“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it isn’t the end.” – John Lennon
That quote came up in the daily quote I am subscribed to. It was the first thing I checked this morning when I got up early to start this blog. I find it fascinating since I experienced a new phenomenon this past week after the event. And I have Alex Fraige and Ryan Greenspan to thank for it.
Stoicism teaches that everything you do can be partitioned into two components: One component is completely up to you, the things you can control. The other are those components which you cannot control – or rather, outcomes that are derived from external factors beyond your control. And the Stoics believed you should focus all of your energy on the first component… things you can control. One should also develop an attitude of equanimity toward the things you can’t control… sometimes things go in your favor, and sometimes they don’t. I read recently that it isn’t a reflection of who you are but a reflection that the universe works in strange and mysterious ways. Of course, I also have my faith so, which teaches that there is purpose for everything.
The reason I bring this up is because several teams I have coached over the years would get frustrated when the wins wouldn’t come. I developed a way to address that by implementing a “we didn’t lose if we learned from it” approach. If we learned something or it made us better in some way, we were good and we would leverage that to be better prepared next time. Some may not agree with that thought process… some may think “if you ain’t first, your last!” I get it. I think any person with a competitive bone in their body “gets it”. But you can’t look at every event where you didn’t win (especially in paintball) as a failure or a black mark… That would leave 11 pro teams over the last 10 years and COUNTLESS divisional teams depressed and/or wanting (and in a lot of cases, dissolved).
But I digress… I’ll start with Alex. He has done a great job of reminding me to “have fun”. Enjoy the process, enjoy the ride, enjoy the journey we are on together. Cherish the moments we get to spend to together playing the game we love. And I am truly thankful to him for that. I do take this too serious sometimes. This passion and love of the sport should never become or feel like work, and sometimes, I let it. But as I explained to him, there’s a deep rooted story as to why. Still, his message was heard and I need to appreciate where I have been, where I am now, and where I am going with this team. So far, it has been a truly educational process and I am quite appreciative of that.
And then there is Ryan (and Alex for that matter too). They don’t see this event as a failure or a bad event for the team. Rather, there were positive take-aways. For example, and I don’t want to put words in his mouth bu Ryan simply sees it as (I’m paraphrasing here), “Okay, we dropped the ball here and here… let’s not do that next time. Let’s refocus and just win the next one.” It sounds so simple but it is quite profound in a myriad of ways. Especially when you look back, consider, and really understand why that attitude exists in him and the other members of Dynasty. I certainly get it. And I’m here for it.
I wanted to share that real quick because it has had a good effect on me. My family has even noticed.
Alright, let’s talk about the event. Again, I won’t do the whole play by play. Honestly, I think this gave people too much insight when I have done this previously (I’m kidding… but not really). I will certainly give you an overview of each match against each team.
Before I forget though, I do want to send a shout out to Major League Paintball for an outstanding venue. Best playing surface for an event in a long, long time. Nothing you can do about the temperatures. That was an anomaly (you can look it up… the average temperature in mid to southern OH in June is a high of 83, low of 62).
VS SEADOGS
I won’t tell you I wasn’t a little anxious about this match prior to Friday. The reason being a combination of the layout and the Seadogs penchant to press. They are solid gunfighters and have some weapons for sure. They are a smart and quick team. However, we had a chance to scout them prior to playing them (insert argument about better to have a warm up match or scout your opponent here). They would match up against Damage and only play 4 points. The Seadogs seemed to like what we were calling “redundancies”… two guys doing the same job purposefully. The one point they won against Damage seemed to show they weren’t confident with snake attack set up nor any willingness to risk any dorito attack.
I would run two lines this match. I was getting production from almost everyone at practice and I thought this would be a great opportunity to give guys spins and the opportunity to expound beyond their practice performance. I must admit, I love the problem of having a tough time deciding who will play. Not to mention, the two lines can help keep legs fresh when its time to run the horses for the event.
The first point that argument for a warm up match came into play. The Seadogs guns were hot. They won the break but we tied it back up pretty quickly making it a 3v3. Arturo and Blake knew the drill and press snake way. Ryan intelligently and craftily spreads the field dorito way. Coordinated effort, constant pressure, and crossfield comms won us that point.
And that would be the match for the most part. The Seadogs redundancies would pause their rotation while we would press ours, be first into position, and keep pressure. We would shoot one of theirs on the break 60% of the time which certainly helped. Our snake side developed faster and we usually snuck out wide D side to create additional uncertainty of threat. Again, great cross field comms from my guys. The one point we lost, it was a bloodbath break for both teams with quick first engagement deaths by both teams bringing it to a 3v3… and then we got a minor.
Kyle Barry laying it down.
VS ARSENAL
Baltimore Arsenal (Formerly Baltimore Revo) has solid depth on their 8 person roster. An intelligent and creative team, they put it on us in Atlantic City. We weren’t about to let that happen again. Similar to Seadogs, we didn’t get to see much from scouting their first match against Aftermath… 3 points. They did seem to have some tells we would exploit. Ultimately, we would focus on what we would do, not what they were doing. This field was about creating opportunities and I have some of the best in the game for that sort of thing.
Similar to the Seadogs match, we would score the first 3 points in a row. First point, they would help us by getting a minor, we would spread and Yosh would clean up. Second, they used O’mara cleverly to win the break but on the next phase of their dastardly and nefarious plan, they were cut short when Dany got into snake 3 quickly and caught O’mara (Dany was a class act. He could have tattooed his name on O’mara and did not). Harrison was wide on the break too. Point conceded when they lost their snake 3. Third point, our guns on break were stellar taking two off the board from the rip. 12 seconds after the start of the point it is conceded.
We would lose the next two points, the second point loss being quite bogus. The first point, we lost Arturo off break and then shortly after Ryan. However, the remaining 3 peel 3:30 off the clock holding. The second point, there was a gross major called on Blake. Ref contended that, while Blake was loading, he got shot in the pod, and then he chunked it. That pulled all our bodies and automatically swung a point to Arsenal. Upon review by Jason Trosen, he confirmed it should NOT have been a gross major,and that Blake did not get shot and throw it. Regardless, there isn’t anything that can be done at that point…. Unfortunate now that it was a 1 point game with 3:37 on the clock.
Where we lost those two points, one being just unlucky, we would now turn around and rattle off two wins to take the match. The first involved a little luck our way and some incredible composure by Yosh. My man! And winning some gunfights. The second point, Yosh again had a force field but this time takes O’mara and stayed alive, then got another, and then Arturo snuck onto their side to take the final point with 4 seconds left.
Harrison Frye had an event playing lights out for the Dragon.
VS AFTERMATH
After scouting Aftermath, not to mention the fact they have been a solid scrimmage partner, we felt confident in our game plans for them, too. Though, they would give us a rather difficult match. We would win the first point by shooting two on the break followed by two more quick first engagement kills. 24 second later, they would towel. However, the very next point, Blake would put his hiney to high in the air, we would lose Kyle shortly after, and then a rather odd minor call on Alex. Aftermath would not squander that high body situation tying the game up at 1 a piece.
Interestingly enough, we would go on another 3 point run. It started after we got a penalty the very next point but this time, the Avocado Twins (Joe Barret and Harrison Frye) would pull off a 2 on 4! Very impressive. Pretty sure Joe got a 4 pack on that one. We won the break on the next, developed quickly and just started chopping them up. The third point, Aftermath returned the favor on the break shooting Blake, but Harrison got wide dorito way, Joe anchored it down, and Arturo with Ryan behind him were set up to either kill clock or turn the field. Ultimately, we won the war of attrition.
It was 4-1 with 1:36 on the clock. Aftermath had to send it, and we know this. I thought it would be clever to show Alex and then run him to the corner. Alex got clipped so that’s on me. Though we ended up losing Dany in an engagement shortly after. Aftermath put another on the board with a well coordinated press. They did it with 31 seconds left. The next point both teams break out, we kill one on the break… match.
Alex Fraige still making people pay after 25 years
VS DAMAGE
This would mark the 1st time we would face Damage in prelims this season but the 3rd time out of 3 events we would play them. We knocked them out in the Quarters at the 1st event (Tampa Bay). We would knock them out again in the Quarters in Atlantic City. This time, we were aiming to send them home in the prelims. They were 2-1 headed into this match but not with a strong margin. We were 3-0. This match would decide if we won the bracket and sent them home, or we would both move on to Sunday.
After scouting their 3 matches and using a new scouting method developed by Brad and Junior, we felt prepared for what Damage was bringing. We had good box calls, a good game plan, and fresh legs. Guys were ready. Chad Busiere was playing well for them up the middle so we would have to address him for sure. It would be back and forth the first 4 points. They won the first point with good guns on break (miscue on gun placement by me). We won the second with a productive center presence, Harrison getting wide, and Arturo’s pressure. They won the 3rd point when we got a penalty dropping our snake side and Chad took full advantage of that. And we won the 4th after we traded blows on the break with Yosh winning the center war, which allowed us to get wide on both sides and squeeze.
The match was tied at 2 each with 8:37 left in the game. It was that 5th point where we showed a play that we thought, once scene, everyone would start using it. Much to our surprise, no one did. Anyway, this set up worked absolutely flawlessly and the guys executed it almost to perfection, especially Yosh. I wish I could take credit for its creation but I can’t. This was the brain child of Mr. Greenspan from the evening before. I’ll take credit for calling it at that moment but man, what a design. And with the way Yosh started the point and the way Blake closed it… awesome.
The next point I felt was the nail in the coffin really. Probably premature but sometimes you just know. We win the break by killing the 2 behind Keith Brown (Jacob?)who took the snake on the break and sent Chad back up the center. We matched them with Yosh up the gut and Harrison wide D side again which means they HAVE to be weary of him. Damage does a good job of matching and adjusting as the point grinds. Keith Brown made that 50 wedge past the snake 3… Yosh recognized that he is either waiting to die or trade. He took fate into his own hands and imposed his will by going forward, shooting Chad, then turning and dicing up Keith! Marcello tries to save the point but ran into Harrison’s gun leaving just former teammate Chris Schehr alive who was quickly tapped out.
Damage came out aggressively and similar to their last point. Keith to snake, Chad up the gut, with intent to press the snake side rotation. They set up well and got position. However, it was now our turn to use some redundancy. Ryan and Blake stalled out the snake side press of Damage, Joe Barret just kept a steady stream of paint on the outside of Schehr, while Harry kept paint in the center gap which doubled as paint on the inside of Schehr. At under 3 minutes, Blake makes the decision to go offensive and I have to say, I kinda dug it. Granted, it allows some new secondaries from Damage but now they know he is in that S3 and have to do something about it. All off this happened with just over 2 minutes left in the match. Regrettably, Chris Scherh breaks the point open by getting Harrison and Blake. 1:23 on the clock, 4-3, Dyansty in the lead by 1.
We lost Yosh on the break of the next and last point but he trades with his cross field counter. 4 v 4 but our zone control picks up their snake dive. 4 vs 3 at 1 minute. Chad crawled to our snake wedge, but Ryan saw it. Though Ryan lost the initial exchange, Harrison saw this go down and put a ball on Chad. 3 on 2 favor Dynasty with just over 30 seconds left. Blake’s voice continues to cut through as I hear him all the way in the pits. He knows the situation, which means his teammates Harrison and Arturo know the situation too. They picked up Chris leaving just Marcello who they clipped at 17 seconds allowing us to get the final point.
3 for 3 against Damage on the season. I have a feeling there will be a 4th and probably a 5th as well. Kevin, Joey, and the boys will most certainly be fired up for our next one.
Arturo giving everything he’s got. This man doesn’t know how not to give 100%
QUARTER FINALS VS HOUSTON HEAT
I would be remiss if I didn’t say that I am a Heat fan. I love this new line up and it is no secret I am a pretty big fan of Ryan Moorehead and Sam Monville (Shout out to Sam’s mother, Dorothy!). Dude, you can’t ignore Ronnie Dizon’s youtube channel (I wish I had his social media talent). Chad George is arguably one of the best in the game and I personally believe that their three pick ups in the off season was pretty smart.
That being said, I felt we were playing the field better. We had good scouting on them, had a good understanding of their game plan, good box calls… everything said, at least to me, this would be a fight but we would be victorious. But that was not to be the case.
It happens to the best. I know because I watched it happen to my guys. Sometimes you just get “dinked”. I am not taking ANYTHING away from Heat. We had not played against that disciplined of a team yet this event and they executed their game plan well. I just felt our plan was better… but then, just goes to show, you still have to land the shots and not get shot. Congratulations to Heat for a match well played. I don’t mind losing to a good team like that.
Dont’ get me wrong, I legitimately felt it was going to be us and the Russians in the finals. At least.. that would have been optimum I think. Meh… it is neither here nor there. We control what we can control.
And what I can control is how my team will be ready for Texas. See you there.
The 2025 Atlantic City Open was one for the books with some pretty incredible things happening. PB Fit won their 3rd event in a row after slipping into Sunday on a wildcard bid. They were in the “Texas Bracket” as I was akin to call it. They finished prelim competition with a 2-2 record handily beating Infamous by mercy rule and putting up a tough win against NRG Elite 6-4 (another story I will get to). They lost to the two other teams based out of Texas, AC Diesel (6-3) and X-Factor (5-3). X-Factor won the bracket going undefeated and garnering the direct shot into Quarter finals. Diesel would drop one to X-Factor in preliminary match up play and take the 7th seed entering the Ochos to face off against… you guessed it, PBFit. But it would be a different story this time. PB Fit would mercy rule Diesel 6-0 giving them the opportunity to face off against… yep, you guessed it again, X-Factor. And in an incredible turn of events, Fit would go on to mercy rule X-Factor 7-1, as well. In the semi finals, they would slow down the Red Legion who was averaging 8 points played per match, beating them 4-2. And finally, or perhaps I should say, “Finalement” (that’s French see…), they would beat Ton Tons in a double overtime match that went to 1v1’s that ended with Scott Stewart shooting Axil Guadin. If Axil didn’t slip on his way to the buzzer at the end of regulation, we may have had our first European team win in America….
I think it is worth mentioning that NRG Elite, after losing all 4 preliminary matches in overtime at the Tampa Bay event, continued that streak in Atlantic City losing their first 2 preliminary matches on Friday by one, all in overtime, too. On Saturday, they would lose to Infamous by 1 (but not in overtime) and be dealt their final blow against Fit losing 6-4. Besides setting some sort of record (most consecutive losses in OT), they are actually showing some real promise. They are in all their games, they just can’t seem to get over the finish line. It’s coming though.
Leverage, who won their pro spot out of Semi Pro, continues to struggle taking their second last place finish in a row. This event was particularly harsh as they only managed to score 1 point the entire event (Saturday in their Ton Ton match where they lost 3-1). I understand they are missing 2 or 3 starters. Hopefully they will have them back in Cincinnati and we will get to see what they are truly capable of. The team took 2nd in Semi Pro behind Leverage, and who bought their spot in the pro division, the Royal City Sea Dogs, finished this event 16th. They had a 15th place event finish in Tampa. In Tampa, they went 1-3 beating ASG Aftermath, and at this latest event in AC, they went 1-3, beating Seattle Uprising.
Baltimore Arsenal showed up and out winning their bracket ahead of Dynasty and Heat, but then losing in quarters final to finish in 5th place. A vast improvement over their 15th place finish in Tampa. Chicago Aftershock bonus balled their way to missing Sunday again going 1-3 and taking 14th, a drop from just missing the cut in Tampa where they placed 11th. Impact was mercied by the Red Legion in quarter final play taking 8th, a surprising drop from their 3rd in Tampa.
Okay, let’s get into it about Dynasty. We will do things a bit different for this one. Whereas, I normally go point by point, I want to do more of a high level recap of our performance during the match ups. We will see how this goes. This field played to a center presence with a heavy dorito push touched off with an opportunistic snake attack. Most teams played that hand. You needed to have a good gun fighter with high survivability in that snake side can. You could use “paranoia” to slow or cause hesitation on this field. Most teams would launch offensive or counter punches from the pocket. Dynasty wouldn’t be much different since it was the appropriate way to play the field in my opinion. Sure, there were plays in the play book that didn’t look this way. And they would be there if needed… but they weren’t often needed.
VS Baltimore Arsenal
When asked if I would rather have the opportunity to scout a team or have a warm up match, I would prefer the warm up match. There are advantages to both. We had a chance to scout Arsenal as they played (and beat) Houston Heat. They played a pocket game and we felt confident in how to beat that.
Penalties didn’t help though. That being said, even when we were down bodies, we knew to push. For example, that first point, we got a penalty but the remaining three knew how to address. It just didn’t work out.
This match we played down bodies and we over gun fought…a lot. In the few up body situations we had, we would throw a body away by either gun battling unnecessarily, not waiting or calling for help, forcing an issue or trying to create pressure alone. Lots of individual play during this match. Our tempo was off and the guys needed a few reminders of how we were going to play the field. For the record, the two points we won weren’t necessarily because we executed well. And the play call for the final point was busted when Arturo got a bad start. Good solid heads up and disciplined play from the Arsenal camp.
PS – Shout out to JC Whittington! We saw you!
VS CHICAGO AFTERSHOCK
We scouted Aftershock and felt confident heading into that match. We knew there would be some tom foolery but that was to be expected. No surprises there. They appeared to struggle with NYX meaning there were certainly chinks in their armor. We would attempt to exploit them.
