All the favorites, contenders, and sleepers as the regional championships begin.
September 20, 2024 by Patrick Stegemoeller, Edward Stephens, Graham Gerhart, Matt Fazzalaro and Aidan Thomas in Preview with 0 comments
Ultiworld’s 2024 coverage of the club division is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.
The club 2024 postseason is here! After teams battled all summer to earn bids for their regions, it’s time to figure who gets to go to the Big Show and try to win it all. We’ve got you covered with the favorites, challengers, and top storylines of every region.
Great Lakes
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Westfield, Indiana
Number of Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥
Favorites: #2 Chicago Machine
Challengers: Grand Rapids Beacon, Columbus Flying Dutchmen, Cincinnati Omen
Rarely does drama arise when it comes to the top spot in this region, as the last time any team came within even two points of Chicago Machine at regionals was 2018. All said, the national title contenders Machine have won seven straight Great Lakes titles, and barring an upset so monumental it would dwarf that of the 1980 USA Hockey team, they’ll make it eight in 2024.
For Chicago, the battle this weekend is avoiding any major injuries, getting star players like Joe White and Keegan North tuned up for a bid at a championship and giving their depth pieces important reps to prepare for the Nationals grind, where deep rosters are frequently rewarded.
Nothing in sports is 100% certain so a shoutout to potential challengers could include second-seeded Beacon, who boast the region’s only other top-25 win, 13-9 over New York Blueprint back on August 18.
Cincinnati Omen, the most recent non-Machine qualifier out of the Great Lakes, aren’t nearly at the level they were in their Nationals season of 2022, but a 4-2 effort at Cooler Classic, including a regional win over Chicago Trident and a 15-10 win over Pittsburgh Temper, indicated that the boys from Ohio may be peaking at the right time. Beacon and Omen play each other in pool play, and the winner will be able to avoid Machine until the final, a reward well worth fighting for. Flying Dutchmen beat Omen and also topped Temper at Cooler Classic, so they’re in the mix for the right to face Machine in the regional final.
While Machine’s ride to the bid should be stress-free, the competition for the Top Select bid, and the remaining three Select bids, will be fierce. Outside of the three aforementioned challengers, the Great Lakes has five more teams ranked between #29 and #58. The lowest ranked of those squads, the Kentucky Colonels, finished third in the Great Lakes last year and beat Omen earlier this season. Their pool-play matchup with Trident will be intriguing, with both teams figuring to be a player for that Top Select spot.
Mid-Atlantic
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Frederica, Delaware
Number of Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥
Favorites: #3 Washington DC Truck Stop
Challengers: #19 Virginia Vault, #25 Philadelphia Ghostbusters, New Jersey Garden State Ultimate
Counting down from 3 to 2 to 1. After another lost bid from last year, the Mid-Atlantic region holds just a single bid to Club Nationals in 2024. The bountiful three bids they held in 2022 are nothing but a fleeting memory at this point, like the McDonald’s McRib and low gas prices, it’s hard to appreciate something until it’s gone. Unfortunately for this region of talented teams, it seems all but certain that reigning national champions, Washington DC Truck Stop, will be punching their ticket to San Diego this weekend.
Truck have had a not so shockingly dichotomous regular season, winning the U.S Open with relative ease when at full strength and a not-so-stellar performance at Pro Champs when they were lacking many of their stars due to WUC. Pro Champs results aside, it seems very safe to say that with WUC gold medalists Christian Boxley, Jonny Malks, and Troy Holland back with the Mighty Trucks, they are pretty much upset proof, much to the chagrin of the region.
If there is anyone to challenge Truck Stop, it is once again up to Virginia Vault. A Nationals attendee the last two years, Vault missed out on earning their region a strength bid by just 2 spots. They have a tall task in stealing the bid away from Truck Stop – but this is the same Vault side that took down PoNY this year at PEC East, so don’t count them out entirely. They will have to channel all the underdog energy they can muster if they want to stop Truck on their way to a potential repeat national championship.
This year there is a new contender in the Mid-Atlantic by way of Philadelphia Ghostbusters. Led by the brothers Grossberg, Adam and Sam, Ghostbusters made a name for themselves at Founders’ Sectionals by stomping every team they faced, including Temper and Garden State Ultimate. Their success isn’t surprising when you look at their roster. Quickly you’ll recognize some names from power house programs such as Pitt En Sabah Nur, Vermont Team Chill, Penn State Spank, and Georgia Tech Tribe. These youngsters will have to punch well through their ceiling if they hope to qualify for nationals but expect them to make big waves at regionals nonetheless.
