Some of you may know that each year Michigan plays a showcase game against BAT to show their prospective players a real game. However, this year, they asked us to come down to Weasel Town hoping to draw a bigger crowd. A total of 13 returns plus the promising young talents of Ryan and Brad Morstadt made the trip down to Ann Arbor. The game started at 6 at Palmer Field right in the middle of campus. The Couch started on offense using Ryan Heffernan, Aaron Ziegler, Jason Mirjah, and Christo Ferguson as cutters and Alex Edinger, Kevin "Marty" Stowe, and Connor Grant (myself) as handlers. Ziegler caught an in cut and immediately looked deep to a streaking Heff who came up with a nice one handed snag on the goal line. However, the disc was turned over as magnUM took a shot at working it up-field. Due to excellent sideline help, wild marks, and hard dump defense, we were able to force a turn and Marty was able to break his mark and hit Heff for the first tally of the game.
Weston Laabs, Hatham Shawqi, Dagger, Andy Barnhart, Ryan Morstadt, Heff, and Jesse Ellwood stepped on for our first D point of the game. After some hard man D, we were able to get a turn but not able to convert. MagnUM then took Ryan Morstadt deep who caught up step for step with his man but a weird hang on the disc prevented him from coming down with the D giving magnUM their first score of the game. The O got broken the next point but the next point was able to score when I ripped a forehand blade to a wide open Ellwood. 3-2. Our D line this game was just giving Michigan nothing. Throughout the whole game, we were able to get them were we wanted for our guys to make some plays on the disc. There were multiple magnUM turfs, stall 9 toss up throws that for the most part we were able to D, and great dump defense allowed for myself, Laabs, Ferguson, and Mirjah to get layout D's on dump passes. Fast forward a few points and we find ourselves down 5-2 on O. The we turn the disc but get the d right back after a nice layout d by Heff. Heff then takes off deep with Dave Fumo guarding him as I proceed to pick up the disc and jack it deep to him. Heff is able to box out one of the best defenders in the region then layout for a huge point that then made the game 5-3. Magnum was able to take half 8-4. We were able to break the first point after half and sent out a sick D line to try and bring the game to 8-6. Jason Mirjah came up with another sick layout D which turned into a perfect Dingo up-line huck to Justin Hentemann who was able to run it down inside the end-zone. Michigan was able to go up 10-8. If there was one thing that killed us this game other than a few poor decisions it was out D line's inability to convert after we got the turn, however, this will come with time as we work on disc skills and chemistry develops. On another note, one thing that really brought this game down in my eyes were the very very poor foul calls by magnUM. At one point, some chump that Weston was guarding called a foul on him because the guy ran into Wes when he was fronting him. Marty also had numerous Busch league calls made on him. We were able to maintain our composure and not stoop down to weasel call status.
The run starts. Our original O line comes out ready to make a statement. As I get the disc in the middle of the field, I see a match-up made for the ages: Aaron Ziegler with Ollie Honderd guarding him. My eyes light up and Ziegler, as well as the rest of the Couch, know what is coming. I let a forehand bomb go as Ziegler somehow moves his 6'3 frame gracefully towards the end-zone with the future leader of the weasels following him deep. Boom!!! Head Shot!! It was a true beaut' to see Ziegler bag the shit out of the Great Lakes Freshman of the year. No fear at all. I would like to take a moment very quickly and say how proud I am of our second year players who came to this event. You guys have progressed so much. Jesse, you are turning into one of the most reliable handlers on the team and have been able to develop into an excellent defender as well. Christo, not only are you always able to get open, but you disc skills are so much better than last year. When you come back to handle, you have every throw we need. Ziegler, when I first laid eyes on that massive frame of yours two summers ago, I knew that you were destined for ultimate greatness. It is this progress from players like you guys that will make or break a nationals run. Even with out sidelines echoing in Ann Arbor and our handlers shredding magnUM's marks, we found ourselves pulling 12-10. Our D was able to get down and stop the second throw, making one of magnUM's handlers very uncomfortable. We were able to get the turn and Alex Birko threw a nice forehand blade to Laabs making the game 12-11. After I pulled it out the back (nOOb), Fumo got the disc on the force sideline. Our downfield D shut down everything, looking dump Fumo threw up a 8 count backhand to space for his handler. It never got there. Jason Mirjah came soaring through the air, snatching up the disc and landing gracefully in the endzone. CALLAHAN! This was by far the biggest play of the game so far. At 12-12, his layout Callahan brought this game to universe.
The Universe line was called. Zigler, Heff, Laabs, Dingo, Marty, Christo, and myself all stood on the line waiting for the Weasles stumble out onto the line still shocked at what had just happened. After a fairly decent pull on my part, we were able to lock down on our men. After a few swing passes, they finally gained the courage to look upfield. As Gordon Siegfriedt passed to a magnUM cutter, I saw a green blur whose body I will always recognize (howdy sailor). Heff came in red hot for a soaring layout D on universe. We started running our endzone and were able to find some success for a while. However the endzone stalled and Dingo ended up throwing a stall 9 desperation hammer to me which was D'ed. Gordon picked up the disc and jacked it to Ollie. Wes was able to catch up but Ollie just simply had better position. Game 13-12 Magnum.
Couch, throw your throws, accept the risk, and know that errors are not evenly spaced. This was one hell of a game. We need to use this as motivation to become even better and not be satisfited with were we are but were we can be. We can go up or down. Get high like planes.
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