Who are the best players in the South Central region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
Spencer Patterson (JBU) for POTY
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Spencer Patterson from John Brown for all region. I believe he was on the all regional team last year. One of the most experienced players in the region, heās helped lead an injury riddled and very young team back into possible nationals contention. Dominant cutter offensively and a lockdown defender. 100% one of the best players in the region.
Mitchell Zimmermann #78 (Missouri S&T) - Amazingly consistent, hard to cover, always open
Carl Eastman #44 (Missouri S&T) - Absolutely buttery throws, leads their offense
Garrit Headley #28 (JBU) - Blazing fast, good throws, also always open
JT Stancil (Tulsa) - Smart cutter, goes every other up the field
Justin MIlls #36 (Harding) - Great throws, controls points, can get open consitently
Sean Eberle #0 (Truman) - Incredible speed, destroys zones, leads their D-line
Andrew Richter #20 (Truman) - Impossible to cover, can cook any defender, smooth throws
Jacob Jackson #15 (Truman) - Very consistent, great cutter and handler, tough defender
Tom (Mav) Parry #2 (Colorado School of Mines) - Elite runner, quickest guy on the field, will run any defender into the ground, threat on both offense and defense
Morgan Cox #35 (Colorado School of Mines) - Most effective mark in the Rocky Mountain conference, would be astonishing if anyone has more hand blocks in D-III Ultimate this season, strong cutter
Kainoa Chun-Moy #?? (Air Force) - Nearly untouchable on offense, quickness rivaled only by Parry, plays hard defense and can guard anyone effectively
Alan Villanueva #42 (Air Force) - Has all the throws he needs and more, has height and uses it effectively, tough defensive assignment
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Cameron Beaton (Colorado School of Mines) - So fast heās difficult to out-throw. Hair trigger for layouts. Equally able to burn you deep or churn underneath. Energy level == puppy
Great mentions. A few notesā¦
Chun-Moy (Air Force) - Plays defense in that artful way that makes you feel like youāre made of 2 left feet on a dance floor.
Morgan Cox (Colorado School of Mines) - Collects Dās at a rate you could set your watch to. Has a nose for upending the offense and an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time.
Mainly nominating defensive guys, sorry O-Line!
Spencer Patterson (JBU Ironfist) - One of the most dominant cutters in the regions, always open, and always looking to make a play for his team. Also a great leader and competitor.
JT Stancil (Tulsa PartyFowl) - A tough cover who seems to do it all for his team and always seems to get open or be in the right place to make a play!
Wright Herndon (Harding Apocalypse) - An every other thrower who seems to place a disc wherever he wants and has the quickness to always receive the disc. Hardly if ever takes a point off when and can make defensive plays when needed.
Justin Mills (Harding Apocalypse) - A give and go thrower who isnāt afraid to try different throws and always knows how to get open an isnāt afraid to run deep. Also a lockdown defender who isnāt afraid to layout and try to make a play.
Jalen West (Harding Apocalypse) - An explosive defensive cutter who strives on D-Line. He uses insane vert and speed, lockdown defense, and O-Line level throws to space the field and free up teammates. Is a major spark on his team and one of the toughest covers in the region.
Zach Whaley (Harding Apocalypse) - O-Line cutter who just always seems to be open and sometimes for no apparent reason. Deceptively fast and a monster in the air.
1st team
POTY Spencer (JBU #67) - dominant cutter who runs for days. Catches everything. So important to JBU
Garrett (JBU #28) - attacks his defender amazingly as a cutter. You take a step the wrong direction, he beats you every time. Stud defender
Veeral Shah (Rice #85) - best deep threat in the region hands down. Can throw it high or long to him and hell get it
Alan (Air Force #42) - most talented player in region. Best throws and it isnāt close. (Would get vote for POTY, but AF is much deeper than JBU so he doesnāt have to do everything for them. Definitely could if he needed to)
Noa (AF #4) - very solid two way player
2nd team
Patrick Kelly (Rice #11) - 2 year captain, leads the defense as a handler, cuts great for the OLine when needed, plays great defense.