Garden State Ultimate looked like a bona fide member of the Mid-Atlantic contending class before Ghostbusters de-fanged them. Temper and Phantom likewise have shown a few flashes this season, but none of those three should present anything like a threat to Truck Stop.
North Central
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Number of Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #16 Minneapolis Sub Zero
Challengers: #17 Minneapolis Mallard, #24 Madison Mad Men, Winnipeg General Strike
Have you ever been to Buckingham Palace? Have you seen the changing of the guard, the resplendently prim red uniforms moving like graceful tides? It is civilized, calm, conveying a sense of stern-yet-benevolent order.
If there is a changing of the guard in the North Central this year, it ain’t gonna go down like that.
While Minneapolis Sub Zero have been the primary force in the region for much of the past decade, a challenger emerges from their own city. Mallard, despite nominally being the city’s B-team, made a splash landing in 2023 by beating Sub Zero twice (!) before order was ultimately restored in the regional final, to the tune of a 15-8 victory march for Sub.
This year Mallard have thrown off the cowl of plucky upstarts and made clear their intentions to go for Sub Zero’s throat, adding Sub Zero legends Ryan Osgar, Nick Simonelli, Josh Klane, and Connor Anderson mid-season. With those reinforcements on board by ESC, Mallard became a scary proposition, notching multiple wins over Nationals qualifiers and playing Doublewide to universe point. Perhaps swayed by proof of concept, Elliot Chartock of the NY Empire came aboard for the series, rounding out a tantalizing top end of the roster.
Sub Zero meanwhile have.. looked okay? No shocking losses, but nothing that really qualifies as a signature win. Factor in player commitments to the surprise AUDL champion Wind Chill and it isn’t hard to paint a picture of a team treading water until the postseason. Will Brandt, Paul Krenick, Brandon Matis, and all the usual Wind Chill mainstays are here, meaning that top-to-bottom Sub are the deepest team in the region.
But all that depth only goes so far in one game against Mallard if Osgar is cooking, Josh Kautz and Nick Simonelli are blasting through coverages, and Josh Klane is ripping 40 yard hammers. Between the intra-city stakes, the messiness of the personnel movement, and the potential for a new team to rise out of the region, a Sub Zero v Mallard game-to-go would be one of the most exciting matchups anywhere in the country.
And if the Minnesota teams should punch each other out, there are a couple other worthy suitors waiting in the wings. Madison Mad Men (themselves once the second team in a city) have been plugging along with a respectable season, getting high level reps at PEC East and notching wins over the field of Select Flight level teams at Cooler Classic. They also took Mallard to universe point at Sectionals, albeit with Mallard missing several of their big additions.
And as always for the border Regions, there is the Canada question. Despite coming in as the 7th seed, Winnipeg General Strike should not be discounted. With a focus on Canadian Nationals during the summer and some players on Worlds duty with Team Canada, we haven’t seen the best of General Strike yet this season. Canada, as always, is lurking.
Northeast
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Devens, Massachusetts
Number of Bids: 3
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #5 Boston DiG, #7 New York PoNY, #13 Toronto GOAT
Challengers: #20 Ottawa Phoenix, #22 New York Blueprint, #23 Sprout, Montreal Mephisto, Portland Red Tide
In this space last season we mused that the 2023 Northeast Men’s might be the deepest region ever. And this year… it might be even deeper?
6 teams in the Ultiworld Top 25 and 9 Teams in the top 35 of USA Ultimate’s rankings… which doesn’t include this year’s Canadian bid interlopers Montreal Mephisto and Halifax Red Circus. Let us remember that Mephisto were finalists at Canadian Nationals and held a bid-earning ranking before being pruned by the USAU algorithm for not reaching the 10 game threshold. Oh, and they just beat Amherst Sprout at Sectionals. Put that all together and you’ve got 11 teams who can credibly dream of being major players on Sunday.
If the Region has taken a step back it is at the very top, as PoNY no longer look like sizeable title favorites and DiG’s offense has shown some growing pains this season. GOAT have been solidly beating teams below them, but lack a win over anyone who made Nationals in 2023. Unlike last year, it would be a surprise if a team out of the Northeast made it to the final in San Diego
But that slight decline in National title implications make the festivities in Devens even more exciting. Would it really be THAT shocking if DiG or PoNY dropped a game to, say, Phoenix, the Canadian National Champions who beat Sub Zero at PEC and come into the weekend seeded SEVENTH(!)? The field has never been more wide open in a region that in consecutive years has seen surprise qualifiers, with GOAT upsetting the heavy favorite Dig in 2022 and New York Blueprint pulling off one of the greatest ever “any given Sunday” Cinderella runs in 2023.