I was happy to see that our guns on the break started showing up this match but we would still give bodies back. If you want to understand what happened that first point, we shot two off the break and killed a 3rd very quickly but lost two pretty quick as well. It’s a 3 on 2 and my guys hadn’t tracked that 3rd body that was gone. In other words, they thought it was a 3 v 3 still. They eventually figure it out though. Great close by Alex, Ryan, and Harrison. Great execution of the game plan on point 2 even with the early walk from my man Joe Barret. Joe had a tough go of it this match. 3 points in a row he got clapped forcing a move by not checking off. We had a quick chat, it wasn’t some rocket science talk, no… it was quite simple. Anyway, he got his stuff back together and showed it the last 3 points.
That penalty point was frustrating though. We had to start the 5th point down one because of a major on Arty during the 4th point. We argued that Ryan shot Hoskinson across field prior to his launch on Arturo. But the review showed Arturo was shot prior to Hoskinson’s launch. Dadnabbit. It was now tied 2 to 2 with a little under 7 minutes left… plenty of time.
I made a mistake here with my play call on the down body point. I even wrote it on my scout sheet – “mistake, bad play call”. I was trying to decide where we should be dynamic up the center. In doing so, I wasn’t clear about roles. We got the ground and created pressure early but lost eyes on snake. Of course, Aftershock does their bonus balling shtick. That was okay because the next point they get two minors allowing us to tie it up. And it would be all us the last two points anyway. That stuff may work on less experienced teams, it was just motivation for us. I think we made a joke about it the rest of the weekend.
Harry showed out on the second to last point. Great zone control followed by an excellent read from Harry to, for lack of a better term, decimate Shock that point. We take the lead 4-3 with abut 2:20 left on the clock. Lots of time left but now we’re feeling it. Shock presses the pace next point but we absorb their pressure and turn it on them. When Arturo smoked Hosky and the clock hit 1 minute, I knew it was in the bag. Joe had kept Thomas Kim contained since his arrival at the tower. This forces A-Rod to try and make something happen through the center but Harry dices him up. It’s a 3 on 1, we execute Kim at about 30 seconds and then grab the point after the clock went under 10 seconds.
VS NEW YORK XTREME
With our 1 and 1 record, I would be remiss if I didn’t admit I was hoping to run the score up on Xtreme. This would be our opportunity to pad margin. I was really pleased with our guns on the break again. We shot a body on the break almost every point (NYX survived the break out twice according to my notes). I got a little nervous at first as we tried really hard to throw the first point away. Inadvertent horn caused some confusion on that one as well. Shout out to my boy Timmy Roberts for making the NYX team and getting some spins. Smart call NYX.
We executed the game plan decently well this match. The plan was to get a body into dorito 3, follow him up with a second body to bully the single body from the opponent, shift a third that way to pass off the containment, and start peeling bodes cross field. All of this while our snake side stayed alive, keeping eyes on, and eventually taking an opportunity to feed the snake and close. If an opponent beats us to the snake, our goal shifts a little and we want to be in there with them. It was the paranoia of an opponent being in there with you that did more to slow you down than having a forward Can shooting down on all the knuckles (this wasn’t too bad a practice either). We do all this well on the second point. Not so much the third. We shifted tempos on that one a little. I wasn’t too upset with it but sometimes we over correct.
NYX put a point up on the board on the 5th point. We weren’t over gun fighting in this match but when we did gun fight, we were getting the better of it. There is just over 4 minutes on the clock. Plenty of time to pad the point spread. Shoot a guy on the break, successfully bully our way down the doritos, stay alive on the snake side. But then, we started throwing bodies away again. Frustrating. We almost gave Xtreme another point in the 7th. Thank goodness for my man, Blake Yarber. He literally held the line in a 2 on 1 from the back center and got us our 6th point. 57 seconds left. We stuck with the game plan and it paid off when we shot their snake runner on the break as well as their 1 dorito side. It was a 5 on 3 our favor with plenty of time to get our mercy rule win and pad the margin. By the way, Dany got to show off his gymnastic balancing skills for that final buzzer beater.
VS HOUSTON HEAT
We needed to beat Heat. Sure, some of us had done some math so that, from a contingency plan perspective, if things got out of hand, we would know the situation and could play the margin. But a win by any score puts us in. And it isn’t necessary to have those conversations with the players anyway…
Our game plan matched up well against Heat. It would be a grinder but if we could control tempo and execute the game plan more consistently, we would be the victor and that’s essentially how this one played out. Our guns on the break were good again this match. I keep mentioning this because I gave the guys a hard time about our guns on the break in Tampa.
We won the first point decisively with good guns off the break, solid bumps, and pressure. Heat conceded the point after 32 seconds. Second point was a grinder going 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Came down to a 3 v 3. Arturo shoots Chad George, but at the EXACT same time, Blake tries to retreat and gets caught by Mishka. Then Mishka and Harry traded, leaving just Arturo in the snake can and Lapapa in the home. Lapapa filled Chad’s spot in the snake can just as Arturo went, making him second guess himself and ultimately getting caught.
Third point went long. 5 on 5 breakout and two minutes go by before we shot the first body from Heat. We were already wider than them on the D side but when Joe made it to the dorito corner, I knew we were Gucci. Great execution by Dany to take the ground and Yosh to get Soap off the field. A little more time went by and we took Moorhead off the field followed by a quick concession by Coach Ryan Smith.
This was a Sunday match up and was playing out that way. Not just because of the pace and the teams involved but, on Sunday, you win or go home and both of us were in that situation to an extent. I know Heat was. The 4th point was the key. We get up 4 on 3 after more than 3 minutes pass. As the clock dwindles, Heat found themselves in a tough position. We had them contained. Soap recognizes this and decided to trade out with Ryan and hopefully create an opportunity. They trade but nothing came of it other than it now being a 3 on 2. Arturo was matched up one on one with Chad George while Harrison and Joe were matched up against Moorhead. But then it happened, Arturo got hit by Chad. Joe fills to the dorito corner giving Chad the snake to himself. Harry retreated which I didn’t understand since he was well protected from snake in the dorito he was in. While I’m thinking this, Harrison got a minor clearing our field and allowing Heat to tie it up. As they stood there, I knew Heat would take it to overtime. So we conceded the point at 20 seconds or so in order to get extra game plan time. For the record, at this point, had we lost to Heat, we would have still made Sunday.
We had played pretty conservative the whole match and we decided to go a little far with Harrison. He didn’t make it but neither did Chad George. 4 on 4. Blake was having equipment issues, otherwise, I felt like this point would have been over sooner. When he finally got back into the fight, he went hunting. Because I think Lapapa was having gun issues too, and wasn’t fighting much, Arturo decided to take the snake. Soap repositioned to the brick, Ryan made the call, and Blake took Soap off the board. We end up in an island drill … and it looked grim when they picked up Arturo… but then we got Moorhead. 2 on 2 with 18 seconds left. And then… Ryan Greenspan. What can I say… the dude can play.
We were 3 and 1 headed into Sunday as the 5th seed. Good enough to shoot us straight into the quarters where we would draw the 4th seed and winners of their bracket (also 3 and 1), Tampa Bay Damage. This event had almost a deja vu feeling as in Tampa, we played three of the same 4 teams in prelims and drew Damage as our first match Sunday in the quarters as well.
We went back to the hotel, had sandwiches and burgers, put together a game plan for the former coach and my friend SK as well as former teammate Chris Schehr, and went to sleep recognizing our mistakes and feeling good about the match up.
VS TAMPA BAY DAMAGE
Obviously, we were going to key up on Keith and Chris. And, for the most part, we were successful. We would press hard on the doritos, let our center hunt on specific plays and control on others while taking snake opportunities when appropriately available. The first and second points showed this approach quite well actually. Slow steady pressure. A couple of mistakes in the first but solid execution on the second, even without Ryan.
The next three points however… we let Damage go on a bit of a tear. Third point is different if Harry just checks off. Had he checked off, Holiday is busted and we have an opportunity to counter. Fourth point, we both traded bodies on the break but Damage beat us to the middle as well as got a shot in on Joe. That collapsed things pretty quick. Tied at 2 with 6:40 on the clock. But we had learned something about the field now and it had to do with our first attacker on the D side, so we kept that in mind. We shot Chris on the break and took the snake with a center presence. Solid. Then we get a minor penalty. Dang it. Our 5 on 4 is now a 3 on 4 Damage advantage. In the scramble, Damage pulls it off. Down by 1 with 5 and a half minutes left.
We showed excellent composure and control in the next point. We go up two bodies shooting both Edward brothers but gave them one back in Dany off of a bounce shot. Chaos ensued but this time we won the scramble. Tied up with 3:30 or so on the clock. The rain kicks in but we felt good about our shots. And one pays off as we shot Schehr on the break. They got Holiday into that Hertz tower on the cross. 5 on 4 advantage with plenty of time and lessons learned. Yosh is in the center. Too tasty looking for Holiday who launched into an over watch gun. 5 on 3. Yosh then begins the hunt through the center and got another! 5 on 2 but then he was picked up but not before a concession from SK. Now 4-3 with just over 2 minutes left.
We felt confident they would send Keith on the break and they did. We were prepped and Ryan made an excellent shot and got a ball on Keith. Arturo made the snake before the ref calls Keith eliminated. We hadn’t shown that Hertz tower play all match so it was time to bring it out. Yosh got in but gave it up opting to hunt instead of contain. Ryan got out snake way behind Arturo. Dany and Joe were still alive… we were at just over a minute. I felt very confident with this set up that it was our game. Dany picks up Holiday as he tries to fill the snake… 5 on 3 our advantage. But somehow Jason Edwards makes it into the snake and Jake makes a bold move through the snake side center to pick off Arturo. They now have the snake to themselves as they see Ryan’s gun shooting on the cross. They pinch Dany and Jason launches getting both Ryan and Joe. Chris Schehr hits the buzzer with 1 second left.
We ended up in another Island drill in the overtime point. Joe Barret made a great move outside to stop the bleeding quickly followed by Ryan. Arturo was in the snake. Joe repositioned to check Chris allowing Ryan to pressure Holiday leading to Holiday’s elimination. This leaves Schehr in a dorito and Keith Brown in snake can. Keith launched to bunker Arturo. Keith misses. Arturo doesn’t. Ryan runs Chris down. On to the Semis.
*ZEN NOTE: There appears to have been controversy regarding the overtime point. I will say this, Keith called his shot on Arturo. You clearly hear Keith say, “On his hopper” pointing. There was no hit on his hopper. The paint on Arturo’s butt came from him sitting on a ball. There is no one who was ever in position to shoot him in the ass. Case closed. Technically, you could argue Keith was a dead player signaling…
VS TON TONS
The Ton Tons just got better as the event went on. They started Friday off going 0-2 versus Damage and Impact. However, they would win both their matches Saturday beating Leverage 3-1 (they were the only team that Leverage scored a point on during the entire event) and threw cold water on the Hurricanes’ bid for Sunday beating them 6-1. That was enough to garner them one of the two wildcard spots. They would wake up Sunday morning with a real attitude and give it to Uprising first in the ochos 6-1, followed by a win over Baltimore Arsenal in the Quarters (4-1). So it would be the Ton Tons we faced in the semis.
The first point was a much slower pace for both teams even though we both took the snake early. We were the first to punch the center as well as get wide d-side with two bodies. We shot their snake side can but then lose Joe almost at the same time. The first body to drop for both teams was over 5 minutes in. It was 4 on 4 for the next 2 minutes when out of the blue (with very few guns shooting) we lose Dany. Yosh gets caught a minute later. I start walking towards the concede button when Ryan got caught and Arturo shoots one of the remaining 4 Ton Tons… I concede. An 8 and a half minute point.
We answered the next point in just over 2 minutes. Tied 1 to 1 with just under 4:50 left on the clock. The third point saw our guns hot off the break again. We shot two and blow their snake side. We lose Joe early again but we were in the drivers seat… for about 10-12 seconds. Federov shot Blake making it a 3 on 3. Fabrice got a shot in on Arturo and I am making my way to the concede button again. Except Alex Fraige was already there. 2:50 on the clock down by 1.
We shot one off the break then caught a minor… a 5 on 4 advantage for us to a 4 on 3 advantage to our opponents… again. I try not to slip on the stairs I’m standing on and get to the concede. 2:10 left, down by 2.
We shot another off the break but give them two back! Bodies are running around everywhere, people are colliding, mass hysteria. It comes down to a one on one between Arturo and Federov. Arturo makes the heads up play for the buzzer and hit it with 1:13 on the clock.
It was the final point where we could argue we were robbed. A referee signals a player eliminated, turns and throws a yellow flag high in the air, and pulls a player… except he never pulled or asked another ref to pull the player he signaled eliminated. This is not in dispute. This was confirmed by Jason Trosen. The eliminated player was left on the field. My guys saw the flag go up in the air, signifying two eliminations. That eliminated player shoots Yosh Rau and stalls our push. When he shot Yosh, that should have been a major which is an automatic swing point under 60 seconds. I believe the clock was around 1 minute left. Meaning, we get the point and the Ton Tons have to play a man down so we would have been on the power play. After 30 minutes of discussion, it is decided, “Sorry… nothing I can do.” Our argument was they wouldn’t have been overturning a call, but rather, that they would have been enforcing it. But, alas, to no avail. Ton Tons, a wild card team, would go on to play the other wild card team…
But it shouldn’t have come down to that one call. We should have executed better the points prior. Simple. Lots of mistakes this event. But I guarantee you we are better for it. We implemented some new things in the pits that worked well this time. We have already discussed better preparation methods. So much more to do. Trust the process. Goals are being met but we are not complacent. I, for one, cannot wait to see my boys in blue again and get to work for Cincinnati. Lots to do…
Shout out to the Dynasty Champions Club and all the support the guys and gals provided this event and every event. You know who you are! You are the real MVPs! Couldn’t do it without you.
“They say dragons never truly die. No matter how many times you kill them.” ― S.G. Rogers, Jon Hansen, and the Dragon Clan of Yden
A comment before we begin… The Dragon is obviously dead and PB Fit’s World Cup win was obviously a fluke. GTHOH.
Okay. Moving on.
This was one of the more entertaining fields to breakdown/play. No matter your play call, there was going to be a small weakness in it, a slight hole. Whether it was zone control or risk, lots could happen and quickly. Quite literally teams were playing roshambo each point. Which way the Hertz tower was shooting determined a lot, how you used the blind zones, and how you leveraged the center overall was certainly important. Getting outside was good as it shifted guns and created opportunities but it wasn’t necessarily a death sentence for the other team once in the 50s. So much about this field made it in effect, a true chess match… a read offense field. Creativity and instinct were vital aspects to the success of teams. All while players dealt with a plethora of bounce shots.
Overall, I am pleased with the maiden voyage at the helm of the Dragon. The successes we saw and the adversity we overcame was nothing short of astonishing and a complete team effort. Junior Brown is worth his weight in gold, the staff and members of the Dynasty Champions Club (become a member today at http://www.dynastypaintball.com and enjoy all the amazing perks) are absolutely best in class, and the team is full of unbelievable minds and personalities that continue to enlighten me. I am truly blessed to be a part of such an extraordinary organization.
Alright, lets get into it. I am writing this at 1 am so bear with me.
VS Arsenal
After the almost 9 minute first point between Aftershock and Uprising, I had questions. But no time to truly ponder/answer them since we had a reloaded Arsenal in front of us. Lots of depth and intelligence on that team. It was going to be a knife fight for sure and it was.
Pt 1 – We were confident they would test our guns with Archie so we put two guns in the blind utilizing a delay for Arturo into the snake. Both teams made the snake and shot a body on the break but Harry got out wide dorito way. Joe falls in behind him which was awesome since it was damn near impossible to get the 2 out after losing the one. We lost Yosh out of the center but Arturo caught ABJ. We were in a 3 on 2 and the boys closed out cleanly and quickly. 1-0 Dynasty
P2 – We pressed it with Dany dorito way and he got caught (Hertz tower on the cross). Kyle didn’t hesitate and got out to have a presence. We used the blind again but kept threats moving forward. Blake Yarber took the center and Alex Fraige stayed in Hertz. Blake recognizing our weak side pivoted to d-side tower to contain Arsenals d-side progress. Arsenal did a good job with the set up here. Alex saw a line and hoped Hertz was looking elsewhere. Hertz wasn’t. Alex tried to shoot Omara in the snake and got caught. Major penalty which pulled Blake and Arturo but Arty got a ball on another Arsenal player before they pulled him. This left Kyle in a 3 on 1. Kyle launched and got two clean THEN gets shot cross field by Cody McKowski. They threw a major on Kyle but it was overturned and we were back to 5. 1-1 Tied.
P3 – The Avocado Brothers pressed the pace d-side when we shot Arsenal’s d-side aztec. Ryan and Dany contained the snake side aztec while Yosh caught Omara in the center. Dany fed the snake. We had the wides, pinched out their backs leaving ABJ in snake. Dany found him and does him clean. Good execution, good containment, and good pressure. Good close. 2-1 Dynasty.
*We were in x-ball now and we will go on to lose the next 4 points.
P4 – ABJ caught us after we are set up and had won the break (he shot three of us. Ryan and Arturo show valiant effort). 2-2 Tied
P5 – We shot ABJ and win the break again. But we lost Blake early and Dany got clipped entering the snake. They now had the wides and we were stuck in center/back. 3-2 Arsenal
P6 – We traded bodies early on the break but Arsenal picked up another two quickly making it a 4 on 2. I let this go for 15 seconds or so, didn’t see Yosh or Ry in posture, so toweled. 4-2 Arsenal
P7 – Arsenal won the break as we lost 2 bodies fast followed by another at around the 2:50 mark. Here I’m calculating average time to win a point, my guys posture, and current time. When we lost Ryan, I was pressing the buzzer but it wasn’t working. We started yelling “towel!” Lost 5-6 seconds. 5-2 Arsenal.