Adrish Anand (Rice #) - gets open under at ease, lockdown D, extremely good at zone popping. Short but can sky you
Shane Eckert (CC #99) - incredibly well rounded player. Good defender, both mark and downfield. Good at cutting, good with disc in hand
All-freshman
Marshall Doty (Rice #6) - center OLine handler as a freshman. Breaks the mark around or high release at ease. Best throws from a freshman Iāve seen in 4 years
Its hard to notice individual people too much while playing, so Iām sure I missed some people.
Team shoutouts:
JBU - nicest team in region/probably country too. Fun to play against them every time, even though they beat us
Truman - most spirited sideline by far
- Brian (Rice #3)
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All-region Nomās:
Nate Clancy (Missouri S&T)- The center handle of this team, often works it down the field almost completely by himself getting the disc every other. Dangerous break throws
Spencer Patterson (JBU)- Love playing with this guy, super spirited and a true leader of his team. Went from main cutter and undefend-able last year to main handle and un-stoppable this year.
Sean Eberle (Truman)- Main D-line handle, sliced through our zone at conference with upsetting ease, tough to stop
Adrish Anand (Rice)- Quick sharp cuts, lock down defense, main cutter from Rice with solid throws that kept the disc moving down the field. Spirited dude and great competitor
Alan Villanueva (Air Force)- I meanā¦obviously, I dont think thereās a single person in DIII that doesnāt know this manās name. Perfect ultimate
Chun-Moy (Air Force)- Great captain, d-line leader. Dangerously efficient. Air Force is gonna roll deep at nationals and Chun-Moy deserves a majority of the credit for that
All Freshman nominee:
Ryan Hays (Missouri S&T)- On Miner Threatās kill line, first year playing the sport, this dude is already great and only getting better. Shut-down mark and doesnāt slow down. Canāt wait to see how high his ceiling is, or if he even has one
Post Regionals thoughts
Thank you all for your kind words. Iām hoping to help rep the South Central and bring home the āship.
These are the people I saw/noticed while playing against. I was playing so I may not have noticed everyone who deserves a shoutout.
Best,
Kainoa(Noa) Chun-Moy #4 Air Force
Brian Walker(Rice #3)- absolute baller. Played I think the whole weekend with some sort of cast on his left hand. Everything rice did ran through him. He took the big defensive matchup, made great cuts and threw some dime balls to his receivers.
Veeral Shah (Rice #85)- Brianās favorite target. He was tall, fast and could catch. What more could you ask for?
Shane Eckert (CC #99)- Shane is a competitor. Every point he gives 110% and has good athleticism to back up his defense and play. CC ran on a ton of energy and its nucleus was Shane.
Josh Felton? (CC)- I believe Josh is a Freshman from Minnesota and played at Edina. You could immediately see his experience and poise for CC. He has big cuts and big throws. Playing on a team that feeds off the energy of big plays, josh was even-keeled throughout. Always spirited and level-headed while making some amazing plays.
Mav Perry (#2 Mines)-crazy fast and quick. He also had a laser trigger, that when dialed in, was extremely hard to stop.
Spencer Patterson(JBU) & Garrit Headley(JBU)- I havenāt had the privilege to play against JBU since 2017 Regionals because of how bids worked and in the fall I was abroad. Ive heard great things and I remember Spencer being super fast from two years ago but thatās all Iāve got on their play. I did get to talk with them a bit and they both were stand up dudes.
Mitchell Zimmerman(S&T)- Mitch was a solid initiating cutter who probably had the lowest average time touching the disc after catch. The average stall count on him had to be like 2.5 lol. He would smartly time and set up his cut and then dish it or shoot a huck and then he was off to set up another cut. Give an go cutter? Is that a thing? Super nice dude as well.
Nate Clancy (S&T)-tall athletic handle
Sweatpants dude (S&T)- tall athletic cutter who played well. Sorry I never caught your name.
Connor Grant(AF)-Connor is freaky fast, with the best closing speed Iāve ever seen. He also gets up big and itās about a 60-40 in Alanās favor for jump balls in practice and thatās saying something. Connor is a huge piece on our d-line often taking the top cutter and then being an initiating cutter on a turn. Not your traditional big but a unique combination of speed, height, and explosiveness that you donāt want matched up against you.
