RecapWinter 2020Rooks vs Zanja Madre

Thursday at Rancho, Zanja Madre matched up against my team, Rooks. As I was driving to the fields, I kept getting message after message from my teammates saying they were all running late. And of course, when I got to Rancho, nearly the entire Zanja Madre team was there already warmed up and ready to go. Fortunately, they were very patient and let us get our numbers up before we started.

We have recaps from both sides tonight, so here’s Ryan from the Zanja Madre side first.

Coming off a complete team re-brand from last winter league, team Zanja Madre (formerly known as Boost It!) was ready to kick off the season with a bang. New Year. New name. New us. The veteran Rooks took an early and decisive 5-1 lead, but Zanja Madre continued to chip away. Big shout out to our women who played tirelessly with only two subs. Their numerous stops on D kept us competitive, specifically led by Emily’s omnipresent defense. Also, props to two of our ladies, Katie and Kellee, on competing in their first ever organized game of ultimate! Both were heavily involved on both sides of the disc and even contributed to a couple scores. Lastly, gotta mention the sick layout score from J-Wall, who refused to give up on a tipped disc. Way to hustle, brother! In the end, Rooks’ buttery smooth offense came out on top, 15-8.

Hi! My name is Elaine and in my first LAOUT recap ever, I turn to assistance from FRIENDS.

Now in our 8th year, Rooks are ready to take winter league by storm, even though some members feel they are aging, and Darryl has “come out of retirement” (again I might add). 

Personally, I really enjoyed seeing all our old teammates, meeting our new ones, but also playing on grass after only playing beach for the past 4 months! I felt lightning quick! Even though now I’m just at normal speed again. 

Now to the game: Rooks came out strong with a 2-0 lead but Zanja Madre quickly came back with a score of their own to bring the game to 2-1.

There were a lot of marathon points and great back-and-forths between our two teams, but Rooks took the lead into half at 8-3. 

I’m not sure what the Zanja Madre’s talked out in their halftime huddle, but they came out strong from the half scoring two in a row to bring the score to 9-5 – including one super impressive layout catch in the back of the endzone by one of their dudes. 

Rooks kicked back into gear with some great long throws and deep-endzone catches to bring the score to 14-7.

Zanja Madre is still playing strong and calls a timeout to set up a score. Rooks try to be sneaky by forcing backhand, but are still thwarted by great break side throws and end up with a score!

Nonetheless, Rooks remained un-rattled and display great movement from our new handlers, ending with a score to win the game.

Overall, it was a really fun game with tons of great spirit and great movement! Both teams threw to all of their players and kept everyone involved. It really was a team effort! Can’t wait till next time 🙂

Yay! This is quite possibly the first out of 8 season with Rooks starting with a win. And extra kudos to Elaine for the excellent GIF use here.