Who are the best players in the Ohio Valley region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
Martians have the death beam pointed at Earth? I want Adam Blum.
Ben Fuguet - Oberlin Player here! (Unfortunately, we did not play Grove City or Haverford this season, so my list is a bit biased in that respect.)
There are so many great players in this region that making an all-region list is hard to complete. Here are my thoughts though!
1st team all-region
Granite Lesko (Cedarville) - Granite did everything for Cedarville this year. In addition to running his team’s offense, he was always up to the task of guarding the opposing team’s best player (typically locking them down with little effort). Granite is THE reason why we had two bids this year in the Ohio Valley.
Toby Hughes (Kenyon) - Toby is the best handler defender in the region. Nothing more has to be said on that front; the dude has improved at an impressive rate. Watch out for him next year y’all!
Joe Salitsky (Franciscan) - Stepping up after the Schuster’s graduated, Joe has been an impressive force in the Ohio Valley. With his lanky and tall frame, he consistently breaks his mark, continuing the flow of his team’s offense without having to take significant risks. Worthy of a first team nod.
Gabe Hackman (Scranton) - For another season, Gabe has led his upcoming Scranton squad to challenge some of the more well-known programs in this region. He’s a strong thrower that perfectly highlights his team’s raw athleticism. (Please please please Gabe get your team to play in other tournaments. Geez we could get three bids if y’all would go to FCS or something.)
Zachary McIntire (Messiah) - Prior to this tournament, I had never heard of Messiah having a player of this quality. Wow, was I proved wrong! Zachary is a speedy and creative cutter who torched teams all weekend. We were caught off guard in the final and had to put our best defender on him immediately. I assume every other team in this region had to do the same.
Griffin O’Neal-Freeman (Oberlin) - If you look at last year’s all-region discussion Griffin’s name was brought up a lot. This year, it should be the same. Griffin played a significant role in Oberlin’s run to a regional title this year. With his throwing prowess and high defensive IQ, he led Oberlin’s d-line, helping us convert on break chances often.
Braque Pike (Oberlin) - The strongest cutter on Oberlin’s team this season. He’s improved greatly and was typically receiving the most attention from opposing defenses to stop his shifty play. Braque deserves to be on this list.
Honorable mentions.
The Pokemon hat dude from Grove City - I don’t know your name, but I’ve heard amazing things about your play. (Someone better give him his respects in this forum.
Liam Savona (Kenyon) - Liam has perfectly fit into the center handler role for Kenyon. Super strong thrower!
Tall dude from Cedarville - There was one guy on this team who single-handedly beat Franciscan at sectionals because he kept skying everyone.
ROTY- I’m biased, but I would say Alex Hunkins (Oberlin) because he was unguardable in the deep space. Interested to see what other teams think.
COTY- Messiah coaching staff
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Braque is the single best zone offense player in a windy region with low throwing depth that has historically relied heavily on zone defense to win games. The speed at which of teams that played Oberlin scrapped their zone and resorted back to person defense is testament to Braque being one of if not the most impactful player in the region.
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Additionally, shout out to Meagan Drews and Zac Byrnes for creating full buy in and getting a team that went 0-4 in the section to believe they could make nationals. They system they put in place has been mentioned on ultiworld in the past and is second in impact only to their personal integration into the team that motivates the team to play fiercely for them.
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Franciscan #63, Jude Schmiesing I believe, was Franciscan’s most dominante player. He will be very scary at nationals this year and is the player to watch. I would not be surprised to see his name end up on an All American First Team list in a few weeks. On a deep well organized team, he shines above the rest and in any tough spot takes over to torch teams best defenders.
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Messiah assistant coach here. I’ll start with shoutouts to Ben and Griffin on Oberlin. We’ve played them a few times in the last few years and they’re consistently two of the best players in the region.
Messiah was able to make it to the regional championship and game to go in what was largely a development year. There were countless guys who put a ton of effort into improving individually as well as building up our program to (hopefully) be in more games to go and make it to nationals in future years. A few guys on our team I’d like to specifically shoutout:
Gavin Kinch - Gavin was by far our best freshman and was a major contributor on our O-line.
Cole Myers - Cole was injured all of last year and this is his first true year playing ultimate. Cole may have scored the most goals on our team and became (in my opinion) one of the best cutters in the division. I haven’t seen anyone be able to match his speed and agility, not to mention his ability to just go up and sky kids no matter his positioning.
Zac McItire - Zac was a solid contributor on our team the past 2 seasons, but took a huge step this year. Zac’s consistent cutting downfield and ability to grind unders, combined with his huge throws has helped our oline tremendously this year.
Matt Siegrist - Great handler. Distributed to our cutters all year. One of the best defenders in the region. Makes contested catches and bails out everyone’s bad throws every time. Impossible to guard in the handler space.
Jordan Philips - Jordan was our best cutter defender, strongest cutter on our dline, and was part of a unit that was able to generate breaks on teams all season. No matter the game, Jordan rose to the occasion with timely blocks, assists, scores, etc.
Joel Herman - Joel got hurt early this season but was able to contribute at DIII Tuneup and Regionals. Joel’s leadership and grit on the field was a real inspiration to the whole team.
Hello all JM Rallo Messiah head coach here. Just wanted to throw in some thoughts I had regarding all region after an incredible weekend!
From the nationals qualifiers, Ben and Griffin from Oberlin are easily all region for me. We game planned for Ben for the final and he still had major impact. Griffin is a monster and has been for a while. Jude #63 on Franciscan was easily their best player and most impactful in our two games against them. He stepped up massively in the game to go on Sunday as well and he is well deserving of an all region spot.
I know my own players were less well known coming into regionals so I wanted to highlight a few who had major impact in our run at regionals this year.
Matt Siegrist #35 was the hub of our O line and guarded our opponents best handler on D line all weekend. He forced so many turnovers just due to coverage sacks and was an all around threat on offense, he is a clear choice for all region for me.
Cole Myers #4 was the guy making highlight reel plays left and right. Whether he sprinted down an overthrown huck or skied a pile of people, he was definitely the best pure playmaker on our team for the whole run.
Zac McIntyre #37 is main initiator for our O line which I felt was one of the best O lines at the tournament. He played through a lot of pain on Sunday and always demanded a team’s best defender when he was on the field.
Finally Joel Herman #18 who will be our Donovan nominee. Joel partially tore an ankle ligament at Tune Up in March and was told at least two full months before he could even start running with any intensity. But he worked so hard to be back for regionals and he showed out. Always bailing out bad throws with bids, taking on difficult assignments on D, and being the ultimate glue guy on our O line.
Other mentions go to #15 and #11 on Kenyon. Sorry I didn’t get your names but they are both very well rounded players who played a ton of points and gave us a ton of trouble in our game on Saturday.
Hope Franciscan and Oberlin play in the championship game for the OV and I look forward to seeing everyone next year!
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11 and 15 on Kenyon are Liam Savona abd Toby Hughes.
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Thanks for clarifying for me!