Alan Villanueva (AF)- When heās on, far and away the best player in the division. Please try to change my mind. This past weekend against all of our opponents Alan showcased his unique throwing ability through throwing a variety of throws into the wind from a plethora of release points. He also had at least one massive sky per game and a poach d here or there. While Brian said he doesnāt deserve POTY because Air Force is so deep. I disagree. Could we have cut through zones and defenses without Alan, probably, but as pretty or efficiently? 10000% no. He opens up so much of the field and makes everyone around him better. I donāt think you should not give the most talented/best player the player of the region nod because he has to do less for his team because of coaching decisions/his teammates balling out.
Mike Higgins(AF)- Junior d line handle who will be balling out in Texas. Smart defense and biiiig throws.
Ted Jantscher(AF)- Senior handler for us. Biggest throws on the team. Played some clutch defense in our final.
Carl Chan(AF)- Coach of the year. While Carl may have the most talent to play with, he also has to deal with the most hoops to jump through. Each tournament our team goes to we need approval to go, approval for funding, and essentially an Air Force babysitter. Often times we donāt receive approval until the week of the tournament, or a few days before. Heās sacrificed so much for this team and made his schedule flexible and given us so much time. Furthermore, he has to be flexible with the practice schedule as military duties take precedence or other Air Force NCAA teams take our fields. Despite these challenges, heās molded a good frisbee team into championship contender.
All-Freshman
So there is no all region freshman team for D3 and we have to compete with our D1 colleagues. Often times there arenāt any D3 names on the ballot and this year if we all vote we can change that. Letās have our D3 voices heard.
Jeremy Moran(AF)- Came into the academy with 0 frisbee experience and has grown tremendously. Jeremy has grown into one of our top receivers, with great hands, jumping ability and field awareness.
Josh Felton- see above
Not great with names, and Iām trying to keep this short, but here we go
Rice- #9, very good, kept the offense moving
Rice- I think his name was Adrish. omg, biggest little man Iāve ever seen. Guarding him was the absolute worst
CC- #30 (I hope thatās who Iām thinking of) stood out to me in particular. Big man making big plays, seemed like a pretty nice guy too
Air Force- Everyone talks about Noaās defense, but goodness, the man has a quick first step, and his throws arenāt something to look over
Air Force- Villanueva. Donāt bait deep if he has the disc. You wonāt be able to make a play. sadface
Air Force- Moshea is just a huge person, and if I recall, I think he was playing through injury at regionals.
JBU- Spencer Patterson is still really fast, and his throws are even better this year. The rock of that team, and a greatly spirited player. Big fan, has a cute lil frisbee baby now too
JBU- Garrit Headley. idk how, but he just gets Dās. Like, what is he doing different to get so many Dās?
Shouting out some of my own teammates now as well, because we traditionally havenāt gotten our playersā names out there too much. (Missouri S&T)
#24 Will Imming is a huge part of our success, and is a great cutter and defender, with the throws to complete the package.
#78 Mitch Zimmermann is the best cutter Iāve ever played with or against. He turned his ankle in our second game of regionals, and he still tried to carry us through the weekend. If he had been healthy the whole time, I think some scores would be very different.
#44 Lawrence āLarryā Carl āCharlā Eastman. Heās gonna be our captain next year, and he has incredible throws.
#12 Brendan Carriel anchored our D line this weekend. Made some huge plays against several of the players Iāve mentioned above, and somehow kept his passing percentage above 80 while taking nice shots into the wind
#16 Nate Clancy made handling look easy all weekend. Heās a well rounded player, but we especially liked seeing teams change their defensive strategy based solely on his ability to break the mark
#7 Ryan Hays should definitely be the ROTY. To come from no ultimate background and make kill lines is absurd. Heās got consistent throws already, great defense, and incredible cutting skills, and he caught several trashy hucks, including the one that sent us to nationals
I guess I lied about keeping this short
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Iām not great with names but after this weekend here are a couple of players that stood out to me:
Shane Eckert (CC) Played with tremendous energy and spirit every single point. Good athleticism and solid as a cutter. Loved competing against him.
