"YCCs will smack you in the face."
Captain Joe Bender drove this point home to teammates during the post-tournament team meeting. After leading by example all weekend, the words certainly got through.
For Impulse's entire history, the idea behind attending club tournaments was to create that "smack in the face" early and often. 2011 was no different.
Game 1 v. Bear Proof (16-15 L)
A strong opening by both teams led to a 4-4 tie without any breaks and few turnovers. Bear Proof's defensive adjustments, however, led to a 4 point break run against the Impulse offense and half was taken 8-4. Inspiring play from defensive leaders Pat Earles and Kelley McAndrews led to two huge breaks to pull Impulse back into the game - the second of which was a full field huck to Kelley off of a timeout for a layout score. The sidelines exploded! Bear proof locked their game up down the stretch though and exchanged points with the boys from Pittsburgh to a universe point loss.
Game 2 v. EVIL (15-7 L)
The team from Louisville outmatched Impulse athletically from point 1. Their speed and endurance made defense extremely challenging for Impulse, as the team was unable to get a break for the only time all weekend. Impulse's defense was tentative which led to easy incuts, uplines, and break throws. These mistakes almost always led to huck goals. Coaches discussed the importance of defending these aspects of the game. It is imperative that Impulse recognizes that the goal is never only the huck defender's fault - it usually becomes a goal before the huck even goes up.
Game 3 v. Jurassic (14-11 W)
This game was the team's first experience with playing tired and though Impulse played well, the final score was far too close. Impulse had a few chances to run away with the game on extremely long defensive points, but could not muster up the energy to grind into the endzone. Instead, Impulse had more than 10 huck turnovers caused by a combination of lazy cutting and poor decision making. The offensive line played an impressive game with only 3 turnovers - only 1 of which was converted into a break. Joe Bender stood out in particular, throwing 7 goals, catching 2 more, and generating a game high 2 Ds. Kelley McAndrews and Connor Russell joined Bender with 2 Ds each and other players chimed in with great team defense to create 12 individual Ds and 9 more team Ds. While the game was a solid defensive performance, much of it was due to tired play by both team's offense. Conditioning will be paramount from here on out.
Game 4 v. Super Phun Time (17-16 L)
Another universe point loss, same reasons why. A solid offensive game slipped into 3 straight breaks because of lackluster defense after turnovers. Again, Impulse's offense was extremely solid with only 6 total turnovers, but only 2 of them were earned back and this led to a demoralizing run of breaks. Still, Impulse showed resilience and clawed back into the game with a dominating sky by Arlo for a key break. Though the team turned in only 2 Ds all game, teamwork gave them opportunities to win the game. Universe point, however, showcased the team's glaring weakness on defense and a three pass huck string led to a wide open goal. The concept of team defense continues to allude Impulse to this point. The coaches discussed these issues and planned an intensive defensive warmup for Sunday morning.
Game 5 v. Sheet Metal aka Lake Effect (10-9 L)
Coming into this game there were a few changes of personnel from Day 1, Max Sheppard
had been moved from O-Line to D-Line to generate in cuts and offensive flow after the turn,
Scott ‘Trucks’ Trimble and Alec Assaad filled his role cutting on O-Line, Pat Earles was out
with an injured toe and groin, and Brad Romantic was handling on D-Line after missing
Saturday of the tournament. Impulse came out rolling on O and generating lots of turns on D. Up a break early, the Impulse D-Line continued to give Sheet Metal problems on offense but failed to complete the breaks near the goal line after working it up the field with great movement by Luke Bodnar, Graeme Kernick, Max Sheppard, and Sam Van Dusen. Late in the first half with Impulse still up a break; Sheet Metal threw a zone that the O-Line was able to shred effectively with lots of swings and timely hammers over the cup. Despite working it well in zone offense, a few poor decisions led to two breaks consecutively by Sheet Metal to take half 8-7.
Out of half, Impulse found its defensive intensity that it had thrived on early in the game
and got the break back on a huck from Sam Schurer. After much discussion due to a foul call
away from the play, it was ruled a goal. A hold by each team brought the game to 9-9 and a long
point which saw many D’s by both teams ensued. Hard Cap sounded during this point and
Impulse had the disc on the goal line, and called a timeout to set up a play for the win. A failed
end zone play and a quick huck to a bidding player in the end zone by Sheet Metal gave them the win, 10-9 on universe point.
Game 6 v. Ann Arbor Spoiler (15-9 W)
Relegated to the 13th place bracket, Impulse was set to play Ann Arbor’s Spoiler. Slightly
deflated by the universe point loss in the previous round, Impulse came out a little bit slow
despite great play as always on offense by captains, Max Thorne and Joe Bender. Impulse went
up one break pretty early at 3-2 and took half with another at 8-6. Coming out on O to start the
second half the coaches were still convinced that the lead wasn’t big enough and the intensity
still wasn’t there. After O-Line punched in the goal to go up 9-6, the coaches decided to keep the O-Line out for a D point in an attempt to fire up the rest of the team. After earning a turn and getting the disc near their goal line, Impulse completed a huck and called time out to set up an end zone play. After the end zone play failed, a long swing by Spoiler popped up and Graeme Kernick ripped it down toeing the goal line for the Callahan, 10-6 Impulse. This was the spark that the team needed and Impulse rolled for the rest of the half to a 15-9 win.
Game 7 v. Meth Lab (12-10 W)
Playing for 13th, Impulse came out on offense once again. Still feeding off of the energy from last game Impulse scored then broke to go up 2-0. After both teams held on offense for a few points, Meth Lab broke back to put the game on serve until Impulse broke again to go up 7-5. Meth Lab scored to make it 7-6 but Impulse’s offense continued to shred the tired zone of Meth Lab to take half 8-6. Out of half Impulse remained up a break when the rain started to come down hard. The game got sloppy, but Impulse kept composure and brought the game to 12-10 before it was called for lightning. With this win, Impulse finished 13th - breaking seed by one spot. This game saw great team defense with nearly half the team getting a D throughout the game. The win meant that Impulse finished 13th, breaking seed by one spot and
capping off a successful weekend for Impulse.
Coaches Corner:
Overall, I'm really happy with the resiliency the team showed this weekend. The team never gave up and battled to tight games in 6 of 7 contests. We see a few strategical issues with endzone offense and offensive transitions as well as some major work to be done defensively. The key issue, however, has been addressed by the team's goal of going above and beyond with conditioning and training. Our commitment to 3x/week field workouts and 2x/week lifting workouts will turn us into the best conditioned youth team in Pittsburgh history. We MUST follow through.
"YCCs will not smack us in the face."
#Sacrifice
One Team, One Goal
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