2012 State Qualifier Recap

On April 28-29, several New Jersey high schools met at the site of the oldest summer Ultimate league in the world, the hallowed grounds that are the MCUDL fields. In this second year of NJ HS State Qualifiers, ten teams (an improvement over seven in 2011) battled for one of the four remaining spots at the 2012 NJ HS D1 State Championships. Special thanks to the following for their contributions: Bridgewater-Raritan’s Mark Farnham, Delbarton’s John Russell, Manalapan’s James Zhang, Watchung Hills’ Michael Porter and Westfield’s Ryan Belline. This is their story:



Bridgewater-Raritan:

• Mark Farnham (senior, captain) on his team’s performance: “The thing that stuck out to me about my team this weekend was how much they pushed. We played savage ultimate this past weekend having only eight guys on saturday and only seven on sunday, and even though odds were against us the guys pushed through to place third in the tournament and qualify for States.”

Manalapan:

• James Zhang (junior, captain): “We'd like to thank the organizers of this tournament for a great, fun tournament. We'd like to thank West Windsor Plainsboro South (B) for practicing with us, particularly Dan Chen.”

Westfield MS

• Coach Ryan Belline on the growing Westfield program: “The Westfield NJ Middle School Team is a 6th, 7th, and 8th grade team run through the local YMCA. The program consists of a 4 team intramural league that meets once a week with about 65 players in total and plays a regular season and playoffs during the spring season. Then, there are two teams - an A and B Travel Teams that takes anyone who wants to play, but groups them by their experience and ability. Both teams travel to play other middle schools in NJ and both head up to a huge middle school tournament in Amherst, MA in May to challenge the top middle school programs in the northeast US. This year, we decided to enter a team into the NJ State Qualifier as a good practice for the competition that we will likely see at Amherst! Westfield would also like to thank everyone who played against us for playing a hard fought game and treating the younger players with great respect.

Watchung Hills:

• Coach Mike Porter on the funny things that happen before and between games: “WHRHS Captain Chris Nguyen lost every single disc flip he called this past weekend, yet somehow we ended up pulling first almost every game anyway! After pool play ended, the Watchung team of Dennis Lamson and Coach Mike Porter defeated the Bridgewater team in a round of KanJam when Porter sent his third throw right into the slot!”

On to the recap! Thanks to all teams for their contributions to this story that is the 2012 NJ HS State Qualifers. All scores have been posted.


Saturday, April 28

Round One

• Watchung Hills over Columbia B (13-1) - The young and still learning CHS B had no answer for the Watchung Hills’ Ho-stack, and WHRHS was able to score pretty efficiently on most of their offensive possessions.

• Bridgewater-Raritan over Westfield B (13-5) - BR captain, Mark Farnham, on his team’s first round matchup versus a JV team: “Although still growing, (Westfield B) was not as experienced as some of the kids on our team. We used our height and speed against them.” Bridgewater’s Adam Elwood had a lot of break-aways, giving his throwers deep options to put up several quick points on the board.

• Manalapan over Westfield MS (13-1) - Westfield coach Ryan Belline: “Manalapan certainly used their height and speed advantage to win the field position battle. They put up some good forehand hucks that were catchable and if not caught, they helped Manalapan set their defense causing Westfield to have to work through the entire field. Westfield was able to sneak one point in, but Manalapan cruised to a victory.” Manalapan team captain James Zhang on their first game against Westfield Middle School, “We thought we were pretty dominant. However, that's mostly due to our physical advantage. We're sure that in the years to come, Westfield will have many amazing players from such a young team!”

• Princeton HS over West Windsor South B (13-1)

Round Two

• Watchung Hills over East Brunswick (13-0) - this second round matchup pitted two former college teammates as coaches, WHRHS’ Mike Porter (Rutgers, ‘91) versus East Brunswick’s Larry Anouna (Rutgers, ‘91). Porter’s boys were the more experienced, riding their horizontal stack offense to another dominant win.