P8 – This was the turn around point. The guys composure in the pits was solid. We sent Arty to snake and had two guns up to shoot d-side and sent Harry. We got the d-side kill, shot another who drew a minor. Harry, Joe, and Blake got it done with a 1:46 left. 5-3 Arsenal.
P9 – Arsenal’s paint had been high d-side the last two points so Harry was feeling it. He sent it again with Joe right behind him. Ryan shot ABJ on the break but got caught. The guys pressed. Harry and Joe put on a clinic drawing guns allowing Blake to probe center and close. We sucked the wind out of their sails and now it was all ours. 5-4 Arsenal (38 seconds left)
P10 – We knew they would focus on the wides, particularly the snake head. Harry went big, made it with Joe just behind him again. Arty to the corner, not the snake, drawing the gun up, Ryan underneath into the snake, Blake pressed the center. Bonus to us shooting ABJ on the break. Incredible shots and play from my guys. 5-5 tied
OT – The team had now developed a read option for Arsenal’s stack (if A than B). We made the assumption they were afraid of getting stung by Harry again so we figure the Hertz tower will be d-side. Arty took the snake but we lost Harry anyway. Blake saw this and transitioned to dorito tower to slow d-side progress. Ryan won a gun fight against ABJ and Arty went to work in the snake shooting Arsenal’s center body. With that body gone, Joe could spread d-side now, Ryan could force multiply and relay the situation. Great communication and close.
VS NYX
I’m going to hit the highlights on this one. This was an 10 point game in the prelims. Every time I thought we would put them away, they would claw back. I will say, it felt like NYX’s only real attack was a center push and so, we would take advantage of that.
P1 – We owned the center and snake, Harrison ran through and got a major. Arturo closed them out. 1-0 Dynasty
P2 – Dany and Kyle shot the d-side aztec giving us the body advantage. Blake won the center war while Dany and Arturo owned both sides of the field. 2-0 Dynasty
P3 – Dany made the snake and went straight to snake 50. Shoots everyone. 3-0 Dynasty
P4 – Harry got wide and chopped up their center while Blake added a little extra love. Slow patient strangulation from there with Arturo in snake, Alex backing him up, and Kyle Barry on Harry’s heals. 4-0 Dynasty
P5 – NYX made a smart call here and got a player undetected into that D side big wedge. He caught Arty, which shifted Yosh’s gun once he was busted allowing the snake push. Ryan went for damage control to snake corner and Joe won a gun fight on D1 attacker who had crossed onto our side. Ryan eventually got caught, and Joe lost the 3 on 1. 4-1 Dynasty
P6 – We went wide BOTH sides and made both. Blake decimated their center, allowing Dany to wrap snake 50 and johnny’s your uncle. 5-1 Dynasty.
P7 – Bad play call by me on this one. We lost Dany on the break, Alex got caught on retreat, we had committed Blake’s gun dorito way allowing Harrison to attack snake side center. 5-2 Dynasty
P8 – We knew they didn’t want to go wide and that their only success had been center. We put two guns on protect and have a snake side big wedge on the break hunting for them. Yosh got two before heading off! This allowed Arturo and Ryan to spread snake way. NYX smartly got there too though. However, the advantage was to us as the clock just kept dwindling. We finally closed them out. 6-2 Dyansty.
P9 -We were in good position, but it fell apart when Ryan called his shot on the NYX snake player, saw the ref go in, and thinking he got his kill, launched into the snake gun who then wrapped the 50 and blew it open for NYX. 6-3 Dynasty.
P10 – The team was a little perturbed from the last point and the fact NYX wouldn’t die… Alex wanted to have a say about it. Great heads up play by my man, Mr. Fraige.
VS Ironmen
This rivalry has been around for what? 20 years? This one would be a test.
P1 – We struck first taking Pat Kraft off the field. But then dominoes… Harry, Arturo, Ryan, and Joe all get caught. Yosh went forward. Legend. 0-1 Ironmen
P2 – This was a tick for tack point. We went hyper aggressive up the gut. The Men put paint up the gut looking for us and connected on one. Alex made it and picked one up but we lost Blake. Sentz traded his body for Alex’s. We took Nicolau off the field but then Dany got picked up. Kyle Barry then got picked up. Arty went defensive in 2 on 1 and we are down 1 so, let’s keep the time. Towell. 0-2 Ironmen. P3 – We went big with a staggered middle and rope-a-dope to d-side tower. Yosh connected his shot as Baldwin fed the snake. Next to drop was Caro which opened an opportunity to feed the snake. But somehow they got a ball on Arty… I can only guess it was Sentz dropping one over the beam. Harry got wide though and diced up Sentz. Ryan made snake corner. Good pressure and we were on the board. 1-2 Ironmen
P4 – We felt play two was strong so we went back to it. After a push like that we knew they would try to counter our middle so it made sense. Alex smoked Sentz but eventually got picked up. But Blake cleverly set a trap by backfilling Alex’s spot. Dany aggressively took the dorito 50, Arty got out wide snake way in the corner. Nicolau fell for the Blake bait. Guest got Blake on a running shot (impressive) but Arty took Guest. Baldwin looked for the send and ate one to the mouth from Arty in a trade. KB figured out it was home only (Kraft). He spread the field with Dany. Good close. 2-2 Tied
P5 – Yosh shot cross and Joe was on protect to get their kill dorito way while Ryan and Arty get TWO kills snake way (yellow flag on Men). The remaining two died so fast I didn’t see it. 17 second point. Good guns boys! We should just do that every time. 3-2 Dynasty
P6 – Another bad call on me. Ironmen take a page from our book. Joe even warned me that his route would be compromised and it was as they picked Joe up. Sentz clipped Yosh on a short wrap. It was the mid game scramble here that was fun to watch. It ends up a 2v2 with Arty and Ry. Pat Kraft gets the drop on Arty. Guest catches Ryan wrapping. 3-3 Tied
P7 – It was time to be among them… and Blake Yarber got the call. Love the play but the Ironmen never took the bait! Bonus – Harry made it out wide dorito way and Kyle got out behind him. Blake must have been straddling that beam for almost 2 whole minutes . Alex gets clever since the Men are trapped in the pocket and crawls to the big d-side wedge and just misses Sentz in the Hertz tower. He was now busted but no worries…we were in position. Unfortunately, Blake got busted too. He missed his shot as Baldwin feeds the snake. Blake was eliminated for stepping between bunkers (he was never shot). But not before Alex scored his kill on Sentz in the Hertz tower and Dany fed the snake that no one saw. Harry makes dorito 3 and caught Kraft trying to leave the center can. Kyle Barry followed him up and added his gun creating great pressure. They shot the second home and Antimaso out of the Ds… they toweled with 1:20 or so on the clock. 4-3 Dynasty
P8 – We know they will push the center or the D’s or both. Like I said at the beginning, its a guessing game. They took Yosh off the board. Losing Harry next and early really hurt us. Caro came through. And they close on Ryan and Joe. 23 seconds left on the clock. 4-4 Tied
P9 – 22 seconds is plenty of time. We took the risk to send it and if it didn’t work out, we figured we would have another chance in OT… hopefully. Besides, I felt confident that the Men would play for OT meaning they would go pocket. It was simply a matter of which way the Hertz bunker would be looking. If he looks snake way we are golden. He looked snake way. The Avocado Brothers struck again. I spoke to my friend Shane later and he advised me he actually wanted to go but was talked down.
VS Heat
This would be another great test for the Dragon. The battle of the two undefeated teams from the bracket. I was really proud of our team’s execution in this match save for maybe one point…
Pt1 – We shot Ronnie Dizon off the break but lost Ryan. Yosh took the center and Heat got to the snake corner. Harry dropped a ball in on Frey who was in back center. Yosh took one evening the body count but then Arturo played this masterfully. Harry continued progress down field but eventually got caught pressing the issue. Arturo’s gun and Joe’s comms really won that point. 1-0 Dynasty
Pt2 – Great guns on the break by the boys in blue blowing the snake side of Heat out allowing Alex to wrap and trap. However, Heat sent it to trade with him. Blake made a move into the snake and went straight to the 50 to keep the pressure. Lapapa made it interesting because both Blake and Dany ran into his gun on the close. This was discussed. 2-0 Dynasty
P3 – Heat shot Yosh on the break but NO one saw Dany make the snake. He went straight to the inside 50 but a ref decides to check him giving his position away and Mishka stepped off his bunker to put a ball on Dany the moment he popped up. Dadnabbit. What was cool though was the composure and disciple Harry, Ryan, and Joe showed burning off over 4 minutes. 2-1 Dynasty
P4 – We attacked the center with Joe and Yosh. Heat got Soap up their dorito way too. But we were still able to get Harry into Dorito one and Ryan managed to get out behind him. We were in great position. Then Dizon miraculously made the snake! Yosh smartly decided to reposition center but stay on task. When they sent Soap to take Yosh off the field, he got diced by Joe (maybe Ryan too on the run and gun his way back to center). Ronnie made a good move and cleared the center out but Arty took him down. As we got under 2 minutes in a 3v3, it seemed as if Heat didn’t want to press even though they were down by 1 with plenty of time to put it together. Sure enough, their posturing was all defense save for Moorehead. When Ryan Moorehead got picked up by Arty (I saw the shot from the pits… it was gorgeous) at about the 30 second mark, I turned away and began congratulating the pits for a job well done.
Quarter Finals VS Damage
Dynasty had lost their coach Kevin “SK” Bredthauer and their D side one player Chris Schehr to Damage during the off season. No hard feelings there, nothing but mad respect for both of them. SK is a good friend of mine and I want nothing but success for him. Though I could be wrong, I feel the guys played with a little chip on their shoulder which was a great added edge on a double sided blade.
P1 – We showed good guns on the break taking two huge threats off the field early in Chad Busiere and Keith Brown. Yosh got to the snake side big wedge trapping Damage from spreading. He felt it and went for a line but got caught. Arty was in the snake… and then a strange thing happened. 4 on 3 advantage us but then a towel. Surprised but not disappointed. 1-0 Dynasty
P2 – Damage returned the favor shooting two of ours snake way while we peel Chris Schehr off the field. They were wide with Jacob Edwards D side, Chad in the center sheating d side, Keith Brown in the snake, and Agent Smith in the Hertz tower. We were stuck in back line. 1-1 Tied
P3 – They shot Ryan on the break but Yosh pushed center early. We dropped their back center quickly evening up the body count. Arturo got into the snake and went to work! He took 2 off the field bang bang then ran down Keith Brown. Yosh cleaned it up by shooting Chris. 2-1 Dynasty
P4 – Both teams survived the break but Yosh got caught on a transition…Ryan played off chaos and slipped into the snake catching Jacob Edwards in the back center. Keith Brown had made it into our snake 50 but our d-side caught him. We had a 4 on 3 body advantage now and it was just a matter of a clean close. Chris Schehr was pressing but Harry got out wide and Arturo joined Ryan in the snake. I relaxed as Arturo caught Chad and Ryan clipped the rest. 3-1 Dynasty
P5 – both teams pushed the center. Joe got caught by Chris I think (bounce) and Yosh saw a line but got picked up too. Harry and Arty both went forward on the tapes (love it) and Ryan spread out behind Arty. We lost Harry though shortly after though and it looked grim that we would let Damage take the point. But then we got a gift from Keith. He launched into Ryan’s gun and then decided to shoot at Arturo as well. Red flag flew. This put Ryan in a 2 on 1 who then streaks down snake way and steals the point. 4-1 Dynasty
*We go on to lose the next 3 so I will sum up. Damage starts winning the break AND the scramble.
P6 – CHAOS! Joe somehow got caught by a ball in back center, Yosh and Chad traded in the center, Harry shoot some dudes, Keith Brown closed out. 4-2 Dynasty
P7 – We lost Ryan on the break, but Blake got one back in the center and then dunks Keith Brown clean! Body advantage but then a minor penalty on Dany pulled us back. Harry battled valiantly but Damage took the point. 4-3 Dynasty
P8 – They clipped Arturo on break, Blake gets on back with a center push but got caught almost immediately after along with Harry. 4 on 2 with Ryan and Joe. Once Joe dropped, I wanted the time so we toweled. 4-4 Dynasty
P9 – 5 on 5 break, we held Blake’s gun back on a delay up into the center, Harry got wide with Joe, Ryan and Arty doubled the snake insert. Chad was in the d-side center wedge but we picked him up and Blake sent him on a walk. Then Blake re-positioned and picked up the d-side aztec! Their home decided to fill in behind that death right into the meat-grinder that was Blake Yarber. 5 on 2 and Damage smartly conceded. 5-4 Dynasty
p10 – Prior to the point, Damage took a timeout. We know 5 guns alive is paramount so we get 5 guns up and played the pocket. Brian “Agent” Smith took a good line into the large snake side wedge and Blake missed it (roshambo). We bounced Chad and discovered Smith. Either Harry wrapped and got a ball in on Smith or ripped the bounce and scored or more than likely it was Blake. No matter, he was the most immediate threat and he is now off the board which allowed Blake to become the new threat in the center. And he lived up to it. He shot Keith Brown on his attempted fill into the snake and then caught Chad as he tried to back fill snake way. He then put it on back center! Towel from Damage after that with 1:16 left. 6-4 Dynasty
The final point both teams traded two bodies off the break making it a 3v3 but we took the advantage just a second or two later. Keith Brown got the drop on Arty dotting his eye but once again, the Avocado brothers, Harry and Joe, hold the line!
Semi Finals Vs Red Legion
This would be another grinder similar to our Arsenal match. 11 points played and scored. It looked as if Heat had beat the Legion as they had time and were at the buzzer but my guess was Soap shot Monville? Doesn’t matter, we had the Red Legion in front of us and it would be blow for blow. And once again, we would put ourselves in a deficit situation and have to claw our way back.
P1 – First point Blake and Arturo get caught early and Kirill was up in the center fast. He caught Ryan on his fill out. Harry went offensive but lost Joe behind him. I toweled it 48 seconds into the first point. 0-1 Legion
P2 – Loss – 0-2 Legion
P3 – We got Malloy off the field but lost Arturo. Blake and Ryan are up in the center and Harry gets wide dorito way. We lost Blake but Joe gets behind Harry and started helping him bully. Ryan worked his way around to the d-side of the center quickly joined by Harry at the 50 dorito. But then we lost Harry… I gave it another 15 seconds and conceded. 0-3 Legion
P4 – We got 5 out alive! And Yosh Rau made a great read on a line, launched through the center snake way, and gets two! Harry became the tip of the spear building off the chaos Yosh created with Dany, Ryan, and Joe closing it out. 1-3 Legion
P5 – We shot Sergey on the break. I felt like we hit Malloy too but no joy. Both teams in the snake but then Harry and Dany came off quickly. Yosh got popped out of the center. Ryan made a desperation dive into snake corner and makes it. I let 10 seconds or so and am next to towel but Joe advanced buying another 15 seconds. As soon as Ryan died, I hit the towel. 1-4 Legion
P6 – Cool, calm and collected in the pits, we know we just need to get out alive. We delayed release with snake and center. And we make it. Then Yosh Rau AGAIN takes a line and got 3! Arturo cleaned it up. 2-4 Legion
P7 – Both teams made snake but we got a two (Ryan) behind ours (Arturo) sooner making Kirill in Hertz tower have to contend. They snagged Yosh on his run though. Harry gets to D1 and Joe vacated back center immediately to fill in behind Harry. But then Arty got picked up on the inside and Ryan got picked up by Malloy who had taken the snake 50. We lost Harry and I have to concede again to save time. 2-5 Legion
P8 – We got guns up and scored two kills but lost Harry. 4 on 3 advantage to us. Blake pressed center and Joe Barret pressed into the dorito 50 quick! We dug out Kirill and Joe traded with Karsliev. Blake and Arturo located Malloy and Blake popped him. 3-5 Legion
P9 – Blake Yarber into the snake side Big wedge with a “Look at me!”, Ryan Greenspan on the delay into the snake, quickly followed by Arturo into the snake as well. Blake on the low wrap to take Sergey out of back center, Karsliev dropped shortly after, 5 on 3 advantage to us. Blake “the face melter” Yarber pressed that advantage through the center since they have to respect Arturo and Harry on the wides. Got himself a 3 pack! 4-5 Legion
P10 – We were now within one with over 3 minutes left. We burnt one legion on the break but Harry gave them his body back. 4 on 4 when Blake went hunting through the center d side taking Khiril off the board but got caught by Rabackoff. 3 on 3 but Arturo snuck a great shot in on Rab! Then he caught Malloy over the top! 3 on 1 and the boys sent Sergey to the pit to tie the game. 5-5 Tied
P11 – The line was hot. The guys knew the probabilities of what Legion would do based off the stack. We got our guns up and break out safe. Blake sneuck into the snake side wedge looking inside dorito way and became a meat-grinder again. Blake picked up Karsliev in dorito insert and then Rabackoff too. With only Malloy’s gun dorito way from the snake insert, Harry and Joe could take ground creating major pressure. Ryan joined Blake in the center but on the dorito side creating immense pressure and allowing Blake to take a great line at Khiril in the Hertz tower at 20 seconds, peeling his face off. He took another smart route increasing angle on Sergey, getting him and finally dotting the i on Malloy. 5 pack Yarber! Ryan comes in and hits the buzzer at 7 seconds.
Finals VS Paintball Fit
The finals format was changed a week out from the event. The finals would be split into two 10 minutes halves with an 8 minute “halftime”. I was looking forward to this as it hearkened back to the original x balls days just with out the roid rage. Fit had looked pretty dominant the entire event never really deviating from their tried and true game plan. Even with Colt hurt, they didn’t seem to miss a beat. They were getting production from everyone. But we were feeling confident headed into this match.
