August 28, 2015 by Charlie Eisenhood in Livewire, Video with 13 comments
Here is a list of the top 10 most competitive Sectional tournaments around the country this weekend.
This one sneaks onto the list for sheer numbers — 18(!) teams will compete at the Washington DC area Sectionals. Ambiguous Grey and Ant Madness are the top two seeds and will probably clean up, but you’ve got to love the chances for some fireworks with the volume of teams competing. There will be upsets.
9. East New England Men’s Sectionals
Boston Garuda, Somerville Big Wrench, Maine Red Tide, and a host of others should play a competitive weekend of games. Garuda’s gotta be the clear favorite — they’ve been competing at Top Select tournaments all year — but Big Wrench has proven to be dangerous in the past.
8. Central Plains Men’s Sectionals
A balanced top of the field should make for some fun Sunday games at Central Plains Sectionals. Brickyard, Black Market, Beachfront Property, and Haymaker are all within striking distance of a tournament win.
There isn’t great depth at Founders Mixed, but the top two — Pittsburgh’s Muffin Men and West Chester’s Bang! — should face off in an excellent final and a possible preview of the Mid-Atlantic game-to-go.
Another deep tournament with lots of upset potential. Maryland’s Town Hall Stars gets the #1 seed, but #2 Baltimore Medicine Men is perhaps the favorite and the teams further down — Floodwall, John Doe, and Runtime — are all solid.
5. Metro New York Mixed Sectionals
The new team out of New York/Westchester/Connecticut, Metro North, should play a great final against the established New York team, 7 Express. Metro North — the latest team in the Bashing Piñatas/District 5 lineage — got a big win over 7 Express earlier this year, but it came at an early tryout tournament. Both teams earned bids for the Northeast region.
4. Gulf Coast Men’s Sectionals
A balanced and talented field down south should make for an awesome Sectionals tournament. Top seeded Huntsville Freaks Uv Nature is 2-2 against the #3 seed, Birmingham Ironmen. #2 seed Southern Hospitality got a regular season win against Chain Lightning. Coming out of this tournament with a win will be huge for seeding at Regionals and a better shot at upsetting one of the big three in a two bid region.
It’s not quite as strong a year, nationally, for the NorCal section, but Sectionals is always extremely competitive (even without Polar Bears and Mischief in the lineup). Blackbird, American BBQ, and 12 other teams will battle it out for vital seeding arrangements at Regionals and it should be a heck of a tournament in the parity-filled Southwest.
San Diego’s Wildfire and Los Angeles’ Viva both just missed earning additional bids for the Southwest, finishing at #17 and #20, respectively, in the final USA Ultimate rankings. Their close rankings tells you what you need to know — they will play one of the best Sectional finals games in the country.
It will be a bittersweet start to the postseason after the Santa Barbara Condors learned that they failed to earn a second bid for the Southwest by percentage points. But whichever team hopes to challenge San Francisco Revolver at Regionals will first have to battle for the likely #2 seed by grinding through a deep and talented Sectional tournament. San Diego Streetgang, Phoenix Sprawl, and Los Angeles Renegade will all bring hearty competition to the Condors.
HONORABLE MENTION: Texas Sectionals
Texas Men’s Sectionals could probably make this list on its own — H.I.P., Plex, and Space City Ignite are all solid competitors and fairly close to one another in talent level. But the Texas Sectional tournament gets its own category thanks to the fact that it is hosting the first Mexican teams — Fénix Ultimate and Malafama Ultimate Club — at Sectionals in 10 years.
