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!
Hey y’all, Sebastien Kline here, freshman for the Flying Horsecows #71 (you may know me as the kid in the beanie). I don’t know much about top players in OV so instead I’ve decided to make a different kind of first team.
These are the players I had the pleasure of playing against over this past weekend/season and thought demonstrated not only great play, but made the game that much more fun.
1st Spirit Team All-Region
#44 Declan Le Warn (B.L.O.B) - Excluding his calm and calculated play on Blob’s D-line, locking me up and playing gritty offense on a turn, I appreciated his humorous remarks throughout the game making our game against Xavier one of the most enjoyable of the weekend.
#23? Thaddeus Krueger (Swarm) - One of the players I met during our not so fortunate run at sectionals, Thaddeus gave me one of the most competitive matchups at both tournaments. Besides his play, he always offered me a high five at the end of points and congratulated players on both teams for great plays.
#29 Gabe Hackman (Electric City) - The offensive powerhouse for Scranton, Gabe was constantly on the field throwing dimes for deep cutters. Despite some tension between our teams early on, Gabe maintained a level head and kept a positive attitude through a hard fought game.
#28 Adam Blum (Serf) - One of Kenyon’s handler core, Adam showed his dominance against us at sectionals with his unguardable strike cuts. Through our scrim in the fall and rematch during sectionals, Adam has had some of the cleanest play that I’ve seen all year.
#0 (Sorry I don’t know your name) (Earthworms) - Although our game was cut short by the weather, Swarthmore as a whole were highly spirited and kept the game flowing even after stoppages. #0 in particular was open to talking about calls and played a clean and honest game.
Messiah Cameraman (Falcons) - I’m not sure if you got any playtime in our game but I along with another horsecow noticed you cheering on teammates from the sidelines and following every play through your camera. I’m sure you got some hype photos from this weekend and I hope I see you on the field in years to come.
#13 Saxon Egge (Horsecows) - The man with the stickiest hands in the region and the loudest voice, Saxon could be heard from anywhere on the field with the words “FEEL THE FIRE IN YOUR UDDERS!”. While he doesn’t lead our teams cheers all that often, when he does he makes sure everyone can hear him.
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Liam from Kenyon here. We didn’t play Swarthmore at regionals but I think we played everyone else so I’ll try and shout out some people that stood out to me from the series.
Can confirm, Griffin and Ben from OC are some dogs. All region for sure. Braque and Ryan are also high impact players on that team. Franciscan #11 #63 and #86 are good, they were the ones making the most impact in our games. Messiah #35 is shifty and had some nice handler d in our game. Blonde cutter dude (I think Granite?) on Cedarville was also a strong defender. I’d second Ben’s shoutout for Ash Ketchum on Grove City.
Adam Blum #28 and Toby Hughes #15 cooked all weekend and will be even more unguardable next season. Prepare your defensive schemes accordingly. Ryan Yarcusko #18 and Nicky Forsyth #23 also clamped other teams’ top players and picked up free goals all weekend.
Good luck to Oberlin and Fran at natties, rep OV well
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Alex Hunkins from Oberlin here. Great weekend and season all around! Can’t wait for next year.
Kenyon:
Toby #15 is a clear all region talent. Really stepped up big for Kenyon. Just a do it all player with insane speed, footwork and defense who also lead Kenyon d line after the turn.
Adam #28 cooked all year against us. He really complemented the strength of the other individuals on the team. In our fall scrim, Adam was often the player to find Ethan Wagner in the endzone. When Ethan went down, it seemed that Adam stepped up to the plate and carved out an even bigger role on the team.
Liam #11 also played great as Serf’s main handler.
Xavier: Blob has a lot to be proud of this year, and I want to shout the whole team out for making the trip to the d3 Grand Prix, awesome to see! In our match-ups I noticed the smooth transition play y’all possessed. #22 and #23 had great games against us and were crucial to their victory over us at Sectionals.
Scranton:
#29 was the clear top dog on a talented Scranton team. Quarterbacking their offense and playing almost every point. #31 also deserves a shoutout for his play as the deep-deep in Scranton’s notorious zone, a very talented player.
Cedarville:
Granite #17 did it all for Cederville as mentioned previously in this thread. He had some of the craziest pulls I’ve ever seen.
Thor #2 was a key component of the Swarm handler core that cooked everyone at sectionals. Always breaking his mark and beating his guy upline for the score.
David #19 the big man was great. Gave me the toughest matchup I had all weekend. Absolutely dominant in the deep space, fantastic hands and speed for his size, and sick defensive pressure.
Franciscan:
The handler duo of #63 and #86 were the big standouts for me.
#36 had some great throws as well. This team should make some serious noise at Nationals.
Messiah:
The biggest shoutout in my opinion should be the coaching staff. Coming in as a 9 seed and pulling off some improbable victories shows how well they adjusted and implemented a game plan. They have already highlighted the play of some players, which I would echo.
Oberlin:
Our Captains, Ben, Braque, and Griffin are all easily all-region worthy. Not just for their talent on the field but for how they responded to the adversity we faced at sectionals and how they led us.
Ben is one of if not the best handler in d3 and always gives 100%. Teams game plan for him, and he still cooks.
Braque is an unstoppable cutter and defender. He also deserves praise for his superhuman performance at FCS, which kept us in a lot of close games.
Griffin is the leader of an Oberlin D-line that converted many breaks this weekend. He crosses over on all important O points as well.
Adam Wright is worthy of all region second team. He played unstoppable defense regardless of his position, and caught huge goals when the team was in need. Lookout for him on the BPOY podium this year.
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Last but not least we have Sebastien Kline for all-freshman.
Boy oh boy where do I even begin. Sebastien… honey, my pookie bear. I have loved you ever since I first laid eyes on you. The way you stretch the field and strike fear into your enemies eyes. Your silky smooth luscious hair, and that gorgeous hammer. I would do anything for you. I wish it were possible to freeze time so I would never have to watch you graduate. You’ve had a long journey, but you never gave up hope. You are even amazing off the field, you’re a great friend and musician, sometimes I even call you Se-Bass. I forever dread and weep, thinking of the day you will leave the horsecows. I would sacrifice my own life if it were the only thing that could put a smile on your beautiful face. You have given me so much joy, and heartbreak over the years. I remember when you first left Barrows and it’s like my heart got broken into a million pieces. But a tear still fell from my right eye when I watched you bowl your first 190, because deep down, my glorious king deserved it. I just wanted you to return home. Then allas, you did, my sweet baby boy came home and I rejoiced. Sectionals was a hard tournament for us, but in Butler you made history happen. You earned the bid to Nationals and I couldn’t believe it. I was crying, bawling even, as I heard my glorious king exclaim these words “OBERLIN, THIS IS FOR YOU!” Not only are you changing the game of frisbee and the world forever, but you’ve eternally changed my world. And now you’re just getting started, the goat, my goat. I love you pookie bear, my glorious king, Sebastien Kline. 
🫶
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