P1 – Fit went with their standard pocket break out and we essentially mirrored them save for Arturo making the snake. Unfortunately, Ryan looked into a bounced ball off of the snake beam. We picked up Chavez. This is always a good thing when you get him off the field. Harry got into dorito 1 and then dorito 2. Meaning we had the wides and if we played this right, we should be able to slowly cinch the noose. Arturo caught Fit’s snake side tower (Cyrus) which was a green light for him to go forward. Fit’s Mason launched and traded with Harry. But not before we caught another and then cinched up the noose. 1-0 Dynasty
P2 – We match up again with both teams getting 5 bodies out alive. We doubled the tower with Alex and Blake, Dany into snake insert, Kyle Barry home, and Harry dorito insert. Harry looked into a ball (seemed to be going around) but Alex Fraige took the snake side large wedge and posted up. Fit, in the meantime, has gone with their standard break but we let Chavez get out wide. Alex gets his man and another but Chavez pressed the issue d-side and caught Blake. Luckily we picked up the two behind him (Mason). 3 on 2. Kyle Barry clocked in and caught Chavez’s counter and we closed out on Sebaugh. 2-0 Dynasty
P3 – Ryan took the Snake side big wedge on the break, got caught on a wrap and we lost Harry too. But we got Arturo into the snake. However, Fit gets into that d-side Tower, putting pressure on our home to allow Chavez to get wide d-side and Mason got into into the snake. Mason shot Yosh and then dunked on Arty. 2-1 Dynasty
P4 – Both teams break out similarly with the only difference being Harry getting to D1. Chavez mirrored him up pretty quickly though and then Mason got out behind him almost immediately. We should have done the same honestly. But Harry was on offense and gets into dorito 3. Kyle finally got out of that back center into the d side insert. I thought once that happened the clock would be our friend. But then disaster. Dany gets clipped, Blake saw this and made a big move into the snake, and Kyle gets clipped. This all happened probably within the span of 3 seconds. Harry won his gun fight with Chavez, making it a 4 on 3 advantage to Fit. Sebaugh makes a big fill to snake corner, Yosh just missed the shot, and Blake got caught all at the same time. Alex tried damage control by sailing for the snake and got picked up. Harry tried a tactical retreat but got snagged as well. 2-2 Tied
P5 – 55 seconds on the clock before half time. We wanted to press it, but once again, Fit’s guns on the break shoot our one snake side (Arturo) and our two d-side (Joe). Yosh made the center snake side wedge. I thought he put a ball on Fit’s Hertz tower, but no call. Ryan got clipped just as he got into the snake corner with about 30 seconds left in the point. 5 on 2. Fit was off to the races D side to close out. 3-2 PB FIT
We headed into half time knowing Fit wasn’t doing anything we haven’t seen all event long. We are having survivability issues, getting shot out of our spots and losing gun fights.
P6 – The first point after the half the Fit guns were still hot, shooting our ones on both sides. Yosh gets us not one but TWO back when Fit tried for the snake push. Joe won his gun fight coast to coast against his mirror giving us the body advantage. I still don’t know what caught Yosh. I think Chavez from the D side as Yosh wrapped on him. Ryan gets to snake corner as does Garringer, Chavez in D2 with Joe in dorito insert. Joe worked his way to D2 as well but Cyrus was creeping in snake now. Joe made D3. Then he and Ryan made Cyrus’ position. Joe takes 50 dorito and Cyrus takes 50 snake (again). Joe got creative, keeping the center structures between him and Cyrus and almost clipped Chavez. He had to fall back to dorito 50 when his missed the shot. While this is going on, Ryan with his years of experience and instinct, hauled down the snake to catch Cyrus worrying about Joe, and gets him clean. Joe saw this and with impeccable timing runs down Chavez. Wow. 3-3 TIED
And that would be the last point we would win…
Fit would simply continue to show how hard they worked on their gun skills winning the break and winning gun fights. Its obvious they trained to be explosive off the box on the buzzer. We would struggle to stay alive and after winning 3 matches from a deficit, it was not to be this time. The minor in 9th point when we were in good field position did not help either.
Lots to take away and learn from this event… lots of room for improvement but one thing I can share is this: I have a team full of players who not only possess tremendous PB IQ but they are full of grit with no quit in them. Back to work.
Again, congratulations to Paintball Fit. Well earned and they are a testament to hard work and discipline.
It is Christmas Eve morning as I write this. I often use this time to reflect on the past year, count my blessings, and recognize where I have been, where I am, and where I am going. This is the season of giving… and I have been given much.
A phrase said and heard over and over again… “Change is the only constant in life.” I think this very simple yet powerful statement is true because it encapsulates the fact that, every moment is transient.
Change can be a scary thing. That’s because it can be an either/or… either positive or negative. We never know if a change will be good for us or not, and usually not until enough time has passed and we fully realize the consequences of it.
I do believe that, more often than not, change makes us better. It helps us grow. If we aren’t actively seeking it out, we should at the bare minimum be prepared for it. Though I think we can all agree that most of us are programmed to resist it… even when we know it may be best. Why is that?
More than likely because we are comfortable. We are warm and protected in our bubble/routine of the known. We have become dormant, being content with what is, never considering what could be… Why would we upend any of that for the possibility of losing it or replacing it with something difficult? Why actively pursue potential adversity?
Because comfort is where dreams go to die…
Change is often the catalyst that drives many of us forward. And we need to recognize it for the true power it wields.
** Zen Note –Before I go any further, I want to take a moment to once again thank the New Orleans Hurricanes for their love and support. I am tremendously grateful to them and always will be. They helped propel me to where I am. I am forever indebted to them. Love you guys. This change will make you better and stronger, of this I have no doubt. I know I am leaving you in better condition than before!
The recent decision of mine to leave the New Orleans Hurricanes to take on the role of San Diego Dynasty’s coach has brought a tremendous amount of change to my life. Some of the ramifications of the decision were felt/seen almost instantaneously, others have yet to be revealed. So far, all have been positive and I cannot think of a scenario where the consequences of this action will have any negative connotation. And if I could think of one, I doubt I would accept it or recognize it as “negative”.
Am I worried or concerned about the future? Not really. Let me explain. Stoicism teaches us that we suffer more from the imagination than we do from the reality.
“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” – Marcus Aurelius
I love that Dynasty’s logo and mascot is that of a Dragon. The dragon, in eastern cultures, is a symbol of strength, wisdom, good fortune, and magnanimity. The latter is my favorite of the descriptors. The virtue of a strong heart and mind… it is something I have always aspired to. It is why the Zen logo is a dragon. We should want to encompass these things, pursue them, obtain them, and maintain them. And, over the years, I think it has been obvious that these virtues were and are integral to Dynasty, as well.
I have so much to learn. It has already been a surreal start. The Dynasty guys have been nothing but welcoming and professional. I think we all know how much their legacy in this sport means to so many of us. It is not lost upon me what they represent to the paintball community. Even though I am older than every member of this team, I certainly understand and respect what they represent to paintball as a whole. I am duty bound to give everything I can… and uphold that legacy.
My biggest excitement is with the implementation of my system with Dynasty. I have always believed that a good coach can walk their team through the what, the how, and the why of any change. The latter is probably the most difficult. The WHY must be meaningful… frankly, I wholeheartedly expect them to apply Bruce Lee’s method to what I bring. They will “absorb what is useful, discard what is useless, and add what is uniquely their own.” Meaning, they will just make it better. Heck yeah…
So where do we start? We start with a vision of the future. That vision will encompass some questions which will lead to efficiency and streamlining… what is necessary, and what isn’t. We will trim the fat. We will manage expectations and understand what that structure will be like. We will set goals and develop plans to reach them. We will not limit anything. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and we must not stay there, we must go beyond them. (More Bruce btw)
San Diego Dynasty are champions. They know how to win. They are the heroes of this unfolding story. This is about them. They are the ones who will make history. They are the ones who will be on the field implementing a shared vision, meeting the goals, rising to the challenges that face us. My role in all of this is to chart a course and steer us towards fruition. If the winds shift, my role is to adjust the sails. If the sea gets choppy, I need to make sure the crew is prepared. If we get off track, that’s on me.
“Rough seas make good sailors”. And they are already good sailors. They know how to sail the rough waters. The perils that await us are not anything we haven’t seen before. We will meet them with the same weapons of reason which today arm us against the present…
To Alex, Ryan, Yosh, Blake, Danny, Harrison, Arturo, Kyle, Joe, and Junior… I cannot wait for this journey to begin. In many ways, it already has.
Failure is a harsh mistress. One that, if you aren’t careful, will continue to show up at inopportune times. Especially in the world of professional paintball. You’re only as good as your last performance and after our 2nd place Las Vegas event, where the team gave the PB world a glimpse of what we can do when we execute, the New Orleans Hurricanes have consistently fallen short of our capabilities. Especially on the goals front set by the team at the beginning of the season. We didn’t meet a single set for this season after the first event. But sometimes, we can get so focused on winning, that we fail to recognize the lessons learned from the losses. It is said that failure can improve resilience, incite innovation, and even generate creativity that may not have occurred otherwise. And I thought that’s what we accomplished in preparation for this event. That being said, you better have resilience if you continue to under perform and play like we have. The lessons may start to get old and finding that tenacity, tapping into that “dog” in you, can start to become difficult. Well, not really… not if you are a true “dog” … a real warrior. And my guys are the real deal. But something is wrong. And we have to fix it.
Disappointed doesn’t seem to have the full connotation or essence of what I am trying to convey regarding my guy’s performance (and mine) at this year’s World Cup. This is now the third year in a row that we have gone 1-3 at the final event of the year, losing matches we should have won. We knew how to play this field. We knew the keys to the kingdom so to speak. We knew the set ups, we knew best where to close from and how, we knew where to push, where to create pressure, had good adjustments planned and prepped. We had good understandings of read offense and our opponent’s stack. We just simply failed to execute after the buzzer. We weren’t ourselves and frankly we haven’t been since Atlantic City.
And that has to rest on my shoulders. That’s where I failed. With most of your top teams in professional paintball, paintball is the priority. This is not the case with my Canes. Paintball is a passion. The priority is our families and jobs. Since going pro 3 years ago, we knew it would be tough and that we were in for tremendous difficulty if we wanted to be competitive and relevant in this league. So, my job was to figure out how to be competitive and relevant with limited time and assets. My job was not just to help them prepare, but to draw that great performance out of them… Each member of this team had a point at World Cup this year. Unfortunately, it isn’t individual performance that makes the dream work in this sport. It has to be a team effort, which I have always felt was our strength. And we were just discombobulated. As the leader, I take accountability for not having the words and/or wisdom to draw better performance out of my guys. This season is going to haunt us, I’m sure.
VS Brooklyn Bears
Point 1 – We knew the bears would play a similar match to us. I felt between the two squads there would be aggression on all three fronts of the field but that we would win the day with guns on the break and better comms. And it looked like I was right in point one. Even though Drew Bell was team killed off the rip by getting shot in the foot by a teammate, we shot the Bears’ snake runner on the break with our pocket shooters. Britt Simpson took ground d-side and Nic Ripple was in the snake 50 by himself all within 15 seconds. Daniel held the Bears out of the snake, Stuart spread behind Britt. We are in excellent field position. I am smiling in the pit because this is the set up we want (granted I wanted that 5th body as force multiplier but…still). I knew we were going to win the point. But then things start to deteriorate. Nic picks another body off but we lost Britt. We are now 33 and this field has turned into an island drill. Nic got dinked making it a 2 on 3 but Stuart Ridgel steps up dorito side and peels another off. 2 on 2 now after we had blown the advantage. Daniel Camp zones up and sure enough catches the Bear’s dorito side making it a 2 on 1 with the snake corner the only body left.
It was the first point so I wasn’t concerned. First point jitters kind of stuff maybe. Nothing prepared me for the continuous drop off in performance the rest of the match. 1-0 Hurricanes
Points 2- Should have been a 4 on 2 favor to us mid-point. We bounced three of them this point. However, the Bear’s paint did not bounce when they had their shots. 1-1 Tied
Point 3 – We won the break shooting the Bears snake runner but we let them fill out. We were once again in position to close out the point and win. We had the snake side stacked, and I’m ready for Nic to go do the guy in front of him. Instead, he retreated and got dinked out. Stu and Sakaguchi trade in the snake, so now both teams had 2 bodies dorito way, and one body each in the snake. Aaron Pate won the snake war decisively! Again, I’m thinking to myself, great job, we’re gucci. But then he got picked up by either one of the greatest or luckiest shots from the dorito 2 retreating back to home… it ends up in a one on one with Drew Bell. I felt good about the odds but… no. 1-2 Bears
Point 4 – Bears win the breakout, we are down bodies and time is low. I concede. 1-3 Bears
Point 5-7 Bears play paintball and we forget how. The end. 1-6 Bears
*Point 8 – We got a major in the point before. Bears are on the power play 5 on 3 off the break. We hold.
Big wake up call. We had now put ourselves in a precarious situation and it was just the first match. No worries. Stay positive, understand the mistakes, get it together. Absolutely no reason we shouldn’t and couldn’t win out.
VS Ronholt Dynamite
Ronholt are a Norwegian team and I really like those guys. But we needed to hang it on them, so we set out to do that. They were predictable, not the best laners, and I knew we were better gun fighters . They normally have 4 weeks on a layout so I felt confident they weren’t as prepared as they would be for an event in Europe. We knew what they were doing, we didn’t need to adjust anything to beat them.
Point 1 – we went aggressive and win in 45 seconds. 1-0 Hurricanes
Point 2 – same thing but it slowed down a bit. Pate shot the first body, someone shot Dynamite’s snake, then Pate shot the rest. Pate gets a 4 pack and should be in the running for Prelim move of the event. 2-0 Hurricanes
Point 3 – Dynamite found there guns on the break but we still should have won the point. 2-1 Hurricanes
Point 4 – we won the breakout, made our closing spots, clean close. We are on our way to do what we needed to do to erase the first match. Or so I thought. 3-1 Hurricanes
Point 5 – I got a little concerned on this point. It took us way too long to close this point out, especially since we knew the situation and where they were. I feel our dorito side should have been in the fight sooner. Searight should have felt comfortable coming to Dynamite’s side as none of the three were in position to slow his progress. Dynamites mini wall can’t go anywhere. Drew Bell has to be a little more careful than Searight as he had to push the S2 in before he can go but once through, it should have been over. I feel like we should have won that point with at least 7 minutes or just under still on the clock. 4-1 Hurricanes
Point 6 – One player had to rush to the box and is pulled for leaving early… he wasn’t shot. That’s on me. I had no idea there was a gun issue and frankly, there shouldn’t have been. Next body looks into a ball… d side was blown. Its 5 on 3, Dynamite’s advantage but Nic got to the 50 snake, and peels not one, not two, but three bodies off before he dies. He did everything he could to save the point. This left us in a 2 on 2. Unfortunately, my two last bodies didn’t know where the two bodies were and it costs us. Blind shot on Drew Bell costs him his body. Trade at the end with Daniel Camp in the snake and Dynamite is on the board again. 4-2 Hurricanes.
Point 7 – We win the break and they got a penalty I think. They concede with 2 and a half minutes left. We needed to win by 5 just to get back to 0. So we need to get on the board in about 1 minute 15 seconds or so average to make me happy. That would not be the case. 5-2 Hurricanes
Point 8 – We just couldn’t stay alive. I don’t know what was going on… 5-3 Hurricanes
Point 9 – We stay alive but Searight drew a minor. The “hit” on his pack was obviously rub from one of the bunkers but it is what it is…. We burn the clock. Game. We did not accomplish our goal to win by at least 5. This would haunt us. Match should have been 6-1.
VS AC Diesel
We scouted Diesel and were ready for them (or so we thought). We knew they liked to use the pocket, and press the snake action.
Point 1 – They break as we anticipated but they still win it. 4 on 5 advantage them but we beat them to the snake. We bait Godlman into a gun in the snake making it a 4-4. However, we lost Dorito containment and got sloppy in our bunkers. Cortez makes Britt pay for it. While that was happening, Nic kills the god and was on their side of the snake. Cortex shoots Pate, Nic has no idea what was going on, they hit the buzzer. We shouldn’t have lost that point. 1-0 Diesel.
Point 2 – I wanedt to use the center on them because I had a sense they would go snake corner and weak d side. They did. Unfortunately, they made their first shot on Pate count. While that was happening, Britt had made it to Diesel’s side of the field. But he decided to over gunfight. We were just giving them bodies. We had fed the snake so I decide to give it some time to see if we can eek one out. Sure enough Drew Bell makes a moving cross field shot from the D side on Mouse in the snake! He then shoots the D side one! We have now evened the body count up 3 on 3. Daniel Camp shoots the D side 2 cross field! There we go!… But Clint Johnson sneaks one in on Drew. It’s a 2 on 2 and my guys later reported they didn’t know where Clint was… we dropped the ball again. 2-0 Diesel.
Pt 3 – The next point was a cluster. Get this, they shoot Camp on the break but the ref next to the one calling Daniel out, thinks the other ref is talking about Nic! That’s right, Nic was clean but the ref kept yelling at him to get out so he did. So Diesel gets a free one thanks to a ref not just taking a beat to understand. We got one back and Britt is on their side of the field in their Doritos. He missed his first shot and now they know he’s there. But Pate picks up Clint Johnson. It’s now a 3 on 3 again. A minute goes by, Pate feeds the snake but then… both Drew Bell and Britt Simpson come walking off. I don’t know how. It’s a 3 on 1 so I concede the point. 3-0 Diesel
Pt 4- We were pretty confident they would spread and they do save for the 1 dorito side who went a little further than we thought. Drew Bell asks for a paint check on his back. The ref called him clean. As he progressed up the field another ref found the hit the first one missed. Penalty… I had to concede. 4-0 Diesel
Pt 5 – we finally play hurricane paintball 4-1 Diesel. Too little too late. Game.