Brian Walker (Rice) Played against this guy for a couple of years now and he is a burner who can get open at a moments notice. Not only is he athletic, but he handles the disk very well and plays with tremendous passion.
Lefty Handler (Truman) I didnāt catch his name, but was wearing the NASA sweatshirt when we played. He was a crafty handler with good break throws, hard cuts and sneaky acceleration. Very hard to match up against.
Alan Villanueva (AF) Havenāt played against this guy since freshman year when he shredded our zone at sectionals 2017 but Iāve seen some highlights over the years and he is a POTY candidate for sure. Has all the throws and can get open anytime. Seems like a stand up guy too.
Spencer Patterson (JBU) Iāve played with this guy for 3 years and all 3 years heās been the best cutter on our team by far. He has the speed, skies, cuts, throws, and bids you want coupled with a fiery competitive spirit and tremendous leadership skills. He is a rare breed and we are going to miss him for sure.
Thanks for a great year and good luck to Air Force and Missouri S&T @ Nationals.
-Garrit
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I didnāt catch many names this year, but here are some guys who stood out to me.
POTY Alan Villanueva (Air Force). Havenāt played against this guy since 2017, but Iāve had the pleasure of watching him many times since then. Much has already been said about him, but I donāt think enough has been said about his humility. For all his accomplishments, his skill, and the teams heās made, this guyās humility still impresses me. And yes, heās also the best player in the region.
Justin Mills (Harding). Despite his questionable wardrobe (cow pants), this lefty handleās give-n-goes consistently trouble defenses. He also plays pretty much every point, so his ability to keep giving and going should be applauded as well.
Shane Eckert (Colorado College). My absolute favorite matchup all of regionals. Always making hard cuts, always intense, always willing to hear the other team out when a potentially sketchy call was made. Thatās everything I love in an ultimate player.
Blonde, Curly, Fluffy-Haired Handle Dude (Missouri S&T). This guyās throws were incredible, but what was even more frustrating was playing zone against him. You know that thought of āOh one of their handles will make a mistake and all this running for the marks will be worth itā? Yeah, I never had that thought playing against this guy. Excellent decision maker. Excellent zone breaker.
Sean Eberle (Truman State). May be small, but he plays big. Quick lefty handle, skied one of our tall guys during our game, and solid throws. Also an excellent competitor. I could tell he was exhausted during our last game on Sunday but he kept pushing for his team.
Garrit Headley (John Brown). My favorite defender. Garrit played with a busted knee all year, and he was still getting some layout ds and taking the opposing teamās best offensive player. His desire for getting a d may only be rivaled by his desire to win.
Rookie of the Year: Brady Collard (John Brown). Tall, lanky freshman willing to take shots with the disc. He played o-line and d-line for us, and came down with a lot of discs in clutch moments.
South Central, keep competing and keep earning those bids. This region has a ton of potential, especially with growing teams like Truman State. Letās earn a little more than two bids to Nationals next year, eh? 
-Spencer Patterson
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As a bystander without much rooting interest who attended the Regional tournament, I have to say there is a litany of outstanding players in this region.
That said, here are my picks based on the weekend, and they will be detailed.
POTY: Alan Villanueva-Air Force OR Spencer Patterson-JBU. Both arrived to the D3 College ultimate scene in 2015, and have worked their tails off to be huge parts of their respective teams every year since. With now 7 nationals appearances between them, there have been plenty of high stakes games and incredible plays made.
This is a difference of 2 outlooks on what POTY should be. If you believe if should represent the most talented player, then Alan is the way to go. Air Force has been a force to be reckoned with all season long, defeating high level teams left and right and only losing 3 games the whole season en route to another nationals appearance. He controls the pace of the game as a handle with jaw-dropping throws, and is a deadly deep threat when called upon. His calm demeanor sets the tone for the rest of the team, and no matter the circumstances, he can be counted on to make the right play.
