After a week of rainy weather, the teams of the North Central Region went into the Friday before Regional's still unaware of whether or not they were going to be playing. The original field site had closed down, backup sites were up in the air, and the weather for the weekend didn't look good. But at last, fields were found in Madison at a middle school summer league site and the games were on.

 Saturday morning dawned cloudy and windy. IHUC was seeded fourth, to be placed in Pool D. First game against Wisconsin Eau-Claire. Eau-Claire came with a small team of only ten or eleven guys, but proved that they had some talent. IHUC came out a little shaky but was able to get a few upwind breaks and hold off the tough team. Win 15-10. Second game was against Nebraska and there was a similar story; in the tough wind, IHUC got the early breaks and held on, but still didn't look to be playing at the top level- another 15-10 win. Across the board, other teams were also engaged in close battles, and Wisconsin Whitewater- the fifth seed- was undone and upset by Wisconsin Eau Claire- losing 14-9. IHUC knew that Whitewater was reeling from a loss and got jacked up to play the biggest game of the day.

 For the first time all season, the team saw its full potential reached. IHUC burst out and got two upwind breaks, finishing the down winds to go up 4-0. Whitewater, already down after their first loss, had very little fight left in them. IHUC took half 8-2, then scored to make it 9-2. The second half grew even more windy and both sides struggled to move the disc, and so the game ended with a few more downwind points held, taking victory 15-5.

 The semi-finals were set as originally seeded, Iowa versus Carleton, Wisconsin vs Minnesota after Grey Duck took down Luther in pool play. The wind was still a factor, but it began to die slightly as the teams faced off. Carleton who had an easy pool path, came in confident. The game was close early, each team trading down wind points, punting whenever they were in trouble. Tied at 4-4, CUT called a time out and Carleton loaded up a line of players that would have made a club team envious and came out with fire. They broke upwind and got the downwind, and took half 8-5. Iowa had been down before and emphasized at half time that the team had made plenty of comebacks. The team emphasized it could be a game of runs, and they were not ready to give up. IHUC came out of halftime and got an upwind and downwind break of their own to make the game 7-8. But Carleton finished the downwind to make it 7-9. As the wind began to die down near sunset, the teams were forced to play more man defense, and the points grew longer. IHUC fought hard, but Carleton controlled the end of the game and went on a run, and won 15-8, moving on to the Regional Final, guaranteeing a berth to National's.

 At the end of Saturday Iowa was down, but not out; the team returned to the Lake House of one of its members and prepared mentally for Sunday by eating a ton of food, playing telephone Pictionary (featuring a lot of mottos focusing on beating Grey Duck and Luther), and a blind date/ hot seat combo. The team headed to bed early, knowing that they possibly only had three games left in their season.

 Sunday morning was sunny, but possibly even windier than the day before. First game against Luther- a team that always seems to get up and play Iowa with a terribly ferocious intensity- was once again very tight. Eric Johnson was playing every point and making fantastic throws in the wind. Both teams were punting and then playing hard man defense, hoping to trap on the downwind corner of an endzone. Luther came mightily close to scoring upwind several times as they forced Iowa to huck it out of bounds (on the down wind sideline as there was a sort of diagnol cross wind). But each time Luther came up just short. After half, after a strong pull, Iowa raced down to set a zone, knowing that if they could stop the huck, they might get an easier shot at the upwind endzone, also knowing that the first upwind break would be critical to victory. The zone tipped a deep pass, it was intercepted at half field, and a quick upwind throw set up a wide open huck which led to a huge sky in the back corner of the end zone. That made the score 9-7. Iowa finished the break, even more critically, and then kept pushing. Iowa would fight hard and get another upwind break late in the game to seal the deal. IHUC win 13-8 on cap.

 Big win. Luther knocked down had to play an extra game to get to the fourth place battle at the end of the day. IHUC got a brief bye round to get out of the wind (chilly) and got to face off against the team they hated most in a battle to go to National's (unlike last year). Minnesota would be the foe next. Their first round game was a piece of cake. They beat Minnesota Duluth 15 to 1, having an extremely easy time, and then immediately left the fields, uncaring of the tight game that was going on next door, not paying attention to the strategy used. When they returned, IHUC was ready.

 As IHUC got into the pregame huddle, some simple facts were laid out. No IHUC player on the team (including 5^th year seniors) had ever beat Minnesota. There had been several close games, a few universe point loses, but no wins. The conditions were very windy. Iowa prepared for a battle, knowing that they might be losing at some point, knowing that they could grind it out, that they had come back in so many big games this season.

 IHUC won the flip and got to start going downwind on offense. Minnesota came out furious. They played tight D, got the turnover, and attacked, scoring upwind within five minutes, putting the momentum in their favor.