VS Aftershock
We scouted shock and had a great understanding of their game plan. They literally had one play they ran 80% of the time with two guns up and 3 heads down running. We would try and take advantage of that.
Point 1 – Well, those two guns up were good. 1-0 Afteshock.
Point 2- Same. Except this time, we shot two of theirs shortly after. 2 on 3 but my two are Drew Bell and Searight, so I let this go a bit. Drew gets in the snake, shoots Hosky, Searight shoots Cory Hall! Drew put a ball on Thomas Kim’s neck, we all saw it from the pit. The ref calls him clean. Searight should have shot him as the ref was checking him. Anyway, one on one, Thomas Kim wins it. 2-0 Aftershock’
Point 3 – 4 on 4 break which quickly became a 4 on 2, Aftershock advantage… I concede. 3-0 Aftershock
Point 4 – I have officially left stoic demeanor and am now in putting my foot up everyone’s butt demeanor. We know what they will do and want to do. If we can live past the break, quit giving our bodies away, we will beat them! We shoot two on the break (finally), Arod threw his body away, 3 on 1 advantage us. We were on the board finally playing the way we knew how to. 3-1 Aftershock.
Pt 5 – We lost the break but get the advantage snake side when Danimal took Hosky off the board. Searight pressed the issue dorito way as well and he eventually worked his way to their side. He shot their god, they send a body to get him, that dude got diced, we close out. Another point where we are looking like ourselves! 3-2 Aftershock
Pt 6 – We know they will go back line and we decide to go short snake way (snake way shooter was hot). The read was right and we shot their 1 dorito way and their 2 snake way who drew a minor. Corey shot Britt but Nic caught Corey, 4 on 1 advantage us. I don’t think we knew about the minor and were looking for a second body. At the very least, this issue was better than the issues we had been having. Good close considering. And a third point in a row where we played to our potential. 3-3 Tied
Pt 7 – We know they will do their standard break out. Two at home, one body short dorito way, god and snake corner. They did. We missed our shots though. Both teams for the first time this match are 5 on 5. Arod missed his shot on Daniel who is on their side of the snake but we didn’t. Arod takes the walk. We shoot Parrish D side, and I remember thinking, it is 5 on 3 with just over two minutes. We got this. I’m thinking Daniel will launch and stab out Hosky. Instead Hosky went highway. Then a strange thing happened… a ref throws a minor on my player who asked “whats on his head?” Hosky had a BUNCH of paint on his head and there did seem an instance where it looked like he took a lick in the snake. We were going to win this point and potentially the game… but a ref had inserted himself into the match, on a talking penalty no less. Oh well. Control what you can control. I have to concede the point with a minute forty left. 4-3 Aftershock
Pt 8 – Arod gets away with one this point. We watched him get shot from the pit. He was hit, he realized it, and launched before a ref could get there. Stu points at Arod asking for the penalty and they throw a penalty on us for pointing… pointing everyone. Nic trades in the snake making it a 2 on 2. But Drew Bell and Danimal pinch the home. Drew trades with Parrish. Daniel waits to hit the buzzer until about 6 seconds. 4-4 Tie.
Overtime – Aftershock takes the win after we lose the break and team kill one of our guys.
So what did we learn here? We have learned that you have to be at your best every moment of every point of every match. You better hit your off the break shots like you were at practice. And you better close cleaner by checking in and realizing your down count because there was probably a guy doing a job… and if he isn’t there anymore doing said job, that is bad… more so when you don’t know it. The Canes are known for two things – guns on the break, and disciplined team work. We had neither at this event.
The New Orleans Hurricanes started this season off well with a 2nd place finish in Vegas. We had two goals this season, neither of which we met after Vegas. Make every Sunday and win an event. I have a lot more to say on this and maybe I will write another blog later this month to cover all of it.
But first…
Seneca taught that “Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.” And he is absolutely right. But I’m not a perfect stoic yet.
…But I am always trying. With that in mind, I will avoid commenting on a “distraction” that reared its ugly head the day prior to the event. Now to work on that Christian value of mine regarding forgiveness, too. That one will be tough. To the “source” that fed the lie? Pray I don’t find you.
The rumor of our demise is greatly exaggerated. We have work to do.
After starting the season off with a 2nd place finish in Vegas, I find myself sitting down to write about yet another disappointing and subpar performance by the Hurricanes. This marks our third event where we went 2-2 and missed Sunday. We are now 11 and 8 on the season (61-68 for/against). If you had asked me if we would be in this position after Vegas, I would have confidently and perhaps with a little defiance, stated no. One of the goals we set for this season was to win an event. We have missed that goal so far. Since Vegas, we haven’t hit one of our goals set for the season, one of which was continuous Sunday appearances.
I think we have proven we are adaptable and can play any game, whether it is fast and bloody, slow and disciplined, or a mix of both. We are a team that beats you with team paintball. Our process and successes have been from our ability to process data as a team and play selflessly. When we have the information, when we can connect on the layout, we are very dangerous. However, the layouts as of late have proven that you must be comfortable going forward without all the data and in some cases, none. It’s about risk taking and our processes have been about risk mitigation. Breaking that mentality we have ingrained in ourselves to punch and counter punch based off data has been difficult to say the least. Our processing speed and read offense has always been data based… if A then B… If B then C…. that has not been the case as of late. And that’s on me. Our system was good enough to get us to the pro division. It was good enough the first two years to keep us competitive and a threat. It was good enough for Vegas. But good enough isn’t good enough anymore. It is time to adjust the system. To sum this event up, we knew how to play this field. We were ready and the game plans were solid. The issue was simply a lack of consistent execution. My ones applied pressure but were just getting “dinked” out and my twos were inconsistent on when to apply additional pressure and follow up. Don’t get me wrong, my guys played some good paintball… some of the time. The inconsistency bug has struck us again. That falls on me. Time to rework and readjust the system.
Vs Ironmen
The first point we wanted to attack and attack hard, to make a statement. And we did. We went aggressive D side with a relentless push from Britt Simpson with a plan for Stuart Ridgel to follow up quickly and apply pressure. We would get Nic Riippel in the snake as well to show we were coming from both sides. We lose Stu on the break but Drew Bell knows the drill and quickly plugs the hole d-side. Britt trades and on the Chaos, Drew takes the Ironmen’s side of the field. I feel Britt could have got two but I will take his aggression just as well. Drew peels one but misses his second opportunity on a kill. Drew catches a penalty as he gets a skimmer pack hit. This leaves Nic in the ironmen’s side of the snake in a 3 on 1… 0-1 Ironmen.
We showed we would attack and be a threat on both sides the first point so I wanted to show we could do that AND be a threat in the center as well. Stu just missed his shot on Ironmen’s snake player who ends up shooting Mike Brown cross field in our dorito side. Drew Bell quickly filled the gap though and with Justin Bailey containing, was able to mount a second offensive on that side. Drew crosses onto the Ironmen’s side and shoots snake corner, snake 2, and their home. He them went to trade (unnecessary but I dug it). At this point, Daniel Camp is on the Ironmen’s side of the field snake side and we still have Stu and Bailey to close out, which they did. 1-1 Tied
Point three, I felt we were in the driver seat off the rip. We were the aggressor again and had the snake 3, snake corner for support, and the dorito 50. We were in better position and I felt confident we were going to take the point. Daniel Camp gets out of snake corner to support Britt Simspon in the snake 3 so if there is a trade, we don’t lose the ground. I felt we should have been out of that can dorito side to support Nic who was in the dorito 50 way sooner. Especially since Ironmen’s snake was applying no pressure. We got out to the first dorito though and I once again, felt confident. Britt got into the Ironmen’s side of the snake which made me doubly happy… I thought he is going to go trade eventually and then Daniel will be in position unseen. Instead, Britt got picked off by a bounce shot…and the Ironmen got out of the snake corner and join their own two man team in there. Then Stuart Ridgel got caught. We are now in a 5 on 3. Nic got peeled next. 5 on 2. Daniel makes a move, got 1 but…4 on 1 and I want the time. Conceed. 1-2 Ironmen
This next point was difficult for me to watch. We knew what has to happen on this field. We had to be first, create pressure, and get our twos in the game to clean up. I called the play knowing we had made a small mistake with point one. Both teams went aggressive. We were in the snake and first to the corner. They were first out in dorito 2 and 3 but we were first into the dorito 50. Nic got to the snake 50 and eliminates dorito 3 for Ironmen. Daniel Camp fed the snake again behind Nic to be gain ground and be a force multiplier. Drew Bell (Home) and Stuart Ridgle (dorito can) now had some freedom to force multiply and increase pressure. We were now in complete control of the field. But we lost Britt out of the dorito 50… Although, at the same time Nic had improved his position to Ironmen’s snake side and I am positive he landed his shot… ref didn’t see anything though…Omara moved to snake 3 and shoots Nic… I feel like Nic needed to stay posted that way with Drew Bell now in the snake side center wedge on overwatch. Stu was at dorito 50 but repositioned back… not sure that was the play. Camp gets into Nic’s former spot and missed the shot on Omara. Had this landed, Stu could have taken ground, eliminated home, and we could have closed tieing the game. Time had dwindled to a point where we were committed as there was just about a minute left. The personnel I had out there I trust to make it happen. When Drew went to center, I thought, okay… wait… major penalty. The rest is history. Two opportunities squandered. 3-1 Ironmen.
Vs Xtreme
We had scouted Xtreme well and felt confident in our game plan. We would emphasize dorito guns, pressure their box to not allow them free reign back there, and concede/contain snake. This paid dividends on the first point as we shot two and they got a penalty. Jeri is left alone in a 5 on 1. He gets one but we closde him out. He would get his later though. 1-0 Canes
We went with a designed play similar to the first but with one adjustment. Stu would shoot his shot, then reposition out to dorito side to support Britt’s dorito push and filter Drew Bell up to where Stu was showing (Dorito brick). Nic and Daniel would contain and when given the opportunity feed to have snake presence. We landed our shot dorito way and landed a second which causes Xtreme to draw a penalty. D side is blown for Xtreme and we had position. Interestingly enough, we scored a shot on Jeri too. 5 on 2. Britt crawled to their dorito side, got the cross field elimination, and Xtreme concedes. 2-0 Canes
We didn’t come off the gas. We got Britt into dorito 3 to wrap for any center presence. We got Nic into the snake 2. We also got our two snake way out quickly. Zone control snake side is on point as we shot snake corner and the fill. 5 on 3 advantage us. We were in control, I anticipated Xtreme to concede when one more body droped. Then it happens. I actually saw it coming… ask anyone in the pits. I say out loud, “We have no snake containment! Holy crap…somebody notice.” A simple statement from my 3 or 2 snake way changes this (“I got this, you get that”). Jeri Caro takes the risk at the right time with the right seam and makes us pay. I hope Jeri got the $500. 2-1 Canes
After a conversation about the last point, we were back on task for the next. We were winning the breakout and I didn’t see a need to make any radical adjustments. They shot Daniel on the break but we took Jeri off the board as well. Drew Bell filtered snake way since Nic is alone and Xtreme has a body in there with Nic. Xtreme was actually in better field position here but our spread was set so that we could absorb a push and counter. Once Drew got out to the corner, he could push Nic forward. Stuart began to press the issue dorito side since Xtreme seemed hesitant over there. Mike Brown was in reserve behind Stu. My guys are communicating well so I felt good about them not repeating mistakes. The point began to drag on, again we are in position to absorb knowing Xtreme has to come being down 1. Mike Brown let Nic know about Canter in the 50 snake and Nic lands his shot. Kraft makes a good move but Nic canceled him out with a trade. Stu got caught but Drew drops the hammer snake way knowing he had the side to himself. Absorption… counter. 3-1 Canes
We felt confident Xtreme would shift their emphasis to the center in some manner. Unfortunately, we missed our shot and lost the first body but get one back when Drew Bell shoots Jeri again. Stuart makes a great fill outside dorito way and got the kill on the dorito side brick. Drew took the opportunity to fill underneath Stu. Josh Taylor for Xtreme went offensive and took the 50 dorito but Drew knew he has to go and sacrifices himself to get him Taylor off the board. Kraft came through the center next and Daniel was in the snake 2 but on the wire. Nic was telling him but I don’t think Daniel heard him. Fortunately, Nic squeezes a ball in on him giving us a 3 on 1 advantage. We didn’t know the count but luckily Daniel picks up on the last body (Canter) who had left the snake and went into the center. Stu drops leaving us in a 2 on 1…Nic spread luckily, Daniel traded and we get the last point. 4-1 Canes.
I’m thinking about spread now… so we had to study our opponents well heading into the next day of competition. Our opportunity would come with Revo who seemed to struggle with their first two matches. And based off scouting of the Legion, they were predictable. But there is a difference between knowing what a team will do and executing the game plan to stop it.
Vs Revo
We were unable to watch tape the night before to reassess our own matches much less watch our next day opponents as the webcast had issues with uploads. So we studied our paper scouting sheets and developed what I thought would be the best approach to Revo.
The first point Revo shot 4 of my 5 players on the break. Ever the optimist, I let Justin Bailey know that he hit his shot on the snake corner runner. 0-1 Revo.
I didn’t think we needed to do anything different, just get out alive. We did but we don’t completely when Bailey gets clipped repositioning to snake corner. We were first to the dorito 50 with Britt who clipped out Revo’s snake corner, but they took Daniel Camp out of snake 2 just before. 4 on 3 advantage Revo but Drew Bell got into the snake undetected. And with Britt and Stu applying pressure D side, he got the drop on both Revo players in the snake before the dorito side for Revo gets a ball on him. We were now in a 2 on 2 with both teams dorito side. Stu slipped out of the doritos into the center. Unfortunately, he does the jump- jump- jump maneuver and it cost him. We get a gift from the PB gods though as a Revo player decides to leave the safety of his bunker and into Britt’s gun and Brit wins the next gun fight. Individual play and mistakes by Revo saved the point for us. 1-1 Tied
Revo wasn’t showing me anything spectacular and after two points I’m not seeing any adjustments from previous data we had. We spread the field and pushed Britt into the Dorito side snake on the rip. Our guns paid off and we have the ground in a 5 on 2. Revo conceded which made me happy because I want to play points for margin. About 10 and a half minutes left on the clock. 2-1 Canes
I decided to push the snake side now as well as doritos. Both my ones made it in and once again Britt was first to the 50 dorito wedge. Revo was in front of our pits and I watch as the first snake player goes in and Stuart dropped a ball in on him from home. They feed the snake again from snake corner and I again watch Stu put a ball in the same zone which caught the player’s foot. So did the ref. Running ref finds the hit and it’s a minor. 4 on 2 our advantage and we closed out clean. 3-1 Canes
Revo hasn’t shown much aggression once they made it out wide dorito side. We felt that would change as this is when they would probably push it or try to slow ours down with a dorito center brick. We spread and decide to try and use the god to check off inside. We get a body on the break and we knew that they were already down 20% with the dorito brick waiting on a shot. We knew they made the snake though so Drew tries to use a shot to contain. Daniel had direction that if the shot didn’t pay off, get in the snake and go to work. He did just as Drew lands his shot on Revo’s snake player. We just had to wrap and trap now which should allow Daniel to go all the way. Revo tried to fill and we picked him off. Stu launched and dropped the hammer on Revo’s center. Drrw traded with last body. 4-1 Canes
Revo attempted to flip the script and take a page from our book going straight to dorito snake and snake on the break. They also shot Dnaiel on the break. Stu got caught trying to fill out. 5 on 3 but Nic took Revo’s player out who had crawled to our side of the snake. I’m thinking okay, we Gucci… then Nic got clipped and I saw a flag go up on our side of the field dorito side… 4-2 Canes
Revo saw success with their last play and knew they have to press the pace. So, I wanted to take the dorito out of the equation and get in the snake. Stu lands his shot on Revo’s dorito attacker and Britt takes the Dorito snake. Daniel shot his mirror in snake side Aztec on the break. At the same time, Nic made the snake, wraps on the Revo home player who was playing too tall. Stu launched forward looking cross field for the snake that Daniel called, finds him, then turns just in time to catch Revos 2nd attacker Dorito side to trade. 5-2 Canes
I wanted to get guns up so we spread the back. It worked out well as we shoot the snake corner and the dorito 3. This also helped us with visual acuity so we knew where the bodies were. Stu launched through the center as we peeled off their bodies from snake Aztec and home allowing Stu to snag Benny Carrol’s back. 6-2 Canes.
To say I was happy with how the match had gone up until this point would be an understatement. I was pleased with how we had come back into form the last couple of points. We were imposing our will and I was confident we had seen all that Revo had. Just over 5 minutes left with a 4 point lead. My hopes for a high margin were being met.
But it can never be that easy… not in this division and certainly not this year… We were now in X-ball and without going into all the detail, let me sum up the next 4 points. The first point comes down to a 3v3 but we fail to know the situation and got dinked out. The next point, we won the break but end up in another 3v3 and don’t know the situation and get dinked out but bring it back to a 2v2 thanks to Daniel Camp. However, he missed a cross field shot and then got caught retreating leaving Nic in a 2v1. Nic did a great job getting out to the dorito side which bought him some time from the snake player. But it isn’t enough. Revo won the break on the next point and then its just a charlie foxtrot… I told the guys “Its time to be among them” and we send Stu up the gut and we win the point. It’s 7-5 now with just under a minute left. We shot two quickly making it a 5 on 3 and I’m thinking, “yes, get me that last point”. But no… dink, dink, dink… 7-6 Canes.