• Westfield B over Columbia B - (13-0)

• Delbarton over Westfield MS (13-1) - Delbarton, lead by captain John Russell, were certainly an intimidating force with their height, speed, and sweet sweet jerseys! The game started off with Delbarton scoring easily, then Westfield MS converting on a huck to tie it at 1's. Delbarton seemed a bit surprised at Westfield's ability to convert, then tightened up a lot and cruised to a victory. John Russell on his team’s start: “Despite a bit of a lazy start after a first round bye, Delbarton got its momentum going and was able to put its size and speed advantage to use, ending with a commanding 13-1 win over Westfield MS.”

• Manalapan over West Windsor South B (9-7) - James Zhang on Manalapan’s second game against West Windsor Plainsboro South B: “(It) started well for us, culminating in a 6-3 lead. However, after poor defense we suddenly found ourselves at 6-6. Fortunately, we pulled ourselves together for a 7-6 lead at halftime. The game was tough, and it's amazing to see that their B team of mostly freshmen plays so well. WWPS was the team that we bonded the most with throughout the tournament.”

Round Three

• Westfield B over East Brunswick (10-9) - Westfield coach Ryan Belline: “East Brunswick took a good lead using with strong defense and capitalizing on Westfield's turnovers with a short field. Westfield countered by playing a bit more vertical, then setting a zone with only two people in the cup to have more help back deep in the field. Westfield generated more turnovers with this strategy and began to crawl back into it. The game went all the way to universe point with Westfield putting in the last one for the very exciting victory.”

• Bridgewater-Raritan over Columbia B (13-1) - This game was very similar to the first (against Westfield B) being we were playing more of a jv type team we capitalized with our more experienced players and the smooth thorough handling of myself, anthony paun, ad adam rothman helped us win this game 13-1.

• Delbarton over West Windsor South B (11-7) - Fresh off their second round win Delbarton carried its momentum into the third round. Stellar play by Delbarton's Tom Hartke, Brian Jung, and Adam Vincent kept the Wave rolling. After a very close game, Delbarton was able to seal another victory after going into the soft cap.

• Princeton HS over Manalapan (13-1) - Manalapan’s James Zhang on their third-round matchup: “It was clear to us in the beginning minutes that we were no match for Princeton. We went into halftime without scoring a point. We finally managed to get one point after I (James Zhang) caught a huck in the endzone. Their captain was extremely nice, giving me tips on how to pull further.” Spirit reigns!

Round Four

• Watchung Hills over Westfield B (13-0) -

• Bridgewater-Raritan over East Brunswick (13-2) - BR senior captain Mark Farnham:
  “Going into this game, we were starting to get pretty tired with just having our eight guys. But we knew we needed to get one more win for the day to put us in the Winners’ bracket on Sunday, so we went out and played our hearts out knowing that Watchung [in the next and final round of the pool] would be a harder opponent from viewing part of their games.” BR’s in-game adjustments included Farnham switching from handler to receiver, using his breakaway speed and good cutting from football training, to go deep. Excellent throws from Ryan Godin and Adam Rothman connected deep to Farnham to win the game.

• Delbarton over Manalapan (10-8) - Delbarton’s clear height and speed advantage over Manalapan dominated the game, maintaining a narrow lead for the entire game. James Zhang cites Manalapan’s best player of the round in “Shalin Patel, who had multiple excellent blocks and a really neat catch!” Despite several players suffering serious cramping after three consecutive games, Delbarton was able to pull out the victory in the soft cap yet again.

• Princeton HS over Westfield MS (13-0) - Princeton used their fast-paced offense and solid zone defense to outmatch and shutout Westfield MS. Westfield coach Ryan Belline on Princeton’s spirit: “Thanks to Princeton for playing a quality game and maintaining their focus and respect.”

Round Five

• Watchung Hills over Bridgewater-Raritan (13-6) - Mark Farnham on the Pool A 1 vs. 2 seed matchup: “In this game, we went out feeling good knowing we’d be in the Winners’ bracket for tomorrow and winning three straight games, but we wanted to take it to Watchung as much as possible.” Fatigue set in as BR started cramping up, dropping passes and not playing as smoothly as the three prior rounds.

