority of their Worlds roster from Seattle. Clapham arrived with fourteen players from the UK to square off against top-level US talent. Austin’s Doublewide was looking to build on their highest-ever UPA finish in 2009, adding talent to a young an athletic roster. Two other Texas teams also came to compete – Austin/San Marcos/Houston-based Seuss, and a formative Houston club team organized by long-time Doublewide captain Sean McCall.
Despite fears of rain delays, the weather was surprisingly cooperative – hot and humid, but mostly sunny and surprisingly gentle winds. Day one pool play saw Revolver lose twice to lower-seeded teams. Both Doublewide and Sockeye beat the powerhouse club on Ultimate point, guaranteeing a Sockeye-Doublewide rematch of 2009’s UPA quarterfinals in the Shootout finals.
The rest of the Sunday matches went to seed. Captains from DW and the Fish agreed to roll the pool play and finals match-up into a single game to 19 for all the marbles. The game was an offensive showcase, with both teams scoring quickly from set plays. Sockeye broke first, going on a three-point run and taking half. Doublewide flipped the defensive switch in the second half, throwing junk defenses at Sockeye’s execution-driven offense and making up the gap. At 15-all, Doublewide blew the game open with some huge defensive plays, stringing together the next three goals before Sockeye responded. With a two-point lead, Doublewide’s David Melancon sent an 80-yard backhand to a streaking Kevin Gaffney for the Shootout tournament win.
Doublewide’s win, along with the competitive talent fielded by Houston and Seuss, is an indicator of the incredible increase in depth that Texas ultimate has produced in the last five years. Doublewide plans to use the Shootout win as a springboard to Prague. It’s the first step towards bringing a world championship back to Central Texas.