Vs Red Legion
We have played the Legion 6 times now in our professional career. The first time we met was in our pro debut event in 2022 at the Sunshine State Major. After going down 6-1 and on the verge of being mercied, we clawed back making it a 6-4 match with 3:35 left on the clock. Plenty of time to come back to tie. We go up 4 on 3, had them trapped, but didn’t press the d side attack quick enough on the last point.
We would pull them again our first year at the Windy City Open. We would go down again early on 4-0 with just under 9 minutes left if I recall. We came back and scored 4 points unanswered points with Aaron Pate hitting the buzzer with a few seconds left to take us into overtime. We would win in overtime 5 to 4. We were the ONLY undefeated pro team out of the prelims that event and it would be our first top 5 finish.
We would meet them the following year at the 2023 Lone Star Open. They would be our only loss in the Prelims with a grinder of a match 3-1. The score does not denote how close that knife fight was.
We would pull them at our disastrous 2023 World Cup. Ironically, they would be our ONLY win that event as we would edge them out 5 to 3. Though, if we are being honest, penalties killed them, otherwise they would have most certainly won.
We would pull them at the Atlantic City Major of this year where they just seemed indomitable. And yes, the put us away 8-2. We could have made Sunday if we had kept it close but we didn’t. We died on our swords trying to play their game.
And here we were about to face them again. We had done the math and we knew if we kept it close with Legion, we would be on to Sunday. We needed to stay within three… We had also done our home work on Legion and felt confident in the game-plan. We knew where they wanted to be on the field and we knew where we needed to be to intercept them. But you have to hit your shots. The first 6 minutes in, I felt good about where we were. That would not end up being the case. We would be mercied again by this team who has essentially evolved the game of old into a new statistical fast attack. You want to beat the legion? You have to hit your shots. We had opportunities and we let them slip through our grasp. Legion 8-2… again.
As we head into cup, we have our worked cut out for us. We are currently ranked 8th (My goal was to be higher than that at this point) and we have a hell of a draw. Heck, no draw is easy anymore. We have one final goal for the season that MUST be met and that is to actually do well at World Cup for once in the pro division (our last two were disasters). It will take a lot of work, a lot of commitment, a lot of understanding, and a whole hell of a lot of heart.
But if I know my guys, we are up for it. Roll Canes.
Be water my friends.
P.S. Good to see our friend Grayson up and about, inspiring all of us to never give up! #fightlikegrayson
The key to surviving and remaining relevant in Major League Paintball’s professional division (in any division really) is not a team’s depth of roster, funding or any myriad of things… sure, these aspects certainly lend to successes. But the real key, in my opinion, is a team’s ability to adapt. Adaptability is the difference between success and failure. One could go as far as to take the stance of British writer, Max McKeown that “All failure is the failure to adapt; all success is successful adaptation.”
The New Orleans Hurricanes, whom I truly believe are one of the most adaptable teams in paintball, did not adapt well at this event. Which is strange since I also believe that one of our strengths as a team is our collective ability to recognize and see aspects of layouts rather well. That, and we had actually worked on a form of adaptation the weekend before in preparation for the blind layout. We knew how to play this layout. We knew what the optimum set ups were. We were in good position several times in all four matches and yet failed to follow through on execution or, in some instances, recognize the opportunities we had just created. This marked our second missed Sunday out of three so far this season… not where we saw ourselves at this point in our third year as pros.
“Our identities are always changing and growing, they’re not meant to be pinned down. Our histories are never all good or all bad, and running from the past is the surest way to be defined by it. That’s when it owns us. The key is bringing light to the darkness – developing awareness and understanding.”
Vs Blastcamp
We respect Blastcamp and their approach to the game. We wanted to really set a tone with this match, leverage our creativity as well as our roster. That was the plan with the first play call. Go big, be first outside, signal a balanced approach on the box when we had no plan to do so, use some misdirection… you know, the usual. Our guns on the break were stellar and positioned well just in case they decided to go big too (which they did), and the misdirection was unnecessary as we win the point in approximately 20 seconds. Great read by Jacob Searight to dunk the missile Blastcamp sent to fifty Dorito. 1-0 Canes
Blastcamp answered well with solid guns of their own shooting two of us off the snake side. We took one of theirs off the D side and immediately took ground in an effort to turn the field. On this layout, a body advantage early was a big deal, so in turn, you had to take advantage and create opportunity quickly. Daniel Camp understood he had to shut down that 50 snake wrap while Searight and Drew pressed the action D side. Valiant effort from my players but Blastcamp took ground, probed the middle, found the opening, and closed out. A 3 minute 40 second point. 1-1 Tied
We felt comfortable attacking the wides again getting guns up in the center. We got the kill but Drew Bell got caught out in the open. Had he committed earlier to going forward, he more than likely would have been fine. Even count, four on four. We had good position in snake and wide dorito way with Blastcamp essentially pocketed. But we allowed Blastcamp to take snake and filter into a three man operation that way. Not optimum as my two man operation dorito way with Mike Brown and Justin Bailey now had to contend with two cross field shots. The key would be eliminating Dorito side can. Blastcamp repositioned further into snake side which boded ill but we did picked up the D side can kill. This meant that Blastcamp’s remaining assets had to respect that the side was blown. They decided to run though, Danimal diced him up on over-watch before he got to Pate but no penalty. Danimal went tall, caught another and then commited forward getting the last Blastcamp player. Our push close should have come from D side but it still worked out. Quick concession from Blastcamp. A two and half minute point. 2-1 Canes
Data from my guys showed a comfort staying wide and maybe pushing the issue a little further D side. We made our spots, five on five paintball. My guys all made secondaries and were looking good. Searight pressed the action D side. Point drug on as both teams were zoned up and Blastcamp developed that three body set up snake way. I felt that, with Searight inside and Daniel inside, Pate could have been a bit more proactive here, especially since we had Bailey in the snake side aztec controlling the outside of the 50 snake brick. We eliminated their D side can just before Blastcamp began probing the center in order to take Daniel off the field. They traded. Four on three advantage us. We were in good position, had the lead, and the clock was burning. We had this one and should have extended the lead. That was when things got weird. We got a minor because someone somehow sensed or complained that Daniel’s gun was hot. So they checked his gun… not with the chronograph he chrono’ed onto the field with… no, with the other pit’s chrono. He shot hot so we got a penalty and they pulled Pate out of the snake. This changed the strength of our positioning and improved Blastcamps. They closed the point but not before Justin Bailey almost turned the point around getting 2 of the 3 remaining. 2-2 Tied
We pressed the wides again since it hadn’t been looking like it could be stopped but they did end up shooting our D side one and took the 50 snake quick. It boded ill as Daniel improved his position to snake wedge but lost his first engagement. Pate did damage control by slipping out to snake corner. Clock was under 3 minutes and we were in a 3 on 5 disadvantage scenario. I stood close to the concession button waiting to see my guys try something… I decided I would give them 1 minute. Drew Bell made it out to dorito corner and I breathed a little better but was still not happy. When Stuart filled to the can though, I got real nervous. I thought for sure he would have filled towards Pate. As soon as Pate died, I conceded. 3-2 BlastCamp
I kicked myself just a little for not conceding the point a little earlier but I always trust my guys. So now we had to develop a super fast play. There was no doubt they would want to just make their bunkers, lock up access, and try to hold on for 71 seconds. With that in mind, we knew we needed to take an opportunity early, especially since they hadn’t shown good guns D side. Knowing they wanted to protect the wides and would look for a snake side push, I opted for a different approach with my guy’s buy in. We were going to press the D side action. We would risk one body D side to draw the guns and plan to filter another underneath. We would get heavy guns up, try to get key eliminations on the break, then read into our secondaries. We took a timeout to make sure we were all on the same page and understood what needed to happen on the reads. The point started and we got one elimination, made the doritos, filtered a second body underneath dorito way as the guns went wide, and secondary into snake corner. Even after losing our rabbit D side, we succeeded in positioning Dorito way with Drew Bell and Stuart Ridgel executing well. Drew got the drop on two of them, one of which decided to play on drawing a penalty. Drew hit the buzzer early which I was fine with because I would like to use the time for two reasons… one, to let my guys work their lanes, and two, have a little more time to work on my play call with the team for the next point. 3-3 tied
For the overtime point, we knew what Blastcamp wanted. So we prepared a little rope a dope. I set Searight up D-side with the look to go big but his real goal was snake 50. We placed two guns dorito way and they paid off shooting Blastcamp’s one on that side. Searight got to his spot, trusted his over-watch from Pate, and we settled in to push the snake with a 3.5 man operation. Blastcamp committed on Searight, Pate on over-watch caught him, and the Blastcamp player tried to play on. Luckily he didn’t shoot his gun or it would have been a major instead of a minor. About the time the penalty was thrown, Danimal picked up another kill cross field on D side. We were in a 4 on 1 with just over two and a half minutes to close the point out. Canes win.
Vs Uprising
We were able to scout Uprising during their match against the Bears. We felt we should be winning the break and making it wide again. We had also determined we needed to secondary a little quicker. With that in mind, we headed into the first point shooting Uprising’s dorito one on the break and took quick secondaries out snake way. We also put a ball on their center aztec near snake wedge who drew the penalty. We were in a 5 on 2 situation but Uprising had the snake 50 who quickly wrapped and shot Mike Brown at the home. My guys had the kill count wrong, too. However, they didn’t rush, they figured it out but not before it became a 2 on 1. Hey, blind layout which we had played a whole 7 points on. I’m not going to be too critical… yet. 1-0 Canes
We kept going wide because, why not? They finally picked Pate up on the run and gun to snake corner but he took the home with him. Four on four but Uprising began pressing D side pretty aggressively. They essentially had one gun to beat who came off their zone by the way, so really no guns to beat. Snake 50 dropped Drew Bell in the D side can and then Britt Simpson in Dorito one. Its a matter of time for Daniel and Mike Brown. 1-1 Tied.
Uprising went pocket and we spread D side. They got crafty and used that D side “alley” to get into the D side wedge but not before shooting our D side one (Searight). Drew Bell knew we need that asset outside to keep them checked but got picked up on the fill. Mike Brown did make it out there, however. We picked up a kill making it even again but that lasted all of about 1 second as Pate and Daniel got shot. But Mike “Clutch” Brown shoots another. This means he was in a 2 on 1 advantage Uprising but Mike has faced greater odds before. Unfortunately, you can’t win all them and Uprising took the point. 2-1 Uprising.
Alright, back to basics. Get Nic Rippel in the snake, draw the gun out wide with a dorito runner and filter underneath D-side with Drew Bell. Leave Pate in reserve as overwatch with Nic. And that’s how it went. We shot their D-side can but Uprising seemed to panic a little with Nic in the snake. This allowed Searight to go offensive with Drew right behind him. Bailey swung out behind them as force multiplier knowing this was the window. Welcome to the meat grinder. 2-2 Tied.
It isn’t broke. Let’s go. But it was broke… kinda. Nic’s hopper decided to give him a problem. We were in great position. We had shot one of them on the break and had Dorito one, the forward D side aztec, the snake 50, snake side aztec on over-watch and home. But we allowed Uprising to take the snake and get a drop in on Drew. We got a body back giving us the 4 on 3 advantage. Uprising was in Dorito 2, snake side aztec and snake 2. We had Dorito 2, dorito can, snake side aztec, and 50 snake. We had Uprising’s snake 2 contained and their dorito contained. Not a lot we could do with their 3rd though. I was thinking Bailey would be able to get out of the can but he hunkered in and got small preserving his body. Uprising committed on Nic for a trade but a sloppy secondary follow up cost Uprising their second to last body. It’s a 3 on 1 and the clock was ticking (I believe it was 2:30 left at that point?) so, barring a catastrophe, I knew we were going to take the point. Whether my guys knew the count or not (I could tell they didn’t since they were still covering some zones that had NO ONE), I was just waiting for Uprising to concede. 20 seconds later, they did. 3-2 Canes.
Still plenty of time on the clock. We decided to pocket up and get guns up. We got one but they made snake 50 pretty quick. We knew they were going to go snake 50 and wanted the quick wrap . Nic actually shot the wrap, I know this because the Uprising player even asked for a check, and the ref called it “rub”. Stu heard the snake call and tried to get to that wedge to catch him napping. Unfortunately, the snake looked inside just at the right time, otherwise, great play. I remember thinking to myself, just get to the dorito one and this point will be fine. Mike Brown made it out there as if he heard me through telepathy. But then got shot almost immediately after… dang. Had he lived I feel this point would have gone longer or finished differently. Uprising closes well. 3-3 Tied.
We played the 10 second point and we decided, heck, let’s go for it. We got to the 50’s and that was about it. Time. Okay, into overtime.
I waited to call a time out after Uprising’s time out for two reasons. One to ensure we were good and comfortable with the play call (I sent Stu out to the box to ensure the five were good). The second reason was to play a small psychological game against Uprising’s 5 on the box. Unfortunately, neither really did much. We should have lost that point. But Aaron Pate and Daniel Camp put the team on their back and won a 5 on 2 with help from our opponent who kept throwing body after body at them with no coordinated effort or close. Nic got shot on the break, Pate and Daniel made their secondaries and Searight went a little offensive but past that, we just sort of stagnated…Uprising pressed with the body advantage and had moved the skirmish line to the 40 and 50… I started a decade of my Rosary I keep in my pocket at that point with about 2:30 left… This is when it all happened. Uprising shot Drew out of the can and their D side immediately launched to bunker Searight. The first one got picked up and the second got picked up as well! So, now it was a 3 on 2! Uprising’s snake player 50 launched and got roasted. 2 on 2! Daniel Camp caught one and Aaron Pate caught the other… holy smokes… my prayers were quite literally answered. Canes win.
Vs Bears
Britt Simpson wanted to go and sometimes you have to let him. And that’s what we did on this first point. He made his primary, read the paint and made dorito 3. We mixed it up a little getting Nic Ripple out to snake corner with Aaron Pate at home, Daniel Camp snake side forward aztec, and Drew Bell rounded it all out in the Dorito can. Pate struck first by scoring his shot on the snake side wedge route. Five on four advantage to us as we settled in for what would be the longest point of our event. Nic fed the snake easy enough as Bears weren’t in the best position to stop him. I was a little disappointed that we allowed the Bears to fill the snake as we had discussed using Drew on the cross to potential see/stop that. Daniel Camp fed up into the snake 50. At this point, I would have really liked Drew to get out behind Britt on the Dorito side. He had the opportunity early on whether to go lateral or to go forward and up into dorito wedge. However, once the Bears made the snake, that was going to be difficult… Daniel got picked up from the dorito one who had slipped out on us too (probably wouldn’t have happened if Drew had shifted earlier). I would have also liked to have seen Pate take snake 1. This would have given him a better perspective D side as well as given us an asset further forward if we lost ground there. Britt appeared to be the only one who got the memo and increased pressure by taking the 50 dorito. But that tandem line was now too long between him and Drew and that was frustrating. As we headed into the 7th minute of the point, I knew my guys are low on paint and something had to happen soon. Drew finally decided to take action but only because he was almost out of paint. He got pretty creative and I thought he was going to catch the Bear’s dorito 2 hopper. It didn’t happen and he got into their Dorito Wedge. I was happy for what, once again, seemed like, one second… as I watched Britt stand up after getting eliminated by the Bears snake. I don’t know who shot Drew… we went from having a 5 on 4 body advantage and position, to losing the point. I wanted that one back bad. Lots of squandered opportunities in a 10 minute point. I saw Nic trying to be proactive but Pate wasn’t. Had to keep time so I conceded the point. 1-0 Bears
I put the same line back out on the next point. There was nothing wrong with play call. It was execution so I wanted them to understand the mistakes and that I believed in them. Britt made his run and Drew got out behind him quickly this time. Nic hopped into the snake one quickly again as well. He ended up getting picked up cross field though. Pate didn’t hesitate and took the ground back. Britt did what he was supposed to do and attacked that dorito side harder. This allowed Drew to move as well as it created more pressure. I can’t blame Britt for getting shot here. He was trying. I said out loud in the pits, “they got 20 seconds to put something together”. They didn’t so I concede the point. 2-0 Bears
We had a come to Jesus talk after that point where I explained that the aggression looked great for the first bit of the point and then we just vegged out. Closing had never been a glaring issue with us but it was damn near blinding to watch at that point. So I lit a fire and explained we had to go. Now, we had no choice but to go. And go we did…finally. We got our guns up, got crafty D side, pressed the issue with our access points, lived behind our guns and won the point in 25 seconds, 5 seconds better than I anticipated as I felt we would need at least 45-60 seconds for the next point. Well done. 2-1 Bears
Luckily, the Revo/Aftermath point gave us plenty of time to develop our next play. We came together and developed our plot. We knew we wanted to flood two narrow access points, one dorito way and one snake way. I got frustrated at first because we bounced that D side can on the break. Nic ended up trading with him though. By this point, we were now at both 50s with approximately 50 seconds. Plenty of time. Stuart Ridgel and Jacob Searight were gun dominant, threaded the seams and went for it. The guys pushed with Drew Bell blocking for Daniel Camp who showed great field awareness and timing. He hit the buzzer with 10 seconds left. Yes, you know we were going to play it. 2-2 Tied
That overtime point marked the 2nd point I want back in this match. Searight made a great read, got to dorito 3 but decided to stand tall even though his teammates were yelling the snake is hot. Bears made the 50 snake and shot him. His reaction caused him to injure the same foot he injured just prior to our practice the weekend before. The good news was we got our set up for the snake side. The bad news is it would have been better with a Dorito 3 presence. With the body disadvantage, we are not in a good spot, especially when they finally shot Drew out of D side can. It was now a five on three with just under two minutes. It did not look good for us. Stuart kept over-watch effectively stalling the Bears’ snake side attack and we picked up a cross field kill as Nic put a ball on the Bears’ dorito one player. 4 on 3 but the advantage was still with the Bears. But then we dug out the Bears forward D side player… but they were quick to take ground and replaced that loss. 3 on 3 with about a minute twenty left. We hold. On to one on ones.
