Club Power Rankings [9/14/22]

Few upsets, missed opportunities among the many ranked clashes in the first weekend of Sectionals.

September 14, 2022 by Ultiworld in Rankings with 0 comments

Each week, we’ll post an updated edition of our Power Rankings here on the front page to facilitate discussion in the comments and help us share each week’s rankings via social media. The most up-to-date version can always be found on our permanent rankings page.

Men’s Discussion

• In a year where all teams were required to participate in Sectionals to start their Series journey, all of the top teams performed as expected at their respective events and the top of our board remains unchanged. There were a few clashes between ranked teams that mostly played out to expectations: #1 Washington DC Truck Stop dispatched #13 Virginia Vault in the Capital final, #3 Raleigh Ring of Fire put down #22 Raleigh Durham United in North Carolina, while in the East Coast #10 Atlanta Chain Lightning defeated #20 Tennessee Tanasi. We were sadly robbed of perhaps the highest-profile Sectional matchup, as air quality scuppered the Washington/BC final between #8 Seattle Sockeye and #16 Vancouver Furious George, though both topped #19 Seattle Emerald City.
• The back end of our rankings were shuffled up thanks to a few upsets. In the Northwest Plains, Madison Mad Men came out on top of long-time North Central standard-bearers Minneapolis Sub Zero and the two essentially swap spots this week. But the real shocks came in West New England, where previously unranked Amherst TireBizFriz bested both Montreal Mephisto and  2021 Nationals qualifiers Amherst Sprout. As a result, TireFireBiz makes their Power Rankings debut at #24, pushing Sprout down to #25 and seeing the Canadians fall out entirely as they miss out on Regionals.

Mixed Discussion

• In what should have been the showcase game of Sectionals weekend, the expected final between Seattle rivals #1 BFG and #2 Mixtape never materialized as the tournament was cut short due to air quality concerns. The tournament did give us our first look at #6 Vancouver Red Flag in USAU competition, who fell to Mixtape in the semifinals but otherwise did enough to confirm their Top 10 credentials.
• In another Top 10 clash, #4 Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust earned a comprehensive five-point win over 2021 national semifinalists #9 Madison NOISE; despite the lopsided scoreline, both stay put in the rankings this week. The real news from the Northwest Plains was Minneapolis No Touching! finishing the weekend in 9th place, dropping them from #18 in our Rankings to off the board entirely.
• While it’s hard to call it a true upset Boston Slow claimed Beantown supremacy and a Sectional title over Sprocket; the crosstown rivals swap spots at #15 and #16. Another intracity battle saw #7 San Francisco Polar Bears and #18 San Francisco Mischief play to universe point for the second time this season, suggesting that the Southwest’s lone bid to Nationals might not be nearly as secure as PBR would hope. Another one-point margin was all that separated Colorado rivals, #10 Fort Collins shame. and #20 Denver Love Tractor, setting up a fun three-way battle with Texas champs #14 Dallas Public Enemy for the South Central’s two bids.
• Returning to the Power Rankings this week are Arizona Lawless at #23 and Athens Murmur at #25. The former handily won a tough SoCal Sectionals and could be rounding into form at just the right time. Murmur couldn’t top #11 Nashville ‘Shine, but finished second in the East Coast, just ahead of Atlanta Dirty Bird who are probably the first team out of the Top 25. Falling out to make space, in addition to No Touching!, are former #25 San Francisco Classy, who suffered a loss to BW Ultimate to finish fourth in the NorCal section.

Women’s Discussion

• As was the case in the other divisions, two elite programs in the Northwest missed out on the chance to faceoff in the Sectional final, with #7 Vancouver Traffic and #9 Seattle Riot having to settle for a shared crown in the cut-short Washington/BC event. At the same time, the Canadians looked much the stronger in the two teams respective matchups with #24 Seattle Underground, beating the Emerald City’s second team by 11 compared to Riot’s three-point margin.
• Unsurprisingly, several intracity matchups between ranked squads were won by the traditional powerhouses: #1 San Francisco Fury topped #13 Nightlock by 9, #3 Denver Molly Brown beat #22 Small Batch by 11, #5 Washington DC Scandal pipped #12 Grit by 3, and #8 Boston Brute Squad defeated #16 Siege by 4.
• Other less storied ranked matchups provided a little more excitement. Philadelphia Flight shocked in-state rivals Pittsburgh Parcha for the Founders title, moving Flight up to #21 and dropping Parcha three spots to #15. In West New England, Quebec Iris and Northampton Starling played to universe point, seeing the programs inch slightly closer to each other at #12 and #23 respectively.
• After losing the Texas Sectional final to Austin Vengeance, Houston Crush City retreat from the #25 spot, making space for Indianapolis Rogue who own wins over several other fringe contenders and will play out their Sectional tournament this coming weekend with a looming matchup against #14 Chicago Nemesis.