Pennsbury stayed hot in Maine.
May 21, 2015 by Xavier Stewart in News, Recap with 6 comments
Nothing could stop Pennsbury from taking their second straight Regional title. Not a resurgent Amherst, not a Lexington team looking for revenge, and certainly not the field. The Open division of Northeasterns was played almost exactly to the seeding, but a few key match-ups knocked off big programs and allowed a few teams to sneak into bracket play.
A Complete Victory
Often times teams are able to sneak into bracket play thanks to a few easier opponents in their pool, then on Sunday they get exposed by the heightened competition. Not so for this Pennsbury team which cruised through its pool on Saturday before rocketing to the championship through a collective approach.
Cole Drummond led the team in assists with six, but it was the lack of any one player doing the contributing that made Pennsbury hard to beat. With so much talent on their 22-man roster, they could compete with hungry lower seeds and elite competition alike without a lot of trouble. Their semifinals and finals matches against Lexington and Amherst presented the most trouble but they were only pushed so hard to the tune of 13-10.
Pennsbury continued their super 2015 season with another huge victory at Northeasterns.
Handling Business
Amherst handled their business this weekend and won every game they were expected to win. Their result against Pennsbury was surely disappointing, but not exactly surprising. The Massachusetts-based team was clicking offensively and locking down defensively. Every game they played went to the point limit, and until they reached the final, no team had scored double digit points against them.
As one of the premier teams in the country, ARHS will certainly be back next year just as potent as now.
Getting Hot At The Right Time
That’s just what Columbia High School did at Northeasterns. The oldest program in the country turned it on last weekend, grinding out victories against their entire pool. This includes a 10-9 victory over top seeded Masconomet. The New Jersey team wasn’t stopped until the semifinals when they couldn’t keep up with the Amherst attack. For a team that wasn’t even expected to be in contention on Sunday, this has to be considered a major accomplishment.
Down But Not Out
Lexington High School’s vision for how their season ended was not the one that some of us had. After taking to Twitter to voice their disagreement with Ultiworld’s predictions, they responded early on Saturday by dominating their pool to the tune of a 39-9 run. After knocking Needham out in quarters, they gave Pennsbury their best game of the tournament before bowing out 13-10.
With seven seniors graduating the team could be in flux next year, but Tannor Johnson is still on the team for one more year so it stands to reason that not much will be different. It’s clear that it’s time to stop counting Lexington out.
Parting Thoughts
Middletown, Needham, and Long Meadow all put in solid weekends, but the one thing these programs showed is that they are a step below the elite regional teams. These three teams combined were outscored 31-63 points against the top three teams in the region (Lexington, Amherst, and Pennsbury). All it takes to reach that next level could be one player who makes the leap in talent; that’s feasible with YCCs coming soon. Another thing the three teams have in common is a club team close by. Between Connecticut Insomnia and the incredible Boston ultimate scene there will be plenty of opportunities for these teams to close the talent gap this summer.
Stuyvesant came to play on Regionals weekend. In pool play they beat Cape Elizabeth and Sharon High School convincingly. Then in the crossover game they were able to defend their spot in the bracket against a Falmouth team that was playing way above their seeding. Then in quarters they played the game of the tournament against Columbia before finally losing 13-11. With that kind of production, the New York area must be excited for the club season where DiscNY will try to improve upon their 19th place finish at last year’s Youth Club Championships.