And speaking of Cinderella runs, this weekend has the potential for another in the form of Sprout, coming back from the dead after being seemingly eliminated in a one-bid section at the hands of bid freeloaders Mephisto1. A last minute resuscitation in the form of Toronto Pipe dropping out (under potentially misinformed circumstances) gives Sprout the opportunity for an epic redemption arch, starting with a likely poll play rematch against Mephisto themselves.
The depth of the region makes bracket matchup projections difficult as seemingly any combination of teams could emerge from the bottleneck. Blueprint have gotten reps at elite tournaments all season and scored some nice results like a win over RDU, but have been racked with injuries and absences. Phoenix have high upside, but are 0-3 against GOAT already this season. Lying in wait are teams like Portland Red Tide from Maine, featuring names you may remember like Henry Babock, Rocco Linehan, and Chuck Cantone and who just convincingly won East New England Sectionals.
To be sure, the favorites are the favorites for a reason. PoNY have all their Worlds players back and could come out this weekend looking like the team we remember instead of the piecemeal one we’ve seen this season. DiG brought in a tremendous level of talent and may well come out of the weekend as a title contender if all clicks. GOAT have been rock solid all year and will have all of their world’s players back as well. But odd things happen at Devens, and it all warrants your attention.
Northwest
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Corvallis, Oregon
Number of Bids: 4
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #9 Portland Rhino Slam!, #10 Seattle Sockeye, #12 Vancouver Furious George, #18 Eugene Dark Star
Challengers: #23 Salt Lake Shrimp, Bonneville Flatball Club
Honestly, what is even happening in this economy? The price of eggs is up 79,000% over the past three years, and the number of bids in the Northwest has inflated at similar levels. How can anyone afford to live like this?
Don’t expect a change at the top. Portland Rhino Slam! have been the class of the Northwest since the post-pandemic comeback, at least nationally. They responded to the relative dip of “only” making quarters at Nationals in 20232 by re-stocking the accolades cabinet. 2023 D-I Player of the Year Henry Ing, 2024 D-I Breakout Player of the Year Aaron Kaplan, and 2019 Club Champion Matt Rehder have joined the likes of Raphy Hayes, Jack Hatchett, Daniel Lee, and Dylan Freechild. They’re the favorites to win, and they’re locks to advance to San Diego.
It gets murkier after that, with four teams competing for the remaining three tickets and a fifth side waiting in the wings to cause chaos. Seattle Sockeye, rejuvenated both figuratively and literally since missing Nationals a year ago, are the best bets of that group to move on. In fact, they have a decent shot at winning the region. The return of Jack Brown and Declan Miller and the rise of players like Spencer Lofink and the Hines brothers have them looking sharp. Not all the way out of danger, but far more likely than not to escape a tricky region.
Sockeye’s biggests tests will come in the form of foes both ancient (Vancouver Furious George) and newborn (Salt Lake Shrimp). Both earned a bid after relatively strong efforts, although both have questions. For Furious, the question is how quickly they can re-integrate Worlds players like Kevin Underhill and Simon Ramírez. For Shrimp, a new team of (mostly) youngsters recently sprung from the burgeoning Utah youth scene, the outstanding issue hinges on whether they can ramp up to adjust to the highest level of competition – by a wide margin – they’ve faced so far this season.
Should either of those questions take too long too answer, Eugene Dark Star are more than ready to speak up. After last year’s history-making run to Nationals, Dark Star return most of the pieces and, therefore, most of the experience. They could finish as high as second-place in the region, leaving the drama behind them. That drama could come in the form of an out-of-the-blue contender, Bonneville Flatball Club, with plenty of major Salt Lake scene names (Jordan Kerr stands out the most). With so many bids, contenders, and potential pitfalls, Sunday in Corvallis ought to be electric.
