Writeup: Mardi Gras 2011

     The team's journey began with the incredibly long ride down to Louisiana, via Megavan, Shortbus, and Friday morning old man car. Typical road trip shenanigans ensued. Team was once again short a few players and a coach who could not make the trip, and once again injuries would leave the team with low numbers on Sunday.

    Much of IHUC spent Friday alternating between sleeping and spreading mayhem throughout the local area outside the hotel. Many would head down to Bourbon Street on Friday night. Numerous adventures were reported, the least of which was Captain Nugget revealing his "A Game" to the ladies and Stutz nearly being left behind to fend for himself on the streets of New Orleans. At long last the entire team was reunited, falling into unconsciousness at a late hour.

Saturday morning started off with an early wakeup call and hot, humid weather, with ominous dark clouds on the horizon. The team arrived at the fields set to play North Texas. Game started off slowly in the muggy weather- IHUC perhaps showing signs of the late night and a lackluster warmup. Tied at 4's the lightning became too obvious to ignore and everyone was called into the indoor basketball courts. After about an hour of waiting around watching hundreds of ultimate players find wacky ways to entertain themselves (flutterguts, animal game, and napping were IHUC's methods), the team headed back out into the rain (now furiously pouring) and the mud to finish the game. Sloppy play ensued but Iowa played better fundamentals to win 13-8 just as more lightning struck. Word from the TD revealed that all games were called for the rest of the day.

            This announcement would prove to royally screw over Hucititis B. The Iowa B team had a bye round early so they didn't get to play at all on Saturday; a later miscommunication between Prookie and the tournament director would leave the TD with the impression that both teams were heading home. IHUC would luckily get placed back into the bracket, but Hucititis would have to leave for Iowa early without playing a single point. Seems like those guys bonded and had a fun trip down to NOLA, but still, that is a crappy situation.

            Saturday night saw a team dinner at Chimes in Baton Rouge with awesome food and beer choices. Unter would successfully avoid getting beat down with birthday celebrations, Bieber and Short would attempt to woo Stacy, the attractive hostess, neither with much success. Many IHUC players would head to the party that night to retry their luck with the ladies, others would pay a profitable visit to a Casino Riverboat.

            Blackout Sunday found the team rocking the dark jerseys, and moving through the bracket. A little chilly early, but weather got sunny and beautiful, with gusty winds on and off throughout the day. First game was against Arkansas, a cool bunch of guys IHUC had previously faced off against at FSC. The winds were strongest during this round and the game became an upwind/ downwind battle. Arkansas had excellent high release throws that were working through the zone, but in the end, Iowa simply had less turnovers in the difficult conditions, earning more upwind breaks to win 13- 7.

            Second game against Alabama started off quite close. The wind was dropping slightly, shifting directions, and overall just not being cooperative toward throwing zone. Bama had some fast handlers that were proving difficult to guard and their team came out with a surprising intensity. IHUC was caught off guard at first and the score was tight until the second half, when the D-Line began to take greater advantage of the opposing squad's turnovers. Eventually the game would be won on cap 12-7.

            Quarterfinal matchup was against George Washington. This game saw IHUC play relaxed, but almost too much so, as Iowa failed to gain a commanding lead. Early on both teams scored often as each sized the other up. IHUC offense kept control (perfect at this point in the day still) until the D-line started to apply the confident pressure and get the breaks to put the game away. Win 13-9.

            Iowa finished early enough that they were able to recollect themselves a bit before the Semi-finals. The team watched as Luther and DUF battled it out in a tight game until eventually the North Central team was able to pull out the victory, giving the region three out of the four teams in the semi-finals.

IHUC starting on defense, enters the first point against interregional rival Luther pumped and excited, and the squad was able to generate multiple turns in an extremely long battle with both sides moving the disc up and down the field, threatening to score. Eventually Luther would capture the hard fought first point, but not before the damage was done: both teams, low on numbers, were tired even further from that early ordeal, and Luther would feel the effects even more acutely than IHUC. As a result, Iowa's D-line would be able to push across three breaks before half-time leading 7-4. The O-line, who played a fantastic semi, smoothly continued to roll giving Iowa the 8-4 lead after half. Both teams would trade points as the game settled into a rhythm. Eventually O-line would be broken near the end of the match but the lead was too great to surmount and Iowa walked away with a 13-10 win.

One field over, Minnesota, who seemed to have the easier road to the finals, was rested and waiting after taking out Indiana by a big margin. Iowa loosened up and prepared to receive the pull. Both teams started the game off slowly; there was very little sideline presence for either group, both teams were tired after playing four games already in the sun, and there was not much of a crowd for a championship game. Each line traded points, the various defenses having trouble getting turnovers, the low intensity not helping matters. IHUC would readjust and see some great hard man defense on the downfield hucks in the first break of the game: IHUC 4- Grey Duck 3. Minnesota would hold the next point to tie it up, and would then amp up their own intensity as Iowa failed to sustain their adrenaline. The O-line would be broken twice in a row. A timeout was called, but momentum was already firmly in Minnesota's favor. They had become loud, and were carrying their momentum forward, while Iowa- tired and very low on numbers- was having trouble getting refocused. Minnesota would rattle off a few more points to eventually take half 7-4, with their own O-line set to come up out and widen the lead. They would get two more breaks to lead 9-4 on Iowa.

The Offense regained their focus and scored, and then the D-line was able to get some fire and put two more breaks on the board, closing the gap to 7-9. Unfortunately that would be as close as the game would come. IHUC would fight in another tough D point, but Minnesota would eventually score to make the game 7-10, would then take advantage of a throwaway to make it  7-11 and would eventually win the game 13-8. Iowa fought all the way.  

Minnesota would take home the championship, Iowa would enter the exhausting, all-night ride home with second place. Most players would arrive back in Iowa City at around 8AM, worn out and forced to catch up to that annoyance known as "school" by taking midterms in the last week before break.

The first loss of the season was a disappointing one, but the team still has high spirits. The season is very young, there is a lot to work on, and the next time Iowa faces off against Minnesota, IHUC hopes to have some injured players back. Perhaps the next meeting will be at Easterns, which is now less than two weeks away. What is set to be probably the most competitive tournament of the year will have a big impact on the season, and Iowa needs to rest up and compete strong during this portion, and be ready to continue to train and practice in the weeks leading up to the Regional Championships.

Also- props to Saucy Nancy, who won the Midwest Throwdown this weekend. Seems as though both Iowa programs are set to have strong years, and the North Central Region continues to be one of the best in the country.