On the other hand, if you view POTY as also incorporating value to a team, Spencer deserves just as hard a look as Alan. JBU has struggled with numbers the last few years, which resulted in an upper class group of only a few players(I thought I heard somebody mention that they only had 4 upperclassmen on the team, which is insane for a team as consistently good as them). Spencer is an incredibly cutter and a student of his opponent. His style of play is consistent at worst, and breath-taking at best. He is always open despite having the best defenders on him, and his throws are near perfectly placed every time. Opposing offenses stray away from throwing to whoever he is guarding, regardless of who the receiver is.
Both players quarterback their teams and have a plethora of skills that were on full display this weekend. My opinion, POTY should go to Spencer Patterson. This is in no way a knock on Alan because I think he is the best offensive handler Iāve seen in person; these situations are just different. As I watched Air Force stifle S&T in the 1st place game, I couldnāt help but notice the simple fact that Air Force was able to score and defend without Alan on the field. JBU was not able to do these things against high competition without Spencer. Defensively he is an absolute monster and gave JBU so many 2nd chances after mistakes due to inexperience. Offensively, he put on a clinic against the competition and hardly forced it. I believe he is the POTY, but either way both players deserve it.
All Region Team:
S&T #44 Carl Eastman - Phenomenal offensive player. Big and fast, this dude was fun to watch against the zone. He was constantly making smart plays against the zone and led them to earn the 2nd nationals bid.
Rice Brian Walker #3 - Looked like he was playing with an injured hand; regardless he went all out on the weekend and gave it everything he had. The offense ran through him and he was incredible in the time I watched. His throws were silky and his timing was impeccable.
Colorado College Shane Eckert #99 - One of the highest energy guys I saw this weekend; dude was an absolute animal defensively. Had some incredibly clutch defensive plays throughout the tournament.
JBU Garrit Headley #28 - One of the best defenders Iāve ever seen play ultimate. Itās been mentioned above, but the dude gets Dās on plays that nobody else would. Cuts with ferocity and is open constantly.
JBU Spencer Patterson #67 - Talked about him above in POTY. Phenomenal player.
Air Force Noa Chun-Moy #4 - Great defender and a very good cutter. Works incredibly hard on the field to get open and give Air Force a chance to win. Works well with Alan and the two of them lead the team phenomenally.
Air Force Alan Villanueva #42 - Talked about him above in POTY. Phenomenal player, best handle Iāve seen in person.
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The south central is too strong. Our region was stupid deep this year, and I look to see some of the talent continue to develop moving forward. But I agree with previous sentiment, letās make our region a little less stressful next year and steal some more strength bids. Iām terrible at keeping track of the score, let alone individual players, but here goes nothing.
Sincerely,
Carl (āBlonde, Curly, Fluffy-Haired Handle Dudeā) Eastman
#44 Missouri S&T
Spencer Patterson (JBU)- Not only is this guy nearly impossible to guard when heās catching the disc or throwing it. Not only does he lead his team on defense and offense. He is the greatest person to play frisbee with, ever. Heās a stand up guy, and I donāt think anyone can come off the field upset with him around, unless he just broke you. I noticed that even as his team was starting to struggle against CC, he was still respectful of the other team and just continued to grind. Heās my POTY because he just does everything.
Garrit Headley (JBU) - I was questioning his hype, and then I saw him string together like three absolutely absurd layout Dās in a row against CC. Heās a master of his own destiny on the field because if he turns it, heās going to go get it back. Heās the other guy on the JBU offense that I did not want to get the disc. The man is quick.
Noa Chun-Moy (AF) - Iām backing up Jared from earlier. His first step is faster than any of the fighter jets at the Academy, and he is a key to the Air Force D line. Made us look like fools a couple of times.
Alan Villanueva (AF) - Teach me how to throw. Please, O Master of Whamm-Oās.
Sean Eberle (Truman) - Heās got a variety of throws that makes it obnoxious to play zone against him. Also a super nice guy off the field.
Rice #4 - He absolutely shredded our zone. Our precious zone that we love so much never even stood a chance against this man. He got resets over and over and over again. He also gets freakishly high off the ground when he jumps.