• East Brunswick over Columbia - (10-2)

• Princeton HS over Delbarton (13-2) - Delbarton was exhausted going into its fourth and final game of the day against Princeton. Both teams were 3-0 at that point and this final game would determine who would be the top seed out of the B Pool. Unable to keep up with Princeton's superior athleticism, Delbarton's offense was choked off by a Princeton’s strong three-man cup. Princeton cruised to a 13-2 victory earning their spot as a first seed going into Sunday's bracket play.

• Westfield MS over West Windsor Plainsboro South B (7-6) - Going into this game, Westfield knew that it could be a close one. South B was clearly a lot of freshmen who were probably used to cutting with their talented upperclassmen, but was probably without experience handling and running an offense entirely on their own. The game started off with with South B taking a significant lead using a very organized horizontal stack with a great combination of in cuts, handler passes, and deep cuts. South B receiver Mickey was too fast for the middle schoolers to handle! Coach Belline, after the MS converted a goal, “We knew we had to switch things up because their horizontal offense was too much for us to handle. Switching over to a zone with a great mark by Kevin Tsui (grade 7) and constant skies as the deep in the zone by Connor Russell (grade 8) lead to a fast break offense and big gains of yards.” With the game tied up, the hard cap sounded and Westfield MS converted to win the game on universe.

Sunday, April 29

Championship Bracket (5th and 6th at NJ HS D1 States)

10:45am - Semis

• Watchung Hills over Delbarton (15-8) - Matching up against top seeded Watchung Hills was an early challenge for Delbarton. Despite Delbarton's size advantage, Watchung Hills’ pressure defense generated turnovers during the first half, leading to an 8-3 halftime advantage. Wind was beginning to be a factor, creating difficulty for Delbarton's long game. As the wind picked up during the second half, Watchung & Delbarton traded down wind goals until Watchung finally scored upwind on a huck from junior captain Nim Sten-Gilady that was reeled in my senior captain Chris Nguyen. The fresh legs of Delbarton’s Steve Rybicki were a huge help to the weary Morristown-based team, carrying only nine players for a majority of the tournament. After a tough game for everybody, Watchung Hills was able to close out a 15-8 victory.

• Princeton HS over Bridgewater-Raritan (15-4) - BR’s Mark Farnham on Sunday’s play: “This day was gonna be rough for us being tired from yesterday’s games and only having seven men to play complete savage ultimate.” BR expected Princeton to run a tight cup D, and resorted to using lateral swing passes to beat the Princeton zone. Forced throws and dropped passes, however, led to a Princeton win and spot in the Finals.

12:30pm - Finals (5th and 6th at NJ HS D1 States)

• Princeton HS over Watchung Hills (14-6) - In the finals, Watchung Hills didn't have an answer for the Princeton zone. Final score Princeton 14, Watchung 6.

Third Place Bracket (7th at NJ HS D1 States)

12:30pm - Third Place Game (7th at NJ HS D1 States)

• Bridgewater-Raritan over Delbarton (14-11) - In the third place playoff game, both Delbarton and BR were coming off difficult first round games. BR’s Mark Farnham: “(Delbarton) was new for us, (as) we hadn’t played them in the past, but found from other teams that they were fairly new and their throws and handlers were not that experienced.” Farnham explains their team’s in-game strategy: “In our past five games, we had played man-on-man defense being that we also had some new players and didn’t want to complicate things too much, but seeing how this team had fast and athletic tall kids, we decided to use a zone defense to prevent throws, put pressure on the handlers and not allow them to beat us.” Farham on his teammates’ effort in their final game of the weekend: “We knew winning this game would put us into States and also our last game of the tourney if we won, so we played valiantly.” It was back and forth early on but BR was able to score several points off long hucks. One stand out in this game was BR’s Anthony Paun as he never stopped running playing a cup the entire time and also going deep a lot scoring most of BR’s points. Delbarton went on an 8-2 run late in the game, finally able to break the cup with many short passes to work the disc up the field thanks to great play by Delbarton handlers John Russell, Nick Lee, Brian Jung, and Tom Hartke. With BR up at 12-11, the soft cap horn blew, game to 14. BR flew down the field with quick handling and put in the final point in as Adam Rothman threw the disc to a corner of an endzone and Mark Farnham went for the layout to catch and BR pulled out the victory, securing their spot as the 7 seed at States in what may have been the most exciting game of the Qualifier Tournament.

