2009 UPA NYS HS Championship Recap (by Kevin Jacobs)
For final results visit – http://www2.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=17&id=5984
2009 UPA NYS HS Ultimate Championships Recap
Saturday
Pool A featured top-seed Stuyvesant with their methodical offense. The Sticky Fingers allowed only 17 points while winning their four pool games, as only Brighton scored more than 6 points against them. The Fieldston Eagles and Brighton Pink Panthers were both 2-1 entering the final round on Saturday. The two teams proceeded to play Pool A’s best game of the day with Brighton prevailing 12-11 at hard cap to take second in the pool. The final round also matched the Bard Barians against the Fayetteville-Manlius Hornets, both whom were still winless. Bard emerged from a Spirited game with a 13-7 and fourth place in the pool.
John Jay Air Raid held the top seed in Pool B, went 4-0 on Saturday, but the defending champs found the path to winning Pool B more difficult than expected. An opening round 13-7 Air Raid win over the New Rochelle #&!**ing Geese was followed by an 11-9 thriller over rival the Beacon Blue Demons in a rematch of the previous two years’ finals. The Fairport Deathsheep battled John Jay valiantly, but fell 13-8. The Scarsdale Hellfish threatened the Air Raid, but John Jay eventually prevailed 13-9. New Rochelle pulled off the day’s biggest upset with an 11-8 victory over Beacon. However, Fairport turned the tables on the #&!**ing Geese and upset them 13-9 the following round. The final round in Pool B brought lots of excitement, with two winners set to earn Sunday morning byes, and losers having to come out early for the Prequarterfinals. Beacon and Scarsdale claimed their spots in the Quarterfinals with hard-fought wins over Fairport and New Rochelle respectively.
Sunday
Playoffs: Since the Bard Barians decided to not attend the tournament’s second day, New Rochelle received a forfeit win to enter the playoff bracket, while the tournament’s consolation schedule had to be scrapped and reformed. Meanwhile, Fairport triumphed over Fayetteville 15-6 in the other play-in game. The quarterfinals supplied the best round of the weekend with four well-played games. Stuyvesant continued to display their disciplined style with a 15-6 win against Fairport. Beacon defeated Fieldston 15-12 in an exciting see-saw battle. New Rochelle put quite a scare into John Jay, with the lead changing hands a number of times. However, the Air Raid steadied itself in the second half to pull out a 15-10 victory. Upstart Brighton continued to surprise everyone by closing out Scarsdale 15-10 in last quarterfinal.
The semifinals featured both top seeds flexing their muscles and utilizing their large rosters against two teams that appeared to run of gas after grueling climbs to reach the final four. Stuyvesant and Beacon were meeting in the semis for the third year in a row, Beacon having won the first two, but the Sticky Fingers would not be denied this year. Stuyvesant played the most flawless game of the weekend while dismantling their New York City archrivals 15-3 to storm into the championship game. The tournament’s surprise team – Brighton, in their first-ever appearance at States, played great all weekend with only a 10-player roster. However, their lack of numbers left them exhausted and vulnerable to the deep, talented, and well-stocked John Jay squad. John Jay turned the clock to midnight for Brighton’s Cinderella story with a convincing 15-4 victory to earn their third straight trip to the championship game.
Consolation
Beacon and Brighton shook off disappointing losses in the semis to play a spirited third place game, with the Pink Panthers finishing on top 13-7. This marked the third year in a row an Upstate NY team placed third. Other action saw friendly rivals Scarsdale and Fieldston meet, with Scarsdale winning 15-7. Fieldston then claimed an 11-4 victory over Fairport. Fayetteville failed to pick up a win, falling to New Rochelle and Scarsdale. However, their big hearts, strong effort, and great Spirit won the admiration and friendship of all their opponents, earning the Hornets the tournament’s Spirit of the Game Award. An Honorable Mention for Spirit of the Game must go out to both Fairport and Fieldston.
Finals
The finals lived up to expectations, as both very talented teams left everything they had left on the field. The championship game was played at a high-level and featured numerous outstanding plays from both sides. John Jay opened a couple of leads early in the game, but could never pull more than two points ahead of the patient Sticky Fingers squad. Air Raid took half 8-7, as the winds seemed to pick-up along with the game’s intensity level. Stuyvesant never wavered from their game-plan, and finally took the lead late in the second half. The steady-handling Sticky Fingers took an 11-9 lead at soft cap, followed by the teams trading scores to make it 12-10. However, the hard cap sounded as John Jay showed the heart of a champion by scoring the last point. The 12-11 win gave the Stuyvesant Sticky Fingers their second state championship and their first title since 2002.
Congratulations to the 2009 New York State Champion Stuyvesant Sticky Fingers, who proved themselves to be worthy champions by playing with style, class and most of all great Spirit throughout the tournament.
Team Spirit Averages Individual Spirit Award Winner
Fayetteville-Manlius Hornets – 4.92 Craig “Sunshine” Hall
Fairport Deathsheep – 4.83 Craig McGown
Fieldston – 4.42 Zach Green
Stuyvesant Sticky Fingers – 4.33 Andrew Lo
Bard Barians – 4.25 Nicholas Eng
John Jay Air Raid – 4.17 Eric Silver
Scarsdale Hellfish – 3.92 Jeff Ehrlich
Beacon Blue Demons – 3.75 Lucas Corsiglia
New Rochelle #&!**ing Geese – 3.58 Marc Langer
Brighton Pink Panthers – 1.75 Ben Davis
Special Thanks to the tournament staff: Kent Smith, David Peterson & Keith Hopkins, along with Chris Bisignano and his staff at SUNY Purchase.
Thanks to all who helped make this a successful event.