RecapWinter 2022Marshall vs TBD v.4

Now THAT’S a recap! Excellent writing, Greta! I feel like I was there! My one critique would be that there is a severe lack of GIFs, but I’ll let it slide this time.

Sidenote – While I do not think rock, paper scissors is in the olympics, I did just happen to listen to a podcast where someone wanted to sell their art collection and had Christie’s and Sotheby’s battle for the auction rights via a rock paper scissors match. Wild things happen when you’ve got too much money.

Anyways… back to the recaps. Here’s the Marshall side of the story from non-other than Seth Gillum, who apparently needs to brush up on his rock paper scissor skills. Just sayin…

For the A league, Marshall is an old team.  We’ve got more players in their 40’s than we do players in their 20’s.  By a LOT.  And usually, thats cool.  Wisdom can help win games.  But last night…. It certainly didn’t help in the Rock Paper Scissors for shirt color.  Or for the Rock Paper Scissors for pull.  Greta wrecked me in both games.  Straight sweep.   Wisdom can’t help you with that kind of loss.  And no matter how tricky you may think you are, if you can’t beat them at Rock Paper Scissors- can you actually beat them on the field??

(Scouting report on TBD, Greta shot rock, then paper)

Marshall started on D as TBD decided to pick wind.  There wasn’t a ton of wind, but it was there.  For the second week in a row, Marshall discussed exotic D options before the game- then didn’t use it.  Beware!  Our theoretical defensive options are tremendous.  We did manage to use a call “Marshall” for some plays, but mostly it made me feel like a Smurf.  For we use “Marshalll” interchangeably as a noun, verb, adjective and adverb.  On the upside if you have only one call, you know you are always making the right call.

We see a few TBD players every week at Sunday pickup.  I felt we have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Around backhand breaks.  Hucks.  Speed.  It’s easy to know what players/teams want do.  The hard part is stopping them.  We had a hard time stopping them.  Their deep game was working.  It seemed like we were close on a lot of their shots.  “That’s the shot we want them to take” was said perhaps a few too many times.  Eddie was shooting and playing monster D.  The TBD women were working the downfield.  Forehand hucks flew from everyone.  Over the night, 8-ish TBD passes missed their intended target, but were caught anyway on hustle plays.  I kept thinking, “this can’t keep working for them”  But it did. In short, TBD brought it tuesday night.

There were a fair share of turnovers. Numerous points where the D would march it all the way down the field, then turn it on the goal line.  Points were long, and I don’t think I’ve played that much D on the O line in ages.  It was a gritty game where you had to fight through long points.  Yet strangely offense usually scored in the end.  The game was within one point most of the night. Marshall would get a break or two, then give them back.  Every point felt like it was a BIG point.  TBD was looking to huck when they saw a matchup they liked.  Coming off of a swing or an upline cut, you could be sure someone was sprinting for a deep look.  TBD also played some fine D, and there were stretches where you just had to grind to get open. Gary and Connie always seemed to find themselves some space when we needed it most.  But the whole team stepped up. We needed everyone on Marshall to find their moment. And they did.   While it was sometimes dicey, we didn’t need bail out heroic passes.  We just had to grind.  And keep grinding.

I think TBD took half 8-7.  Marshall made some unspecified adjustments.  Who knows if they helped.  No one led by more than 2.  Marshall was up a break for a few points.  But TBD got it back. At 13-13, it felt like anyone’s game.  Marshall put it in, 14-13 and we got a 2 minute warning on lights.  We decided to play the point, give TBD a chance for the tie.  Marshall had a horrible pull, unintentonally out of bounds by a lot.  Lights pressure… Grant ran a full sprint to get the disc, mistakenly spotted it 15 yards upfield from where it went out of bounds, then sprinted back to something close to the correct spot.  We marked flat.  And on a rushed around backhand, TBD turfed it.  Marshall disc.  Less than a minute left.  Were it me, I’d swing the disc till the lights went out.  Play a careful game.  And that’s why I’ll never be a true baller.  Because Connie went to get the disc, saw Knight running deep and shot it.  15-13 Marshall.  Without the pressure of the lights, it would have been a very different finish.  Great game TBD.

Fun stuff – Eddie got way up for some huge D’s.  There was one in particular where we thought he jumped early.  But he just hung in the air.  TBD ran a bunch of ho stack points with all the men in the handle and all the women upfield, which was a look that worked well for them.  Elloit and AJ both with full extension layouts on a deep shot.  Aj was in front, but elliot is awfully fast.  Somehow AJ managed to get the disc for the score-you’ve still got it buddy. But the things I remember most were small things.  Teammates getting open when I couldn’t  (MER).  Saving a low questionable hammer that wasn’t meant for him (DOM)  Moving the mark based on sideline calls to help Gary get a great D (Casey).  Stuff like that isn’t super impressive.  It’s hard to go home and feel thrilled about making the offense a little bit easier on the margin.  Making a throw a little harder.  9 out of 10 times, it doesn’t change the outcome of a play.  But string enough of those plays together, and that’s worth a point or two.  TBD had that too, in different ways.  All those hustle plays that gave a secondary receiver a chance at a disc.  They were in the right place so often to help, it was more then lucky breaks, that was some team synergy.  It was great (and heartbreaking) to see.

Marshall got Crunch and Cory (five days after he got out of the hospital with a collapsed lung) playing their first game for us, bringing some much needed fresh blood to the team.  And we’ve got goals.  Keep going out for drinks.  Try to to never lose the shirt color RoShamBo again.  More Marshall gear.  Stay healthy.