South Central
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Denver, Colorado
Number of Bids: 2
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥
Favorites: #1 Denver Johnny Bravo, #11 Austin Doublewide
Challengers: Denver Fungi
The South Central regionals gets two fire emojis for excitement, but not because of doubt surrounding the potential qualifiers. This region is notable for the annual title showdown between two (virtually) perennial national qualifiers in Denver Johnny Bravo and Austin Doublewide. These two teams clash atop the region with regularity, and they appear on a collision course once more this season. Additionally, the fight to reach the game-to-go and earn the region’s top-select spot looks like it could be anyone’s battle, a fun secondary storyline to monitor.
Bravo enter the weekend with an eye on revenge after falling short of Doublewide in last year’s regional championship. Dynamic, do-it-all stars like Alex Atkins and Tobias Brooks will lead the way, alongside veterans Jonathan Nethercutt and Grant Lindsley. Throw in contributions from a star-studded supporting cast like Jay Froude, Denny Bechis, Conor Tabor, Noah Coolman, Quinn Finer and others, and Bravo have the star power and depth to reclaim this regional title and eye a third straight semifinal run at Nationals.
For Doublewide, Jake Radack and Chase Cunningham return to quarterback the handler space, and they’ll look to spread the wealth in the Doublewide offense. Doublewide are probably considered slight underdogs against Bravo, but rivalry emotions tend to overpower any logical analysis when it comes to matchups this close. Plus, no one yet this season has found a way to contain Xavier Fuzat.
The loser of that game will still have to survive a game-to-go against whoever emerges from a crowded pack of challenger hopefuls. Denver Fungi enter as the three-seed and the perceived ‘best of the rest’ in the South Central. However, a late season loss to Austin Riverside, the eighth seed in the regional tournament, showcased the depth of this region, and the chaos that could ensue in the fight to get to this game to go and earn a Top Select bid.
Want more evidence of potential chaos? Riverside lost games to two of the bottom three seeds in this region, so the double digit seeds could produce some surprising results. Fourth-seeded Denver (Washed), a group gearing up for Masters Worlds, have the best win among the challengers, an early season victory over Salt Lake Shrimp. Darkhorses to keep an eye on include San Antonio Alamode, Houston H.I.P, and Boulder ISO Atmo.
Enjoy the South Central region for what should produce a star-studded regional final and a chaotic bracket to reach the game-to-go. The chasm between those two tiers make for little doubt on the ultimate result this weekend, but there’s plenty to watch leading into the game-to-go.
Southeast
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Bermuda Run, North Carolina
Number of Bids: 3
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #6 Raleigh Ring of Fire, #8 Atlanta Chain Lightning, #14 Raleigh-Durham United
Challengers: Florida Untied, Chapel Hill Cash Crop 2, Alabama Alliance
Anytime a region has three or more bids, it calls for several fire emojis. More bids can sometimes mean more chaos, more drama, more Cinderella stories. Two of these bids are more than likely very locked down by perennial Nationals attendees Raleigh Ring of Fire and Atlanta Chain Lightning. Year after year we look forward to those two teams going at it in the final of Southeast Regionals in what is one of the frisbee world’s longest-running and best rivalries. The third bid, earned by Raleigh-Durham United, is a little more up for grabs. RDU can have it if they go get it, but there is a slew of teams just behind them foaming at the mouth for it.
Ring of Fire are, at the moment, the favorites to win the tournament outright. Last year’s national semifinalists have had a productive season with strong wins and close losses to teams like DiG, Johnny Bravo, and Machine, all teams that they will most likely see in San Diego should they qualify. Most notably, though, they are 2-0 in games against regional rivals Chain Lightning. They seem to have Atlanta’s number this season and you can expect their numerous Worlds players3 to be on the hunt should they cross paths this weekend.
Chain should have more than enough motivation to want to beat Ring and take the region for themselves this year. After losing to them in their last three meetings – and Ring’s UFA equivalent keeping Atlanta out of championship weekend again – Chain are going to want this one, BAD. On the back of offensively unstoppable Brett Hulsmeyer, they definitely have the tools to do it. Austin Taylor has also returned from the mixed division to once again help the Chain Lightning offense find the end zone time and time again. Jeremy Langdon, Pat Earles, and Team Germany WUC stand out Lukas McClamrock should also be major factors should Chain find success.
Even without Colorado Mamabird standout, Tobias Brooks, RDU are well-poised to make a repeat trip to San Diego. They picked up wins against Sub Zero, Vault, and PoNY over the summer – good signs for their ceiling. They still seem to be a bit out of reach of truly contending for a national title but with players like Caleb Louie, Jacob Louie, and Terrence Mitchell to lead the offense, they are more than talented enough to make it to the Big Dance and bust out a few moves.