Rice Tall Boy - He absolutely dunked on every one of our players that tried to go against him. Theyāre offense revolves around cuts that open up looks to this guy deep. And when he goes deep, well, heās gonna get it.
CC #99 - Mad respect for this manās versatility in all aspects of the game. He straight up grinds and recognizes that everyone point matters, and he is willing to fight for it.
Mitchell Zimmerman (S&T) - Heās that guy. He gets open on every cut. He makes crazy Dās in big moments. He makes our team run. He played most of regionals on a bum ankle and still tried to bait me to overthrow him deep, which is not possible. I canāt even put into words how much he means to this team, and we are gonna miss him next year.
Will Imming (Sweatpants dude on S&T) - Heās given five great years to our team and in his last year has showed his consistent ability to roast people deep, get smart Dās, and work the disc up the field with strong disc skills.
Nate Clancy (S&T) - his break throws defy the laws of motion, and I am personally grateful to have handled with him all season. A smart decision maker that is normally fine with facilitating the disc to the breakside, he stepped into a larger role with this team and exceeded every expectation as captain. He now aggressively moves the disc up field while maintaining above a 90% completion percentage and grinds on defense to ensure O line avoids getting broken.
Rookies (S&T) - the sky is their limit.
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Not an in-region player, but we played JBU at Nationals the past 2 years and ran into S&T and Air Force at the FCS Tune-Up. A few shout outs:
Garrit Headley (JBU): Love this man. Kid throws his body around like a rag doll, and with his speed and leaping ability, is an incredibly tough matchup both ways. He can get open on anyone and lock anyone down. Incredibly spirited and physical player whoās willing to match you in every way.
Spencer Patterson (JBU): Just an awesome talent. Super fast, great cutter. While the last couple years they had guys like Bolthouse, Bruner, and Penner, it seems as though Spencer has grown into the role of āthe guyā for JBU. Ferocious in the air, fantastic on D. Not a fun matchup.
Zimmerman (#78) (Missouri S&T): the kid has wheels. Consistently beat us deep or in with his speed. Definitely would consider him the top threat on a balanced S&T roster.
Alan and Noa (Air Force): You guys are good. Hopefully we see you on Sunday at Nationals.
Also, not sure if thereās any reason Matt Moshea isnāt getting love, but he made a huge difference when he played for Air Force vs. when he didnāt at FCS.
Here we go again, another season ended by Rice. Iām not salty. Glad Truman got some mentions this year up above, so I wonāt complain. Have a few mentions but my picture of the region is missing a few, since I did not get to play Mines this year and sat out the Trinity game.
Alan Villanueva is of course a god among mere mortals in the South Central. I hope Air Force can ride his throwing ability to another Finals. Good luck Afterburn.
Will Imming and Mitchell Zimmerman are two of the elite players in the region, and they have not gotten enough credit for how much they carried the S&T team these last couple years. Incredible play from both of them. They both generate so much downfield that we have to switch our better defenders off the handles on these threats. Missouri love from Truman.
Spencer Patterson is of course very solid, but, Garrit is not even half a step behind him for JBU. Incredible defender and competitor, and had to hold up their D-Line for when we played them at Conferences. Very impresses with his play.
Brian from Rice was their standout player, he was playing through a broken hand and came up big for them when they needed it. Not the strongest of throws, but made it work when it needed to happen.
JT from Tulsa always deserves a mention, but their team does not have many players and struggles to advance out of the Conferences. Also had to go break up fights at the D3 womenās final that same weekend. Funny dude.
From lil old Truman State, you always got to rep the boys. From my D-Line we have the Blonde boys handle set, Alex Wegman(wigwam), Jake Hearst, and myself, #0. We broke every team we played this weekend, upwind or down. Wigwam really stepped up as a Sophomore to guard main look players on the other team. Jake is a lefty so Frisbee is easier for him, but I will still say he improved a lot since his last season.
Good luck next season to everyone, hope we can get some more bids so we can take one instead of crying after losing to Rice. One can dream.