Ah, Preseason

Showcase League begins this season much like a roller coaster, with a gradual ascent upwards towards the real fun. Preseason has begun, and kicked off this summer's SL with a couple of games that pitted Colin's nameless Team 175 against Tyler's red-clad "Faster, Higher, Stronger" squad (a reference to this), and Ryan Purcell-led "Ricky's Mom" against Matt Wilken's (aka Rook's) team.

The first of those two games was actually more of a friendly. It had to be, since Colin's army of three necessitated the loaning of multiple Faster Higher Stronger (FHS) players, making the game an exciting showcase of talent, but not so much a war of factions.

That war was taking place on the opposite field. Rook captains a rich group of players whose style of play relies heavily on successful poaching into the throwing lanes and intelligent, rather than hard-nosed, defense. Matt Schlough provided multiple D's, and their offense was made successful by the sure hands and tight throws of players like Mike Burton, Noah Bindman, and Paivo Kinnunen. But theirs was not an easy task.

On the other end of the field, Ryan Purcell and Will Neff proved a formidable offensive duo, and without losing former SL captain Ricky Eikstadt to an accidental collision, this game could've turned out differently. The pair were able to move the disc anywhere they wanted on the field, but as their team O began to lean on them, Rook's team D took note and began to focus their efforts on the pair, creating tougher reset throws and turns as a result.

After going down multiple breaks, these turns righted the ship, and with Rook and Geile at the helm, they sailed on to a narrow victory, seeing Geile hit the ground for one of the late-game goals. Asked why Neff, who was guarding Geile, didn't bid, he was heard to remark "I didn't think Geile would lay out for it!"

The other field saw a blended, Colin-led Team 175 get off to what ended up an insurmountable lead, as Tyler had to watch his own teammates Andy Foldesi and Lucas Price slice and dice his defense. It seemed to happen in an instant- all of a sudden, FHS was down 4-0, and the physical mistakes were proving costly. Finally switching to a horizontal offense, FHS got their legs underneath them, and things began to happen. Coming out after a dour halftime, FHS punched a quick score to bring the game to 8-4. Then, a Team Colin turn, and a break. Then another, and it was 8-6-- maybe this was a game after all. Then, another turn, and FHS could smell blood, working its way up the field, and finally finding the endzone! But wait, not in? Nate Solon thought so, and before they knew it, FHS was tapping the disc in and tossing a backhand... that wasn't completed. Turnover. Team Colin marches and scores.

This momentum swing proved crucial, and except for a late-game, pressure's-on mini-run to take the game from 14-10 to 14-12 off of a hand-block and a lay-out in-cut D, The Man with The Face Disc and his small troop won the day.

Next week pits Rook's Team 174, with the addition of now-wart-free big man Pat Collins, against Tyler's roster, and this will be a better look at the strength of FHS as a unified group.

This leaves Colin to start getting his players geared up, or at least attending, next week's match-up against the intimidating offensive juggernaut of Purcell's "Ricky's Mom," whose team name is an age-old reference that truly is funny, even if you don't get it.

And the countdown to the regular season draft is still ticking away..... See you all next week!