The rest of the field will be on the prowl for RDU’s bid. One team that might have what it takes to usurp them is Florida Untied. While they haven’t played many high level games in their inaugural season, the roster has some no-joke high level players in Billy O’Brien, Michael Arbutine, and Jaime Perez. Cash Crop 2 are another team that might have what it takes. They were the team who RDU had to beat to qualify last year in the game-to-go. Will it be revenge this time around?
Southwest
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Temecula, California
Number of Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥
Favorites: #4 San Francisco Revolver
Challengers: #15 SoCal Condors
If the opportunity for a second bid had materialized, the Southwest would have been in for a heater of a tournament. Instead, there will be plenty of infighting amongst the second tier of teams in the region as they all tussle for the barest hope of pulling off the biggest heist the Southwest would have seen this decade: getting an upset over San Francisco Revolver.
Going off of previous performance alone, Revolver aren’t going to give the rest of the field much of a chance. California’s golden boys retooled considerably after last season, but it hasn’t seemed to affect their performance much. They have strong wins over Sockeye, Johnny Bravo, and Furious George, along with close losses to PoNY and Rhino Slam!. The integration between seasoned veterans like Simon Higgins, Byron Liu, and Sawyer Thompson and rookies like Raekwon Adkins, Dexter Clyburn, and Jason Vallee seems to have gone without a hitch. It helps to have a backfield bolstered by two Brown superstars in Leo Gordon and Mac Hecht, too. Revolver’s on-mark defense is among the best in the division, and their communication downfield is equally effective. Especially against the competition they’ll see this weekend, it’s hard to see a scenario where they don’t earn the region’s sole bid.
The challengers to Revolver have a lot to prove this weekend. It’s harsh to call 2023 a down year for SoCal Condors when they were firmly in bid-earning territory after PEC West, but the rough performance at ESC bled into Regionals and the team finished 3rd in the Southwest for the first time in over a decade. They retooled and added Goose Helton to the coaching staff, but aside from a 12-11 win over Sockeye, Condors don’t have any statement games on their resume. What they do have are a few players capable of taking over for multiple offensive points: KJ Koo, Brett Matzuka, and, added just for the postseason, the legendary Kurt Gibson. Close losses to PoNY and Truck Stop are indicative of the team’s potential, they just haven’t been able to live up to that potential yet. A 3-15 loss to Revolver earlier in the year doesn’t inspire much confidence that they’ll be able to overcome their in-region rivals. Still, beating Berkeley Zyzzyva in Temecula might be enough of a consolation prize.
Speaking of Zyzzyva, the young upstarts might be coming down to earth this year. 2023 was the best season yet for the program, so much so that Revolver took notice and landed three of Zyzzyva’s star players in 2024. Alongside that, despite starting the season in the top 30, the team’s soft tournament schedule and weaker performance at ESC placed them firmly outside of bid-earning range. Matt Burke and the rest of the leadership on the team have a history of being able to do more with less, so this team still cannot be counted out, especially after winning Sectionals handily despite a close game to Wavestorm.
Beyond Revolver, Zyzzyva, and Condors, the rest of the field gets pretty murky. Santa Cruz Wavestorms only have a single loss on their season and it was against Zyzzyva, which indicates a potent squad, except that they’ve only played Sectionals so they’re still relatively untested. Phoenix Nighthawk came second at SoCal Sectionals, which puts them under the spotlight now. They are a team hoping to make a splash with their speed and ability to stretch the field, but that has also cost them in close games. A loss to San Diego Skipjack at Sectionals does put a damper on their claim as the new best team out of Arizona, especially as Skipjack then in turn lost to Phoenix Drought.
Rounding out the bottom of the finals hopefuls, Drought suffered a single loss at Sectionals to the OC Crows and have been known to give the top teams a scare in the past. The veteran squad does have a history of peaking at Sectionals, though. The team from OC that beat them also represents the growing middle class of the Southwest, but losses to both Nighthawk and Hazard illustrate the Crows’ difficulty in closing out tournaments. Behind them, Hazard, Skipjack, and OAT have all had uneven seasons, making it hard to see a path for them to challenge their way into the finals. Hazard’s best win was an abbreviated 5-3 victory over OC Crows at Sectionals, OAT’s best performance was avenging a loss against ISO Atmo at the Ski Town Classic, and Skipjack can’t seem to earn a good win that’s not on universe.