As a former teammate and coach of Evan Manners, I knew the Bears would send him out. That young man is a terrific gun fighter and has not been given his due in the pro division. But I feel he has finally found a team where he can be seen and shine. Headed into this event, we worked one on ones with big gun Drew Bell proving his mettle so he got the call. He pressed the action early and it looked like he had Evan trapped in a can. Drew was dynamic and created pressure early on. But, as he has proved time and time again in the past, Evan can put a ball on just about anyone. Drew ended up on Evan’s side of the field and crossed paths with a ball. Bears win.
Vs Red legion
This last match against the Legion doesn’t require too much in depth analysis. I will critique the first six points and sum up the rest as it will be that easy.
We had scouted the Legion and knew exactly what they wanted to do and how they wanted to do it. Knowing that and actually stopping it are two different things, however, especially when they were simply playing on another level than anyone else at this event. We also had an idea that, should we win, great, we were on to Sunday. But if we could keep it close, as in, by 1, we may still be on to Sunday as well.
First point is pretty simple to dissect. They shot 4 of us on the break. 1-0 Legion
Second point we focused our guns on specific access points up the gut and they paid off. We shot three of them on the break, made the read to close out. Drew Bell launched to take the last Legion player in the Dorito, who ended up spinning on Drew. Major assessed on Legion and we would be on the power play next point. 1-1 Tied
We were not even a full two minutes into this match and we were on the power play. We had seen Legion play a 5 on 3 point the day before and knew where they would want to be. So we set up on that very break. I believe they changed one body but it didn’t matter as we shot one on the break. Unfortunately, Nic took a skimmer of a pack hit and drew the minor taking out 5 on 2 down to a 3 on 2. When they got to the corners, I thought it would settle in for a bit of a longer point. But Britt Simpson clocked in and pressed the doritos aggressively while Daniel Camp pushed snake way. Britt got a shot in on the Legions’ dorito player and Drew Bell finally joined the fray. 3 on 1 with Legion in the snake 2. Surprisingly, Legion conceded. 2-1 Canes
We pushed the dorito side but Legion decided to do the same just with a lot more aggression. They made snake 50 too and shot our stalled dorito push by getting a pack hit in on Stu. And then we just started losing gunfights. We end up in a 5 on 2 and were not in position. They were. I decided to save my guys and conceded the point. 2-2 Tied
Both teams lost a body on the break this point but Legion took that Dorito wedge early and caused pressure from the go. Pate decideed to press snake way in an effort to counter but got caught. Drew Bell launched to dig out Dorito inhibitor with a quick follow up from Britt Simpson. Would have been a great counter if Drew didn’t get caught before he got his man. Stuart Ridgel also lookd to exploit but got caught as well. 3-2 Legion
We showed our guns on the break the next point shooting 2 Legion players. On this Stuart Ridgle went hyper aggressive (good) onto the Legions side of the field but just got picked up. 3 on 3. Aaron Pate lost a gun fight in the snake to Malloy and we had to press into the Legions guns. 4-2 Legion
Both teams continued to shoot bodies on the break… this next point it was 3 on 3 off the rip. Stuart Ridgel once again made an aggressive play down dorito side while Daniel Camp pressed into the snake. Stu got picked up again and we ended up in another down body situation. 5-2 Legion
The rest of the story is the Legion continued to shoot bodies on the break and we did not. Legion wins.
So, what does this mean for the New Orleans Hurricanes? It simply means we have to do better. We have under performed two events in a row now. Our processes have served us well up until this point but don’t seem to be enough anymore. The league has caught up and we are seeing there are no easy games anymore. Last year, our draw would have been a gift. As evident, any draw this year will be a bloody battle. We have to look at our scars and learn. Grow smarter…and adapt. And we will. These last two set backs will just make the comeback that much sweeter. Roll Canes.
Before I close, I want to tell you about a young man that is very near and dear to me and the New Orleans Hurricanes’ hearts. His name is Grayson Manning. Grayson is a regular at our home field of LaXtreme paintball in Slidell, LA. He is an up and coming talent in paintball as well as an amazing young man. He was struck by a vehicle on Father’s Day and has been fighting every day since. Please, if you have some to spare, consider sharing to his GoFundMe page found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-graysons-fight-and-recovery?qid=36d2a4f54cf22bc7c4bcd3449408fc1b
Grayson, his family, and the New Orleans Hurricanes, thank you!
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own . . .” –Epictetus
I would imagine there are some people out there who, if they were in my shoes, would be upset about following up a 2nd place finish at the Las Vegas Open with a 13th place finish at the Lonestar. Whereas, I am certainly not happy with our performance, my personal attitude is not one of anger or distress. I am quite aware of the opportunities we missed and the mistakes we made. The key is how we will respond to what was controllable and what was not. If we let single events define us, we wouldn’t be in the professional league today. The success the New Orleans Hurricanes has seen in this sport is due to our ability to assess and adapt to obstacles and adversities placed in our path. Yes, some of those are self inflicted but those are usually the greatest lessons. No one should allow negative emotions or reactions to bad performances become a weight around their shoulders…
Additionally, no one wants to remind themselves of mistakes. As I stated above, the key is to understand why that performance happened. Identify the issues and take a proactive step in addressing them. A prime example would be our performance at Cup, our work to correct issues from there, and our performance in Las Vegas. I think most would agree it was night and day. Consistency is key, especially in the pro division. That consistency, whether it is with the team or an individual player, is paramount to success. But when it falls short on both levels, you will not have a good event.
It’s been said by great men that success is “neither magical nor mysterious.” It is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals. We were not anywhere close to consistent in our execution of play at this event. That falls on me. I failed to lead my men out of an off malaise… I will work on that.
With that said, this event recap may be a little different from others. I will address the matches we lost in detail and briefly comment on the matches we won.
That cucumber is bitter, so toss it out! There are thorns on the path, then keep away! Enough said. Why ponder the existence of nuisance? Such thinking would make you a laughing-stock to the true student of Nature, just as a carpenter or cobbler would laugh if you pointed out the sawdust and chips on the floors of their shops. Yet while those shopkeepers have dustbins for disposal, Nature has no need of them.” –Marcus Aurelius
PREPARATION
I think we prepared well for this event. We had a great practice partner, we worked the right aspects of the field, and we had a good game plan headed into the event. I know this because, when we did execute the game plans well, we won. That’s all the proof I need. We knew this field came down to four things:
Win the break. As with all layouts, a numerical advantage off the break usually pays dividends and for this field, I felt it was multiplied. I also felt our guns were dialed in and ready.
Be first to create opportunities from your secondaries to shift guns and/or get crafty and set traps.
Get lost/crafty to create hesitation and uncertainty with opponent during mid game scramble.
Close clean with a good stranglehold and good clock management.
We had shown a good understanding of how to do this and practiced it significantly. However, when we got to the event, we struggled with recreating that success…
VS Aftershock
I felt confident heading into this match. There was no doubt in my mind it would be a match similar to many knife fights we had endured before. But I knew if we could put Aftershock away, no matter the score, it was going to be a good event for us. We also knew that, with their roster, no matter the performance at the last event, they would be prepared. So we were definitely looking at them as a great test.
Pt1 – We went pocket and Aftershock beat us to the Center punch. We got the first body though with good zone control shooting their snake player. But we gave them one right back from our home. A-rod may have been first in the center, but a slow patient probe in the center by Stuart Ridgel paid dividends when he took A-rod off the board and staid alive. We gave them one back again though in our attempt to take the snake. Came down to a 3 v 3. Another attempt at craftiness cost Stu his body (it’s first point, I like the idea just not how it was attempted). Drew Bell got sneaky but got caught and Searight made me proud pushing forward. We squandered that point. 0-1 Shock
Pt2 – Strong guns on the break, which was prevalent during our prep, show up on the second point and we made smart fills to our secondaries in support of the goal. We were in control from the break and start our stranglehold. A good point. This point was, in my opinion, indicative of how the field would play and how the Canes would play it. 1-1 Tied
Pt3 – We set up with the “Big 5” in order to get eyes on snake, increase guns, and position ourselves to take center when necessary. Shock went pocket save for a d-side wide asset. Shock was first to the center, not with one, but two assets. Again, our secondary is just behind Shock’s but we determined at practice that being first isn’t always best in that center. The two bodies though was an effective counter to the theory. What made me happy was our composure during the scramble. A disciplined understanding of the situation. 2-1 Canes
Pt4 – Aftershock had shown a tendency to crash the center and then expand (a smart approach as most teams would leverage this tactic including us). It was time to use that against them though and beat them to the punch. The goal of our play here was to take the path of least resistance to the center d-side (Aftershock was leaving that hole available), try to snag the center kill, and take anything additional they give us. Hopefully, the chaos would draw attention (at worst trade), and we would build off that crash to take snake and dorito wides. We were rewarded with the play developing better than I had hoped as Stu got two kills immediately, AND we made both wides. We were now set up to kill clock with the lead. Shock helps us by sending a body to trade with Stu. It was now a four on two situation, we owned the spots… Shock smartly concedes the point with just under 4 minutes left. 3-1 Canes
Pt5 – Internally, I was feeling confident in our game plan and was pleased (save for that first point) with the execution up to that point. Shock had shown mostly center push then expansion, where we had shown mostly pocket. The play call was to risk the snake on this one to counter their center push and/or meet their anticipated snake run. Disaster strikes. Our high risk runner made it and my lower risk home died followed quickly by two more from our pocket. This was the point that was the deciding factor for the match in my opinion. Had we survived this break for just 30-40 seconds, we would have won in regulation. Woulda coulda shoulda… 3-2 Canes
Pt6 – Naturally, we felt that Shock would want a combo of center with snake presence. We felt this would be an opportunity to take dorito wide on the break. Again, my high risk player made it but we gave them a home player… followed quickly by our snake side tower. Stu survived the snake attack while in the dorito tower and made a play to take the snake off the board. He succeeded. It was now a 4-2 advantage to Shock. I always give my guys time to win a gunfight or pull something out. They won a gunfight. It was now a 3-2 advantage for Shock. We had worked on the alamo scenario at practice. Daniel Camp knew he needed to make snake corner and did with about a minute and a half left. Again, we played this scenario out several times in preparation so my confidence is high. My confidence SOARED when we picked off another shock player making it a 2-2 with about a minute left and we owned dorito 2 and snake corner. Put it in the bag… or so I thought. A bad decision to gun fight over the top of the snake corner cost us this game in regulation with, you guessed it, 30-40 seconds left. 3-3 tied
Pt7 – We wanted to go for the win. We had a few different fast point plays in the ol’ playbook. The question was which one to use based off Shock’s (and Todd’s) tendencies. There was a little less than 30 seconds on the clock but there were a few instances at practice where we pulled off 20-25 second wins. In this particular case, it isn’t a full send. The plan was to attack hard center and d-side leaving Daniel Camp and Nic Rippel as contingency in case it didn’t work out. We would crash the center with Stu but used Drew Bell on a delay just off center d-side and let Jacob Searight wheel and deal wide. Stu crashed, took one with him, and then Drew cleared through getting two. Shock got a minor but with only 4 seconds left, Searight can’t make the buzzer. Close but as we all know, that only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
OT – We get a minor. On the break. Playing 3 on 5 with 5 minutes on the clock, against Shock, who owned the snake and center… not a high probability positive outcome. Barring a miracle, we just lost a match we shouldn’t have lost. No miracle arrived. The positive take away was, when we executed the game plan well and played as a team, we looked phenomenal. Consistency… we would have to increase that aspect and would be just fine…
VS Bears
We won this match and were in control for the majority of it. Our guns on the break showed up along with our zone control on every point we win. However, I do want to address the two points we lost in this match.
Pt2 – We had good guns on break to start the match shooting the Bears snake runner AND we made the snake. Gun fight losses will happen… but when it came down to a 3 on 3, we made a small mental error. Drew Bell attempted to spread to the d-side from the snake side since we had no presence there and the Bears did. We owned the center and snake which can contest the Bears snake and snake tower. One could argue, we could have used our Center to contest d-side aggression but I digress. I am not upset with Drew’s repositioning per say. More that he tried to push the envelope when it wasn’t necessary. We weren’t at a point where we needed to press anything or make something happen. Had he been content with making the dorito one, we more than likely would have been good. Instead, we forced the issue, gave the body away, and let the Bears back into the game with a short clock.
Pt6 – If just one of the two Canes players who played dorito can or snake side tower, either one, stayed alive, we would have won 4-1 in a 50 second point. Either one of them. But it didn’t happen, allowing the Bears to find the hole and put another point on the board with a 46 second point.
VS MLKings
On this layout and in this division, you can’t play 3 on 5 and expect to win the points much less the match. We were not hitting our shots in this match and if we were, well, we needed better paint management. We knew they were slow into some key bunkers and even when they did this in our match, we weren’t catching the body. We scouted them and expected them to play a little pocket, and we were right. Even knowing what they were going to do, we weren’t able to generate any momentum.
Pt1 – The kings shot two of us off the break and we gave them a third all within the first 20 seconds. Nope. Concede, reset.
Pt2 – Kings pocketed up and we took the center first with a delay out to dorito 2. We were in great position for this point. We shot Kyle Barry followed by the Kings countering through the center only to have missed their shot. We should have now been in control of the point as Stu repositioned in the center to counter their counter. But, once again, we gave them a body out of our backfield allowing the Kings to take snake. So, an advantage lost. Stu played sloppy and got caught. But Daniel Camp and Jacob Searight almost turned it around with Danimal getting into the snake to contest and Searight taking ground into dorito 4 generating a kill. 3 v 3 now. In a rare moment, Daniel missed a shot on the snake tower for the Kings which would have blown the point open since that player was stalling the d-side attack. When Drew Bell got out behind Searight, I thought okay… force multiplier. Then Drew called his shot on the snake player for the Kings. I, too, thought I saw it but, ref calls him clean. The big domino to fall was Searight getting clipped in the loader… I love Drew and Danimal trying to break things open but it doesn’t pay off.
Pt 3 – The Kings spread (that’s the best two bunkers to own to kill clock – Dorito 1 and snake corner). Again, no kills on break for us even though we set up for it. We lost a body again from the snake tower. Searight understood the situation and got out wide on d-side. We evened the count with a kill from snake side tower and then shot another from their dorito corner. We had a four on three body advantage but we gave the Kings the snake again and allowed Kyle Barry to play fast and loose in the center. The snake took Drew off the board. Our only hope was to win a gunfight or to have Searight clock in. Stu ended up getting a bullstuff penalty… it was bang bang. Kyle, like many of the pros, gets to talk after being eliminated and plead a case. I am not allowed to review.
Pt 4 – We were down by three with 5:40 left on the clock. Enough time to come back and win. But we had to execute better. For example, not hitting our shots and then hanging over the top for too long at the center bunker to get shot. Not how we do it. I said I would let the point go until 4:30 unless I saw life from my guys. Searight was in position d-side again (as he was apt to do most of the event) and Pate took the center. The boys bought themselves another 30 seconds. But then, we lost Searight…so no, you don’t get another 30.
Pt5 – At this point, I’m looking at the clock thinking, we need at least two points. Plenty of time to do it. But I wasn’t getting production out of any one of my starters really, save for Searight. A good coach knows what to say, how to say it, and when. This is where I fell short. I thought, let’s take a breath, get our guns up, don’t force the point, get a point on the board with a base play. We lost our d-side tower, Kings took dorito 3 and we don’t see it because of the elimination on the break (best eyes to see that move). Daniel Camp almost pulled off a heroic response attacking down the snake side but with his teammates dying behind him, it was a valiant effort between him and Searight, but not enough.
Pt6 – I’m looking at the clock, I’m looking at the score, and I am looking at my guys. None of those things looked good. Time to see what my guys who haven’t seen the field much can do. We have dug a serious hole in order to make Sunday now. Time to take the opportunity to see how bad my guys want to show me what they can do. I look to the bench and they wanted it. So they got the call. They go out and look better than the starters did the entire match. Searight, Mike Brown, and Ryan Williamson go out and play well. Searight and Mike Brown pressed the issue dorito way as they know the situation and gave me 200%. Ryan Williamson goes full send but we ran out of time.
VS Impact
Based off our scouting report of Impact, we had a good understanding of what they wanted to do. But you can’t ignore the fact that we were playing subpar… I had done the math and knew we weren’t making Sunday. I had a theory though on Impact which was confirmed and would make the difference in my opinion. That theory was confirmed when we went down 2-0, and then Impact conceded the 3rd point when they still had a player on the board. I knew they were playing for the margin. We were playing for pride and pride only. There is a difference. And it was the small edge we needed. My adjustment (besides personnel) was to adapt the game plan to the corners. If we could get wide either on the break or through secondaries, Impact would put us on the board with their aggression into our zone control. Granted, our zone control had been spotty all weekend but my guys are warriors. They knew what needed to happen. It would not go as planned but… it went. And I will take it. This was a great growth moment for the squad as a whole.
Pt1 – We shot their pocket shooter, expanded well and set the trap for Urena in the snake. Urena popped the top though and made a great shot on Pate. Not much you can do save for what I said in the pit, “Well… damn.” Mike Brown clocked in and got wide dorito. We now owned dorito 1 and the snake, so we aren’t in a bad position. Ryan Williamson, who stepped up for me, got clipped once Impact finally got through the zone dorito side. But Mike Brown got it back for us making a great shot on Cornell. It was 3v3 as we crossed the 5 minute threshold. A great shot by an Impact player caught Drew Bell, was returned by ANOTHER great shot by Mike Brown but in the chaos, Impact took the first point.