Fourth Place Play-In Bracket (8th at NJ HS D1 States)

9am - Round One

• West Windsor South B over East Brunswick - (11-5)

• Westfield MS over Columbia B (13-3) - Both teams knew each other well since CHS B has a lot of middle schoolers playing on their team as well and they play against each other all the time. In addition, both teams play a similar style with good handler cuts and looking deep off upline throws. Harry McNamara (grade 7) on CHS was a huge threat all game with his confident handler play, upline dump cuts, and great swing passes. However, Westfield made some adjustments to attempt to push their play backwards by mixing up zone and man defense and got many fast break offensive conversions from Connor Russell (grade 8) to Patrick Chirichella (grade 7). Every point was played hard all the way until the end.

10:45am - Round Two

• Manalapan over West Windsor South B (12-9) - Day Two started out for Manalapan with a tougher match against WWP South B. Manalapan trailed 6-4. James Zhang on Manalapan’s come-from-behind win: “Brandon Perumpail and Chris Colen started pulling us back into the game with their great catches. WWPS-B played a much better game with faster throws and quick cuts.”

• Westfield B over Westfield MS (10-9) - Westfield coach Ryan Belline on the much anticipated matchup between his program’s HS B Team and MS Team: “Needless to say, both teams knew each other well. While the HS team thought this game would turn into a laugher, the MS team stayed focused and were determined to make it a game. The HS team took a comfortable 2-3 point lead, but could not extend it beyond that. The MS team kept it close, then converted on two big plays. Cole Feltman (grade 7) made a ridiculous sideline grab while falling out of bounds, then throw it for the score as the defense was amazed. In addition, Kevin Tsui (grade 7) made a one handed sky of a hammer throw in the endzone for a goal. The MS zone defense effectively blocked out B’s stack cuts and MS’ Chris Colen and Brandon Perumpail led the team with their brilliant catches. Chris Colen's defense on Westfield B's best player was also noteworthy.With the score 10-8 and the middle school storming back, the hard cap horn sounded, then the middle school scored to end the game at 10-9.”

12:30pm - Round Three

• Manalapan over Westfield B (13-2) - On the line was a chance to go to the 4th place game. Westfield B worked the disc with swings between Brandon Egert, Drew Stierhoff, and Mike Corcoran. However, Manalapan played a much more vertical based game and certainly won the field position battle. Westfield coach Ryan Belline on their opponent’s play: “Much props to Manalapan who, after some injuries, were down to 7 guys. They all ran hard and won the game handily.”

2:15pm - Round Four (4th Place - 8th Seed at NJ HS D1 States)

• Delbarton over Manalapan (13-8) - James Zhang on Manalapan’s final game, against Delbarton: “I thought we played a lot better. However, I think by the end of the day, our team was just too tired and led to lots of easy catches for Delbarton. That doesn't detract from a great win by Delbarton. The man of that game was Geoffrey Chan, who had an amazing layout block right in the endzone and a great sky defensive block.” Delbarton’s John Russell on his team’s play: “After a long day for both teams, Delbarton was able to dig deep for the rematch with Manalapan. With the confidence from their 10-8 win on saturday, and the pressure of a trip to States on the line, Delbarton managed a final win to secure the final spot at Division 1 States.”

Consolation Games

10:45am - 9th Place Game

• East Brunswick over Columbia B - (12-8)

12:30pm - 7th Place Game

• West Windsor South B over Westfield MS - (11-3)

Kudos to all teams for participating. On Memorial Day Weekend, joining the top four seeds Columbia A, West Windsor Plainsboro North, West Windsor Plainsboro South and Westfield A at D1 States are:

• Princeton HS (5th Seed)
• Watchung Hills (6th Seed)
• Bridgewater-Raritan (7th Seed)
• Delbarton (8th Seed)