Buzzer Beater: Babbitt Grabs It! New York Eliminated [UFA Divisional Playoffs]

Former Empire star Jeff Babbitt clinched Boston’s historic upset over New York

July 30, 2024 by Alex Rubin in Rankings, Recap with 0 comments

Welcome to Buzzer Beater, Ultiworld’s weekly Ultimate Frisbee Association article rounding up the biggest stories from the weekend in men’s semi-pro ultimate.

Evil Empire Ended

Back in March when Jeff Babbitt made it clear he was not going to re-sign with New York, even the most loyal stans would have stretched to imagine a moment like we saw on Saturday night in Boston. Babbitt began his UFA career with New York. Ninety-six games, 150 blocks, 276 goals, three championships, and an MVP award later, Babbitt decamped to Boston to help the Glory transition from a low-commitment expansion team into a league power.

Regular season wins over New York and DC gave the Glory hope of making their first Championship Weekend, but beating New York in the playoffs is a different beast than stealing a regular season win. Last week I predicted the Empire’s playoff know-how and historic capability of winning would be sufficient to get them at least to the division’s championship game. New York hasn’t missed Championship Weekend since 2017. Well, it turns out Jeff Babbitt was a big part of those Empire teams’ past success, and his impact for Boston stretches beyond the field.

Of course, the moment you’ve all probably seen by now happened in the end zone at Hormel Stadium. The Glory called a timeout with 12 seconds on the clock after Elliott Chartock launched a high-stall bailout punt that sailed out of bounds. New York is known as the best team in the league at nailing end of quarter situations, but again this was an area where Babbitt proved decisive. He led the Boston huddle as the Glory devised a plan to score quickly and avoid overtime. On the other side, the Empire defense did not look set when the referee’s whistle blew to signify the start of play. Boston quickly got the disc off of the sideline and eventually into the hands of Tannor Johnson-Go, who placed a blading flick to the right side of the end zone. As a pack gathered under the disc, Babbitt waited in the back before springing through a pile of bodies and securing the game’s decisive goal.

BABBITT💥BOSTON💥BUZZER💥BALLGAME pic.twitter.com/t7QEs8L5CP

— UFA (@watchUFAtv) July 28, 2024

This game was about way more than one play, and there were many more people who played a part than I have space to name here…but it’s hard to avoid thinking about how different the result might be if one specific player was suited up for the other team. Babbitt will continue to lead Boston through the playoffs, as the Glory advance past the first round for the first time in team history. Awaiting them in two weeks time are the DC Breeze, another team eager to make their first Championship Weekend appearance after years of playing second fiddle to New York. Boston and DC’s two games already this season were each one-goal affairs won by the home team.

Before we look ahead and preview that game, I need to say that this is a shocking result for a talented, experienced Empire team. This historic Empire run was always going to end at some point. Given the strength of the Breeze and Glory, this moment was coming. But it still feels surreal, and knowing it was always possible does not erase the sting of this defeat for Empire players. New York still has the most resources of any team in the league, and it will be interesting to watch how the organization responds to their worst on-field season-long performance in several years. While this season will not end at Championship Weekend, there’s no doubt the Empire have the power to get back there as soon as 2025.

News and Notes

• Boston’s takedown of New York was exciting given the context and storylines around Babbitt’s role, but the most exciting albeit sloppy game was probably Madison’s upset over Chicago. The Radicals won 18-17 in double overtime with a rare clean hold. Madison managed this win despite converting just 47% (14/30) of their offensive possessions into scores. Instead their defense shined. The Radicals notched 14 blocks and stifled Chicago’s attack. Though they’ll be the underdogs against Minnesota, Madison proved it can win must-win games already this season and won’t back down from the challenge.
• Seattle continued its magical season with a divisional round win over Oakland. Led by Khalif El-Salaam, the Cascades’ defense did some serious work to force 23 turnovers out of the Spiders. Lukas Ambrose and Mikey O’Brien are some of the scariest matchup defenders in the league, and they each had four blocks in this game. Seattle will be hard pressed to beat Salt Lake next week, but if their defense continues to show up and force opposing offenses into uncomfortable situations, a win is absolutely possible.
• The famed Austin Three-Year Plan did not have a exciting epilogue. Carolina demolished Austin in their divisional playoff matchup, earning revenge after last year’s matchup in the same round went to the Sol. Carolina closed the game on a 7-1 run as Austin seemed to give up on its season. Tobias Brooks continues to improve as a player, but he just threw seven assists and churned out 611 yards of total offense; he is clearly ready to shine in big moments. Carolina will face Atlanta in two weeks time for the right to attend Championship Weekend. This will be their fifth(!) meeting of the season, and the chess match between two stellar coaching staffs will be a treat to watch.

Mailbag

Have a question about the UFA? Send it in to [email protected] with UFA Mailbag in the subject line. You can also message me on Twitter at @StallSeven, or subscribers can DM me in the Ultiworld Discord.

The main section is pretty long this week, so I’m going to skip the reader question. We’ll add more next week since there won’t be games to talk about until August 9th.

UFA Week 14 Power Rankings