RecapSummer 2019House Tarth vs. House Baratheon

Now this was a great game.  I had the fortune of getting to watch the final 6 or 7 points of this one cause our game on the other field ended quite a bit sooner.  I ended up calling universe point at 14’s because it was already 10:30 and I was really starting to worry that if the field coordinators saw we were still playing that late, they would be pretty pissed.  Rancho has not been the easiest field to work with already, and they’ve complained to us about going late in the past.  But fortunately we got out of there before anyone came out to stop us.

And that universe point ended up being heart-breaking with drops in the end zone on both sides and multiple turns, with several coming so close to the end zone.  It was a good game to watch.  I’m glad I postponed my bar patronage.  (But not cancelled it, because c’mon.)

And here we have Reed Tarth providing the story:

Disclaimer:

If I had lost this game the way Baratheon lost, I’d be pretty ticked off. Props to them not being really pissed at the end.

Tuesday 4:55 pm:

Are we just making random GoT references…?

Oh, Cory thinks he is playing a different team this week.

6:15 pm

The bar across the street from my apt (Oyster House) was serving dollar beers and dollar tacos out front and it smelled amazing. I was weak. Keegan and Punky happened to be out front. I feel bad that I didn’t initially recognize Punky out of frisbee attire. But I have a suspicion she only recognized me cause I was wearing my pink MHC beach jersey.

Bar: Oyster House
Tacos: Pablitos Tacos (REALLY good, Peruvian, tortillas hand made to order)

7pm:
Reed’s stomach: The tacos were a mistake.
Nay: Uhhh…..

Rancho Cienega
8pm:

The hardest fought league game I’ve ever played. Hot and Cold, Fire and Ice, oil and vinegar, fame and fortune, dogs and cats, longest point ever played, good and evil, hall and oates……damn what a game.

I have not the words.

They should have sent a poet…

10:50-ish pm

The game ends 15-14 Tarth. On a rare commissioner universe call by Andy (who happened to be at the adjacent open game). To my shock the lights were still on and I was trying to rush as points were being traded. I hate to end games on lights. It doesn’t feel right. Andy called universe (field ambassador relations issues) cause we needed to GTFO. After a long EPIC point. Not hyperbole. Tarth scored.

A loss or tie being decided by lights feels awful. I’ve been there. Having a third party, albeit the league director, calling it felt a bit wrong (but I was told there were valid reasons for the greater good). At any point in a VERY back and forth game the lights could’ve gone off and either team could have taken the win.

Joxers
Later PM/AM:

Solid turn out by both teams, and the first game for us that the adjacent men’s teams made it out.
I tried to seize the high ground by treating Baratheon to some joint captains Goldschlager shots, but their spirit, numbers, and willingness to be the last team drinking won out. Kinda disappointing I didn’t get to see Corey eat any chest hair though.

Closing thoughts:

Tarth went through a real roller coaster; started down, took half, fell two breaks, got a little chippy, made some BAD decisions, ground some LONG points, found our center , and righted the ship to finish strong. Top to bottom, everyone on Tarth was a hero tonight.

Gold has a crazy scary women’s roster. Our D revolved around stopping “gold skirt” (her first game of the season), we eventually figured out a strategy, but there was no way to stop the gold women without giving up A LOT. B-Nads went down with a knock to the back of the head around mid game and didn’t return. Well rounded lefties shouldn’t be allowed to be that fast. If he finished the game it might’ve been a very different story.

Tonight was more exciting than the final season of GoT

With the win, Tarth is now 4-0 and the only remaining undefeated team in Mixed.  As I’m sure many of you know, cause I only mention it every single year, no team has ever gone undefeated and won the tournament in Summer League history.  So Tarth is the final team with the chance to do it now.

There are, however, two teams still undefeated in Men’s who could also do it. So my previous sentence is really a lie, and I apologize for lying to you.

I never ever thought I would call universe on a league game while the lights were still on, and if this was most fields I definitely wouldn’t do it.  “Play until they kick you off” I would usually say.  But our history with Rancho is strained to say the least, and I don’t want to lose those fields over one game.

Cory is special.

And we have one more recap from Paparatheon:

Game 3 for House Baratheon. After our bye week, we rallied the troops and came out with almost our entire squad (ALL our men and all but 2 ladies)! Now I’m not super savvy on the Baratheon-Tarth relationship, but since the two are technically allies, let’s call it a grand tournament rather than a battle. Echoing the Reedcap, this was probably the longest game any of us have ever played in Summer League. Both teams showed incredible grit and ground through a full 29 points on the fields of Rancho Cienega.

House Baratheon opened the game with 2 scores, which was quickly answered by a score for House Tarth, a huck from Brandon Severson to Aaron in the endzone (a frequent occurrence in this game). The rest of the first half was mostly trading long, closely-fought points between the two teams. Brandon Severson threw to Aaron in the end zone a lot. Cory rattled off dimes to the end zone. Tyler threw a hammer for a score. Mike scored a lot, but possibly because he did things like looking off 6 great cuts in the end zone before throwing to Devin and then running up the line to score it himself. A little selfish, Mike, but we’ll take it. Then, at one point House Tarth really amped it up, and scored three consecutive points (the longest run all game) to take the half.

So House Baratheon rallied and played an EPIC long point, (as someone wrote on our white board), to take the first score. If we thought the first half had long points, boy were we in for it. In the second we saw every player on both teams contribute with intense defense, hard cuts, huge bids and some beautiful hucks. House Baratheon did have a new knight on the field, Sir Macey “Gold Skirt”, who really put in work on the field, and was often found streaking deep for a score in the end zone. Sir BNads and Cam did a great job marking up on Brandon Severson, though BNads had to leave mid-game after taking a lance (cleat) to the head. Cory got sky’d/D’d in the end zone about a dozen times, but to be fair, he probably would have caught a lot of them if he was taller.

As a few people have mentioned, the game ran about 40 minutes over time, and Andy Bandit called for a universe point at 14s. Perhaps House Baratheon would have been able to win it back with the full cap at 17, but we did need to GTFO the field, and we fought like hell for the last one. There were many turns on both sides, but our big chance came when a huck to the end zone went over Brandon Severson’s head to Cory, standing behind him, who wasn’t able to come down with it (real bummer, man).

House Tarth eventually walked it into the end zone. Everyone was relieved because we could finally get to the damn bar and celebrate a well-fought tournament. Shout out to Paul and Fabian for ordering us a basket of fries on our way over. The kindly Lord and Lady of House Tarth came over to us with an offering of Goldschlager shots, which we happily shared as allies (see photo below). Also attached is a photo of Cory’s face after consuming said shot.

The bar was great. A bunch of folks from the men’s game and west side pickup joined in. We were there until they kicked us out at 2 in the morning, which I have to admit is really messing with my sleep schedule. But you gotta win the bar. Nay and Reed may have left early, but Erick and Tyler stuck around, so I think in the end the bar score was actually a tie. Well done everyone. Until next week.

Macey’s gold skirt was on point.

Cleat to head sucks.  I’ve been there.  Bad times.

Gold does indeed try to win the bar.  I saw it with my own eyes.  My own drunken eyes that also should’ve left a lot sooner.  More sleep please.