US Open 2025: Men’s Recap (Men’s Div. Recap)

Revolver continue their scorching summer with a second tournament victory.

August 8, 2025 by Emmet Holton in Recap

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AURORA, CO – The story of this year’s US Open men’s division field was historic depth. Just look at the ninth place consolation pool for confirmation: #6 Portland Rhino Slam!, reigning national champions; #3 Chicago Machine, national semifinalists in 2024; #12 Atlanta Chain Lightning, quarterfinalists within two points of semis; and Tokyo Buzz Bullets, arguably the most storied non-North American program in the world. All of this is to say that a championship game appearance at the 2025 US Open speaks to a level of consistency not typically demanded during the regular season. #4 Washington DC Truck Stop and #1 San Francisco Revolver each entered the game having run through a bracket as strong¹ as they can expect to see at Nationals.

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Revolver Pump the Breaks on Truck

Let’s leave the depth behind, though, and celebrate the top of the pyramid: Revolver played a complete tournament, culminating in a 15-13 win over Truck Stop in the final. Their only loss on the weekend was to that same Truck Stop team by the same score in Friday’s pool play.

The first point of the final, a clean hold for Truck, gave a good sense of what was to come. A tight defensive one through seven from Revolver forced nearly 30 throws, with DC transfer Sean Mott ultimately throwing the assisting scoober to fellow newcomer to the District Aidan Downey (get used to seeing these two names, they were first and second on the team in +/-). Despite the hold, the San Francisco defense had set a clear tone, not giving an inch of space for large stretches.

Not one to be one-upped, the Truck Stop D-line were quickly able to take advantage of a Revolver offense who were slightly — but visibly — flustered by the conditions (gusty wind was present throughout the game). The first turnover came as a skinny under from Raekwon Adkins to Walker Frankenberg sailed into the waiting hands of Charlie McCutcheon. The backfield duo of Isaac Lee and David Bloodgood attacked quickly, getting into the red zone in short order. There though, the offense stalled and Mac Hecht was able to poke away a reset from Lee to Bloodgood. Revolver would squander the second chance, however, with Leo Gordon overshooting Adkins and a defensive breakdown giving Jace Dean an unmarked backhand huck to Alexandre Fall, who picked up where he had left off in semifinals, catching the game’s first break.

Finding themselves in an immediate 2-0 hole, Revolver turned to what had been arguably their most efficient offensive personnel all weekend, as D-line stalwarts Dan Ritthaler, Kyle Lew, and Jason Vallee slotted in with Adam Rees and Eli Kerns to work in a clean upwind hold. I’ll save you the suspense and tell you now that Truck Stop would continue unbroken through half time. Their lone O-line turn came on a lazy upline throw from Christian Boxley to a tightly covered Gus Norrbom, which was blocked by Colby Chuck but ultimately given back to Truck two throws later. Boxley, Downey, Mott, and Jacques Nissen were otherwise perfect, slicing through a largely excellent Revolver defense.

This iteration of Truck is not the pure possession-and-small-ball crazed team of the past several seasons. Downey and Mott acting as hybrids has opened up the deep game for Boxley, as well as Miles Grovic, who had an excellent weekend for the offense before ultimately having to decleat in the finals due to injury. This upgrading of their connecting pieces has more than made up for the loss of Jonny Malks, whose departure was much discussed as reason for Truck to take a step back this season.

Revolver’s offense, for their part, were equal to the task despite a couple of turns and shaky moments. Hecht and Nate Prior were able to stay consistently available in the backfield, keeping resets relatively easy and allowing an offense that had issues with the wind early to settle into a more efficient rhythm.

Coming out of halftime, Revolver held quickly, giving their hungry D-line a chance to even the score. They did just that, as a chisel from Mott to Downey was thrown a bit too fast and far, evading a bid by Downey. The SF defense turned to what had been working all weekend, with Vallee, Lew, Ritthaler, and Clyburn cycling through front-of-stack duties and working short throws and quick cuts to the front cone, where Ritthaler dished to a wide open Jacob Smith. They would immediately get another chance, as Andrew Roy missed Nathan Kwon hiding in his peripheral vision, allowing him to poke away an awkwardly thrown reset. One missed matchup on the counter was all Vallee needed to see to fire an unmarked backhand to a streaking Clyburn, who elevated over Downey for the goal, giving Revolver the 9-8 lead.

This was a game of body blows though, and no sooner had the Truck offense evened the score (an uneventful hold apart from Vallee nearly forcing a drop from Boxley in his own endzone) than an errant swing from Gordon caught an updraft and was collected by Marcus Lee for a Callahan and what felt like a potentially pivotal momentum and lead change. Gordon would have the last laugh of that salvo however, as an upwind backhand huck from Kerns hung just long enough for Gordon to sky the pants off of the until-then-unbeaten-in-the-air Alexandre Fall to knot things at ten. Any momentum Truck had regained was gone a point later, as Vallee peeled off of Norrbom to bat away a throw to Jeff Wodatch. The break seemed almost inevitable, as the Truck O-line was visibly running out of energy to stop free resets for Revolver. Vallee hit Lew for the eventual goal, and SF took what would be the final lead change of the game, as they traded to 14-13 before an overthrown Nissen huck and perfectly placed Lew flick in return ended the game, 15-13.

In their pool play matchup, Truck Stop shot out to a 3-0 lead, never looking back as the Revolver offense floundered and their D were unable to bridge the gap. After the final Vallee was quick to point to the shift from one game to the other. “Our O-line really found a groove as the weekend went on… And then when our O-line gets more consistent, the D-line plays with more confidence, and it’s really a lot easier to put in the breaks,” he said.

This rung true throughout Revolver’s bracket run as clean offense against #2 New York PoNY and #7 Boston DiG was similarly crucial to giving the D-line a cushion upon which the breaks felt that extra bit more impactful. Though the tournament victory is sweet, Clyburn stated what is often true of regular season results: they’re only a stop along the way to the real goal.

“I think we’re confident in our ability to win the division this year, and our goal is to use this tournament to build a strong foundation,” said Clyburn. “From PEC, to this, on to Pro Champs.” With two tournament wins under the belt its safe to say the process is going according to plan.

For Truck Stop’s part this was a similarly encouraging weekend. “[Our goal] was finding chemistry with specific groups of people,” said Nissen. “I thought we gained a ton of familiarity in high pressure situations, which was huge.”

Nissen further noted that the additions of Mott, Grovic, and Downey to the offense has allowed them “spread the field a lot more than in years past.” With two second place finishes in the books for DC, they’ll be hungry to reach the top step at Pro Champs later this month.

Beyond the Final

With a field so deep (arguably deeper than a typical nationals top 12 thanks to the international field’s strength), it was inevitable that teams left out of the final or even semis would feel like real contenders nonetheless.

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1. Or stronger – Brussels Mooncatchers and Bologna BFD LaFotta both looked, at many junctures, like semis caliber teams at the North American club level ↩