West Plains Conference Championship Writeup 2011

Temperatures went from 75 degrees and sunny to 35 and snowy in the course of three days, just in time for West Plains Sectionals tournament. The rain of the previous two days and the snow of that morning forced a delay until 1PM on Saturday. Iowa arrived at the fields to face very cold and incredibly windy conditions, with the toughest games of the pool to be the first two of the day.

The Iowa State game was a battle of windy trap zones that were very successful at keeping teams from scoring on the upwind side. The game would end on serve, as the conditions forced sloppy play, and IHUC (who won the flip) would win on universe 9-8. The next game would be against Luther. They came out firing hard, and proved that they could move the disc well, despite the conditions. IHUC had trouble running its zones and Luther would play fast-moving offense to earn a few upwind breaks taking a solid lead in the first half of the game. But Iowa refused to give in. Switching to man defense and becoming more aggressive on the upwind shots, IHUC slowly pulled back into contention, with some good D's and a Callahan, to force universe point. Iowa would have to score upwind again to win the game. A multiple turn point ensued, with Iowa continuing to push upwind in a battle of attrition. Eventually a deep huck would be caught on a great play inside the endzone for the game winning goal. IHUC would then ride the momentum off that victory to beat UNI 13-0 and UNO 13-4. The curse of the green jersey may have finally ended for IHUC as the sick new Zelda jerseys refuse to be defeated.

Sunday morning's first game against Nebraska was still in cold and windy conditions, but the sun was out and the gusts were not nearly as bad as the previous afternoon. IHUC would work hard on fundamentals and would eventually push past a scrappy Nebraska team for the victory to earn a spot in the championship game. It was to be a rematch against Luther.

LUFDA always seems to play IHUC tough. In the past two years the teams have matched up five times. Iowa has won all five battles, but never by large margins.

Once again IHUC would come out a little sluggish, man defense faltering, and the O-line struggling. Luther would take a three break lead going up 2-5. But Iowa had been in this position before. The team didn't panic and did not give up. IHUC worked harder, the team grinding out the battles, switching up the man defense and forcing the opposing team to fight for every inch. Iowa got two breaks before half and then one right after to put it back on serve. Both squads gave their all, fighting in extremely long points during the back half. The O-line would battle to hold for several points but would eventually get broken again. Down 10-11, Iowa faced a game to 13. The O-line scored to tie it, and then the defense took two more breaks to win the championship.

The weekend featured several tough games, but IHUC has come to realize that the Series is filled with tough games, and by working harder, the team can grind out the victories. There is still a lot to work on and only two weeks left to Regional's, but the team is ready to peak, and to play their best in Appleton.