 It was the most crucial point of the weekend for IHUC. Down 0-1, going upwind, Iowa could have folded against their rivals. But there was no fear- Iowa knew they could still come back, and the group began playing together beautifully. The team came out hard, with an upwind line, and scored right back, making incredible plays going into the wind. Then IHUC refined its zones, shutting down all disc movement forward; denied of its play sets, and faced with a seriously pissed off Iowa team, Grey Duck struggled with every pass. IHUC proceeded to crush Grey Duck, never letting up the intensity, never being satisfied. The upwind line was moving incredibly well, breaking zones, hucking deep even into winds of over twenty miles an hour, and every player was contributing, with great plays from each individual. Saucy Nancy, fresh off a championship victory (mad props) had come to support and the many Iowa fans that came this weekend (thank-you) were only growing louder while the Grey Duck parents were despairingly falling asleep.

 Taking half 8-2, the team was not content. Still, Minnesota made an adjustment, and scored one point right after half, working efficiently, but were then denied by the ferocity of the defense.  IHUC won 15-3, demolishing their competition, earning a bid to nationals and a chance at the 2/3 game.

 Minnesota, disheartened and shocked, would move a few fields over to play a young and hungry Luther team. Luther, after observing what had happened, figured out the strategy that had won Iowa the game. Led once again by fantastic play from Eric Johnson, LUFDA would fight hard and push a bewildered Grey Duck team out of Nationals for good, taking fourth place by winning 12-8 on cap.

 Carleton CUT had faced a rough Sunday when they went down big to the Wisconsin Hodags in the Regional Championship game. Carleton was apparently making many, many mistakes and were down 3-8 at half. The CUT team mounted a comeback against their age old rivals and tightened the game to 11-13, but would lose 11-14 on cap. They were a disheartened team, hoping for an easy rematch against IHUC.

 They didn't realize that Iowa had finally reached peak performance and were playing out of their minds- making incredible plays and moving through a big wind as if it didn't exist.

 Iowa won the flip again, electing to defend the upwind endzone. The strategy that had so effectively dismantled Minnesota was to be employed again, as Iowa was confident in this wind- ready to throw zones, and suddenly feeling as though no team in the country could stop them. Carleton CUT had no idea the kind of team that was coming against them in the rematch.

 First off, the team scored quickly to take the downwind ; then the upwind came out playing hard, and had several close chances at the upwind side, but failed to capitalize. Iowa scored the downwind, but then another long point ensued, with IHUC getting several shots at the goal again. The points were grinding, long, and made the game seem further advanced; Carleton was playing man defense against Iowa, even near the upwind side, and IHUC had chances, eventually scoring. Lead 3-1. IHUC came out after the upwind and scored the downwind without turning the disc over. CUT was rattled and called a timeout; Iowa was making them work very hard, and they were playing a lot of man defense early, but IHUC's lines were deep and every single player was doing well, without letting up. CUT kept trying to play man, but Iowa was getting open on every side and running strong zones on D, refusing to let up.

 Carleton did get the downwind point after the timeout, but worked for it. Iowa up 4-2, had a beautiful downwind to score 5-2, making excellent plays. Iowa hucked upwind to make it 6-2, after the zone continued to force CUT to take bad shots, and blady throws. Iowa kept pushing to take half 8-3. IHUC came out of half scoring upwind again, taking the score to 9-3.  In the second half of the game, Carleton knew they had their backs to the wall and were not happy about it. They made some adjustments and continued to play hard.

 CUT called in a lanky D-line player (Simon Montague #9) and he came in to thrown and go, slicing through the zone upwind. But play grew physical as the points grew longer, and observers were involved. The previous day, IHUC had a few observer plays that went against them and had let the arguments get in their head. Using a special sideline call that calmed the play, Iowa didn't let the multiple calls affect them. IHUC fought the long point, and fended off several furious assaults on the upwind endzone, scoring finally downwind after a ten minute long point. That was probably the most critical point of the game, Iowa going up 10-3, shutting down CUT's many attempts to score. Long back and forth point again ensued, but CUT got it 10-4.

CUT got an upwind break with several short, quick passes through the zone, using the throw and go again and again. CUT at last decided to throw a zone, pulling down wind and trapping the team on the downwind line. But IHUC continued to make incredible throws even with the wind, and the handlers shot through the cup. The upwind line was just playing with calm precision,  IHUC scored the upwind with a big play 11-5. Again another long point ensued, this time Iowa switching to man defense, but again CUT eventually was able to get the upwind 11-6. Yet Iowa was able to answer again! Every time CUT scored upwind, Iowa came back, this time calling a timeout after a huck- there was a turnover, but Iowa worked it upwind immediately after a defensive block. CUT continued to throw man defense near the goal line, but the Iowa handlers were pushing hard, moving the disc well. IHUC scored on the upwind goal with great handler movement. Cap went on with the score 12-6, game to 14. IHUC finally stopped the string of upwind scores with a quick downwind punch in. 13-6, game point, Iowa scored upwind to end it, taking the second place in the region.