Great read. Very well said Jeremy!
1 Like
Forgot to add, I beseech everyone to consider Darius Anglin and Ethan Cole for All-Freshmen team, they were huge for us every fall and spring tournament.
Coach of the year, I have to pick my own. Kyle Silva captained UNCA from 2010 to 2013, and I had the privilege of being a rookie on the 2013 squad. Silva introduced me to the sport of Ultimate. I have a lot to be thankful for when considering Kyleā¦He installed a program that had itās sights set on one thing: Nationals. He instilled in me the drive to push the program and be passionate about the sport. When I found myself rostered for the Charlotte Express last summer with Kyle, I took every road trip opportunity to ask him about coming back and coaching UNCA. Every time I asked, he always said no. But Kyle, we really need a coach, weāve never had one. No. Kyle this could be the year, Charlie is coming back! Noā¦So eventually I tricked him into coming out to one of our practices in the second or third week of school and when he saw our returning veterans with the amount of talent and athleticism the rookie class possessed, he couldnāt say no! He made it clear, our goal would be Nationals, we had unfinished business to take care of. Through his passion, effort, and volunteered time, he steered our team throughout the year to our first ever Nationals birth. Heās a very very busy guy, teaching highschool math and coaching highschool track and highschool ultimate and still playing for the Charlotte Express, but he still found time to give us everything he had. I adore this man and canāt think of another coach in the nation or world who is as dedicated to his players and to success as Kyle Silva. He was the single most important part of this season being as successful as it was and my life would have been incredibly more stressful without him.
Hey friends: Richmond player here so that may account for some slight bias but Iāll let you all be the judge of it.
Thanks for the shoutouts, and to the above comment about #19 on Richmond, we donāt have a 19, but #9 is Dennis Maclaine who handles and killed it that weekend so Iām assuming that one was about him.
Anywho I didnāt get a chance to play Elon and this is my first year, so I canāt speak to anyone on their team. I just went by team, and the more familiar i was the more people I noticed, so i probably missed some solid guys on teams from the other section and talked a lot more about the players I knew better (particularly teammates that I see play all the time so sorry for that in advance).
Henry Babcock: what canāt you say about him? His hucks, throws to space, and breaks are incredible. His poise with the disc makes our offense run. Defensively, he has a terrifying mark and is one of the more athletic players Iāve seen. His offensive game gets a lot of credit, but his defense is equally terrifying. We have a really good region with some fantastic players but POY seems to be very fitting for Henry.
Dennis: when we roll out our d-line, Dennis consistently takes the best cutter, and his handler mark is no slouch either. His hustle on defense makes him a pretty tough matchup. When thereās a turn, he often goes every other throw. A really good player on both sides of the disc. Deserves first team.
Joey cullison: joey is always open. Our offense changed when he came back from abroad because of his cutting ability. He can get up as high if not higher than anyone who guards him which makes his deep game a huge threat. We also saw a lot of zone in which Joeys popping opened up the game. Also should make a good run at first team.
Sam Gillespie: he doesnāt get as much press as the other three, but Sam is the emotional heart and soul of our team. Sam is always bringing his teammates up and his energy is unmatched. On the field, he is very good in the air, fast, with solid throws, and absurd layouts (he had a field day in the Brandeis game thatās online). He deserves a shout for second team as well.
Clint mcsherry: UNCA made nationals with a solid group of players, but Clints throws and ability to get open made their offense work. His breaks and hucks are deadly, and they allow UNCA to run an offense mainly on the break side of the field, and heās also a fantastic defender. First team for sure.
Chad Gerber: UNCA has a lot of cutters who are athletic but none so much as he is. Heās a massive deep threat who also is a smart cutter so he gets open under a lot as well. Should make second team.
Zach: He is so quick and shifty, and ran the show for Mary Wash when they took us to universe at sectionals and beat us at Easterns. He gets a lot of credit for his throws and his use of being lefty, and I donāt think I need to say much more that hasnāt been already said. Undoubtedly first team.
Also the really tall kid on Mary wash who can absolutely get up deserves a shout for second team too. Watching the disc go up to him is terrifying as an opponent. His ability in the air is the scariest of any opponent Iāve faced this season. I donāt have a name here, but Iām pretty sure he was mentioned already.
I donāt know names here either from Davison, but DUFF was a really deep team with great energy and probably have a couple more player deserving a shoutout for all region at the very least. 16 and 2 on Davidson both should be somewhere on these two teams. 16 ran the show on offense and is a fantastic handler. His being a lefty also helped him out and he used it to put together a very smooth DUFF offense. Number 2 played fantastic physical defense, and did probably the best job Iāve seen someone do on Henry Babcock when Henry went to cut.
Michael Ball: you canāt talk about physical defense without talking about him. His handler defense is top notch and his cutter defense isnāt far behind. He also gives the HPU offense a huge boost. Has a spot on one of these two teams.
Navy was a really athletic deep team and gave us a really good game. I couldnāt pick out any one player, but navyās best player could also make a run at second team.
Catholic also gave us two solid games and their redheaded center handler (Warwick I think) who played at sectionals deserves a shoutout too.
Sellers: for outstanding freshmen: his cutting ability as a freshman was really cool to see. He was a main component of High Points offense even during first semester. A fun matchup who should be a fun matchup for the next several years.
This is where a slight Richmond bias may come in but Ty Englert and pat Murray from Richmond give us a huge boost as freshman. Ty came in with a lot of experience with Impulse and handled for a lot of the year despite being a cutter first. His throws are impressive as is his ability to get up. He plays strictly d line so doesnāt get a ton of time in the limelight either.
Unlike ty pat came in with minimal playing experience and stepped up big time. Heās got hucks and skying ability of his own. Sometimes he gets overshadowed by the others on the o line, but heās gonna be filthy in a couple years and would be getting a ton of recognition if he werenāt behind a couple top level cutters. Both of these guys are solid players and will be a huge part of this region for years to come.
Coach of the year: Matt graves: Richmond lost ten seniors last year, and have three freshmen and a sophomore (who barely got any playing time last year) starting on our o line this year. Great guy and a great coach. I could write something about all of the guys in our rotation and had to cut myself off, and I simply couldnāt have done that first semester. The team looks ten times better than it did coming in and thatās a lot on the captains and as much if not more on Graves.
Thanks to all you guys and good luck at nationals to UNCA!
2 Likes
The most heartfelt of moments - the purest of passions. Somewhere between a snarl, a stare-down, and actually about to bite each otherās heads off. Now imagine if we formed your AC all-region team and shot those looks at our helpless opponents as we ran down on defense. It would be 100% over for them.
Also, no need to build up CJās ego like that. We canāt have that on this team. Thatās not how we work. We love him through roasting him. We are not sure he understands compliments at this point.
4 Likes