Pt2 – Both teams have the same breakout with Impact winning the break as we lost Searight dorito way. They then had some really crisp secondary expansions trapping us in the pocket. Daniel Camp, knowing we had to have that snake made it and actually got our first elimination. Stu tried to make something happen through the center but got caught. Drew Bell knew we had to be wide d-side and got out there picking up a crucial elimination on Impact. 3 v 3 again. But the wheeling and dealing went on too long and Drew got picked off. Pate understood where the hole was, tried to fill it but he and Daniel both died almost simultaneously.
Pt3 – We were down 2-0. I explained again the importance of having these corners and why Impact has to come. We risked throwing Nic at the snake corner to draw the gun deep with the intent to feed underneath from snake tower. It worked partially as we made the snake but Nic got picked off. It paid off though because impact must not have seen the feed as we caught their snake coming to our side. We have evened it up and Britt Simpson created an opportunity making dorito corner. We are now set up to let Impact die coming forward. We got some key eliminations, to make it a 3 on 1 and Impact conceded the point. Confirmation of theory and now we were on the board. The guys are all in now. We’re going to win.
Pt4 – It was time to take the fight to them while the guys are spirited up. “Crafty time.” We knew Impacts’ tendency now and decided to take advantage. Britt Simpson got the call and we shot him to dorito 3 on the dorito can route. This would shift at least two guns and allowed a center punch dorito side as well as got a second asset out dorito way. It worked. The penalty on Drew was bogus but hey, it didn’t matter as Britt Simpson and Mike Brown closed out the point with a great shot by MB dotting Urena’s eye in the corner.
Pt5 – One name. Mike Brown… We sent Stu to the snake side 40 wall to wrap and trap, to take a body, and draw a gun to allow snake to feed. We had d-side tower to position for center and be a force multiplier when necessary. Stu did not take a body and got picked up… but we made the snake. Britt forced the outside dorito move since he knew what I wanted and Bell got picked up. We were in dire straights now… it was 4 on 2 advantage to Impact. But Mike Brown and Daniel Camp said “not today” making it a 2 on 2! Mike Brown with his super power of survivability won his gun fight! Daniel heard this and in the chaos launched on Impacts snake player and trades! Mike Brown was still alive and Impact conceded. Mike Brown… way to be. He really has earned the nickname, “Clutch”
Pt6 – I wanted the corners on the break. Let’s just get there. And we made it. Very pleased. But then we lost the dorito corner shortly after. Drew Bell made a play to dig out Impacts center presence but got picked up. Even then, we were still in good spots to hold (snake, snake corner, and dorito can). We lost our dorito can and Impact has the bodies to trade. They hit the buzzer with 5 seconds left. We wanted to play the point so we could work on game plan.
OT – Ride or die… it was time to get back to basics. We had had plenty of practice now… no excuse not to execute the game plan that we had prepared headed into this event. Time to make it work for us instead of against us. Full Circle… let’s see if we had learned. And we had. We shot interior while protecting wides. Paint broke on Impact’s dorito tower. 5-4 advantage Canes. Zone control picked up Mike Urena as he tried to force the snake move. 5-3 advantage Canes. Bell took the center, Daniel made snake corner, Nic took the snake, Searight took the dorito corner, Mike Brown contained. We would win this point barring anything ridiculous. Nic Rippel showed why he is a Hurricane by going down the snake to Impact’s side of the field. He got a three pack to close out the game leaving us with 4 bodies alive.
Not a bad consolation prize finally beating Impact and knocking a top team like them out of the tournament… but I would really like to have that Aftershock match back.
This event was strange. It’s been a few days now, and I still haven’t put my finger on what our issues were other than, we were missing/bouncing some shots on opponents, and I wasn’t getting production out of my starters. Several big moment mistakes by guys who don’t normally make them appeared to be the main issue. My initial reaction is that we were our toughest opponent this event. Not the teams in front of us… us. The goal now is to focus on our next practices and event prep with renewed optimism and understanding. We will assess our performance in order to improve our consistency and not dwell too much on the mistakes and missed opportunities from this last event. Back to the opening message about consistency… Consistency requires you to “be as ignorant today as you were a year ago.” To move forward, the Canes need to review our process, ensure we are emphasizing the proper things, and develop solutions.
I am of a proud Sicilian heritage. Every once in a while, I find myself tapping into that lineage. For instance, there is an old Sicilian proverb that, in a small way, sums up the recent NXL’s 2023 Windy City Open for me; “Non chiedere ciò che non puoi prendere”.
There was a long break between the Mid Atlantic Major in Philly and the most recent event in Oak Forest, IL just outside of Chicago. Plenty of time to regroup and think about our successes and shortcomings at the last event. We were looking forward to this event as we felt we were on the precipice to reach another goal. Once again, the league (or fate for that matter, depending on how you look at it) had handed us another tough bracket. But we were ready. We like the trenches, we live for the challenge, and we long for the fight where we stand, once again in front of the doubters and say, “Come and get some”.
We have hit a stride and have been a rather well oiled machine this season. We have made the best of our limited time together, looking for advantages where ever we can find them, bouncing ideas off each other, having zoom calls, making and watching tape, drilling, scrimmaging, studying… we were feeling good. But fate was not done with us yet.
During one of our off layout weekends, Drew Bell would be sidelined with a high ankle sprain 3 weeks before the event and 2 weeks out from the layout practice weekend.
Stuart Ridgel, a week after Drew and a week before the layout weekend would be out at the field and suffer an almost identical fate. Another ankle injury but more of a tendon issue. And still, fate wasn’t finished…
The week prior to the layout practice, Justin Bailey would be nursing a back injury. Daniel Camp would fly in for one day on the layout practice as he had his brother’s wedding to attend. Jacob Searight would suffer a mild medical issue his first day on the layout only to bounce back for the Sunday practice.
Now, all of this may sound like I am building up excuses. I assure you I am not. I am simply setting the stage for what was to be an impressive event and what has always been a part of our story. Every team faces some adversity. We are no different. When you have a team like us, it isn’t a matter of “if” but “when”. It was bound to happen. We have faced countless adversities before, this was nothing new per say… We have embraced and worked to overcome several obstacles over the seasons. It is what it is. So we adapted, made some adjustments, and worked to put our best foot forward. And I think we scratched the surface of what we are capable of this event.
We were excited that our good friends Austin Notorious would join us again for the layout practice. But we were also joined by top tier team Edmonton Impact. Bart Yachimac and Dave Baines made the long trip to join us at our home field of LA Xtreme Paintball in Slidell, LA. We were blessed with relatively “cool” weather with temperatures in the mid 80’s (but it is the humidity that gets you). With Notorious playing their brand of paintball coupled with Impact running two lines, the New Orleans Hurricanes got our fair share of looks.
*ZEN NOTE – This marks the 5th time I have had the privilege to see the inner workings of an awesome program. It never ceases to amaze me how these teams operate and work. I am fascinated by the process and the opportunity to watch yet another high level program work as it is just more programming for the old man’s noggin. Thank you again to Bart and Impact.
We had a pretty good idea of how this field should play… and so, we pretty much stuck with the game plan, trying to polish it up, learning incremental lessons, while moving some players around to make the most of our strengths. We always feel good after a good beat down on the layout weekend and that’s what we got (okay, maybe not good, but definitely not bad). Both Notorious and Impact seemed to move at will and get into position first on us quite often. But we worked the timing. We played around a little with some concepts but for the most part, kept it paintball 101. It would be about obtaining key spots, creating the “set up”, and executing the game plan. Sounds simple, I know. It isn’t. It didn’t matter if you had 5 alive and they were all doing their jobs… there would still be a hole. The key was to recognize it quicker than your opponent.
So we were quite literally limping into Chicago but our morale coming into this event was high. It was like the saying, “If you have no confidence in yourself, you are twice defeated.” We were determined to fight every step of the way, and we knew we had the right plan. So we pulled up our britches, slapped our face a couple of times, and stepped into the ring for the first match.
VS Columbus LVL
We were the very first point of the event. We pride ourselves on our scouting and preparation for teams. But there would be no opportunity to see how teams were playing the field, no opportunity to see if anyone else was approaching the layout the way were. It was litmus test time and Columbus LVL is a team that can punch above their weight class when they are on. I was aware they didn’t have Damian Ryan but knew they would throw Danny Schonauer at that snake often, probably with Lehman behind him in support.
Our opening volley was pretty simplistic. We wanted guns up, eyes on, and get to the snake. LVL is similar but they filter a body up into the snake side wedge early. We match them about the same time European/German snake player but 100% Hurricane Nic Ripple shoots Schonauer on the wire to win the snake war. Drew Bell sneaks a ball on the D side tower who was attempting to wrap his bunker. This leaves LVL fighting from a position of inferiority as we are wider on both sides of the field than their widest players. At this point, it is anaconda time. Nic catches the snake wedge and crawls to the end of LVL’s snake. Daniel Camp sees the line, takes the center and polishes off the last opponent. Canes -1 LVL – 0
We decide to keep it simple but Drew Bell and Mike Brown know to look for the read. And they see it. LVL sends a player shooting snake way to that inset baby dorito. He misses his shot but Drew/Mike don’t. Schonauer returns the favor from the previous point and clips Nic on the wire. LVL stays doubled in that home a little too long and lose a gunfight. However, Schonauer has the snake too himself and for all intents and purposes, LVL has the advantage. But we studied this scenario at practice. We had a code for a situation when our opponent had the snake uncontested. The code goes out and Daniel Camp takes the snake wedge looking to play wack-a-mole while Aaron Pate filters wider to add to the gun but not before he puts a ball on LVL’s snake wedge. We now have the numerical advantage even after Schonauer takes Daniel out. Pate assesses the situation and drops the hammer clean. Interestingly enough, the last LVL player is in the home. It’s a 3 v 1 in favor of us, so my guys check in and milk the point a bit. Mike Brown moves down D side and wins the gun fight. Canes – 2 LVL – 0
We are up two now and LVL had shown they would break snake but they weren’t in any hurry to get a body behind him. They wanted to fill that snake wedge first. So we decide to kill the clock a little by going wide and spreading the field. The thought being, if we make it out alive, we slow snake progress, and should be able to shoot the late fill to the snake wedge, isolating their snake presence and putting us in the driver seat. You would have thought we scripted it. We get to corner and stop Danny at the first snake knuckle, and shoot the late fill to the snake wedge. Aaron Pate, with only one gun to beat (the juice box, because the home and d side tower have to try and contest the potential D side push as we are wider than them) filters underneath into the snake. LVL realizes Pate has fed snake so they quickly fill the snake corner. Nic catches LVL’s snake rounding a knuckle. Barring a lost gunfight, we were now set up to drain the clock and suck the life out of this point. My guys all check in and know the situation. With d side and snake side containment in position from the snake, this frees two of my guys to shift the skirmish line and increase pressure on LVL to either make them concede or force bad gun fights. Mike Brown and Drew Bell add pressure through the center and D side respectively. Regrettably, we let LVL back to the snake but it doesn’t matter. We tighten the noose. Canes – 3 LVL – 0
We decided to spread again except we wanted to test the route to the dorito 1. Funny thing is, so does LVL. We mirror up and both team’s dorito 1 runner take the walk. We both make snake but LVL actually fills the dorito 1 immediately. This tells me their ploy was to concede a shot or two and push the field on both sides. It begins to bode ill for us as they get to snake corner but Nic Ripple gets a shot on him. Drew Bell vacates the home to throw a wrench D side and Daniel Camp fills the snake corner. Four on three body advantage to us. One could argue that LVL has slightly better field advantage but we are in position to counter if necessary. We have two pivot positions now so we are set up well. No sooner do I say that to myself in the pit, we pick off LVL’s D side one player. LVL’s next D side player decides to try and make something happen (good man – take it out of coaches hands). This leaves the snake player in a one on four scenario and LVL quickly concedes with just over 6 minutes left on the clock. Canes – 4 LVL – 0
But LVL is a pro team for a reason. And they show it during the next point. They shoot our snake corner on the break while taking the snake, and don’t let us spread. We get caught in the pocket and don’t get our code out to counter. Disaster. Danny comes all the way down the snake and finishes the point. LVL is on the board. Canes -4 LVL – 1
We put two pocket guns on the snake and bounce him. Unfortunately, they didn’t bounce Nic and he comes off early. Though, at the same time Daniel Camp shoots his mirror. Four on four action to start the 6th point. LVL comes all the way to our side of the field, the super secret code reaches Daniel and he posts. But he decides he doesn’t want to guess and just goes and gets him. LVL gets overzealous D side and runs into Drew Bell’s gun as Mike Brown takes ground. This relieves any pressure on Drew who can play freely now. He tracks LVLs next snake attack, feeds data to Pate who launches and removes the snake threat. At the same time, Mike Brown had dispatched LVL’s juice box. LVL concedes with 3:20 left in the match. Canes – 5 LVL – 1
With 6 points under us, we have a good understanding of LVL. They showed us an opportunity in their break outs so we decide to exploit it. We throw Nic up the gut doubling the snake lane and then cut him across into the snake. It pays off as we shoot LVL’s snake runner and Nic makes it in . BUT – we did not anticipate the big dorito side run. This man shoots at least 3 of my guys before trading leaving Nic in a two on one situation. Nic trades with one of them leaving one LVL player to go get the buzzer. What should have been our point is foiled by a ballsy move by LVL. That one is on me. Canes – 5 LVL -2
2:20 left on the clock. Plenty of time to pad the point spread. I felt confident the previous play would work again but to be safe, we have a gun shifted. I felt we shot the snake runner but the ref doesn’t find a hit. No worries though as Nic gets payback with a good shot down the wire. LVL takes the center brick but for some reason gives his back to the snake. Perhaps he was depending on his home player to have filtered snake way by then? Either way Nic gives him a tattoo. Then… chaos. People are everywhere and I black out. Kidding, it boils down to a 3 on 1 and we shoot the last LVL player. I figure LVL will let the time run off. Color me surprised when they conceded the point at 44 seconds.
Now, Stu had dressed out to keep up appearances. We didn’t want anyone to know (like they wouldn’t notice… but hey). He wants to test the ankle. I agree…hesitantly. We decide to get heavy guns up and let Stu take the line. It is there and he gets one but should have got two. A lot to ask though for the hobbled player. Justin Bailey reads and reacts perfectly, reaches the corner, wraps and traps shooting the home player leaving only one D side player for LVL. Bailey launches but time runs out. 2-3 more seconds and Bailey would have increased our win by five instead of four. However, prior to point, we decided not to jeopardize anyone’s injuries. FINAL SCORE: CANES -6 LVL – 2
VS Latin Saints
The Latin Saints and NRG Elite are the only two teams that the Canes have not faced in our short two year pro career. After Word Cup this year, NRG will be the only team we have never faced at least once. Headed into this match, I was NOT looking past Saints. Heck, I don’t look past anyone, but the Saints had just taken Diesel deep, scoring 3 unanswered. Granted, it looked as if Diesel was trying something particular or rather specific after going up 4, but I am not in Mike Hinman’s head so I won’t speculate. The Saint’s guns on the break were solid and I happen to know 3 of their players very well. So no, we would not take them lightly. A team that has nothing to lose is very dangerous…and can be quite unpredictable.
Point 1 we would go with a base play looking for the set up of 3 bodies snake way and 2 retaining the read option. Similar breakouts but we beat them to the snake wedge. Saints did a good job of keeping Pate from spreading to snake corner so he filters to the god instead. We know they want the snake wedge so we keep Mike Brown on the gap and sure enough, he picks up the secondary fill. Greg Turton played well at this event and he decides to get offensive D side for the Saints by taking dorito 1. This spot has an excellent bounce shot into the snake. If a snake player is playing “tall” inside, that bounce will eradicate him quickly. Nic stays disciplined on snake wire while Colin Cherry tries to clear a zone and make snake corner. We have it on lock and Cherry takes the walk. It is now 5 on 3 advantage to us so, we zone up, sporadic paint, allowing the remaining Saint players to burn their paint off their backs. Pate moves to the head of the snake.
*ZEN NOTE – I was asked about why we do this and not get to the corner. It is a risk/reward equation. It has some good shots on the wrap, can stop a spread with good protection, it protects against the highway run, and if we lose asset one in the snake, we still have a snake presence. But it does have a significant weakness which is shown in point 2 (and other matches).
We set up here to choke them out again. Saints make a desperation run highway, zone control addresses it, final Saints player tries to build off chaos, zone control handles him too. Canes – 1 Saints – 0
We did have a small discussion in the pit after that point. My four guys were at the buzzer checking each other over and discussing the point. That was good. BUT… since we were a bit skeleton crew-ish, I asked them all to check each other over, choose one guy to stand at buzzer, and the rest get in the pit so we could get ready for the next point. Efficiency people!
We decide to make the Saints beat us at our game. Keep it simple, gather some data on their adjustment, and go from there. The Saints smartly take that snake corner on the break and we allow them to secondary D side, filter to the god, and get out of the doubled home. Pate ends up taking the snake with Nic but this decision was made unaware that we had lost Drew behind him who would have naturally filtered out behind him. The Saints quickly take ground in the snake and D side. But like I said earlier, if you come into that snake wedge high and unaware, the bounce will take you. And that’s what happens to the Saints player. Once we eliminate the first snake threat, Mike Brown is free to get wide D side to contest the Saints presence there and create more options for himself. Incredibly, the Saints player filters to the D side wedge. On top of this, he doesn’t seem to know the situation and gets picked up by Nic from the snake. The Saints snake corner is forced to feed the snake since I am pretty sure he was out of paint. We pick up another kill D side and are in a 4 on 2 body advantage but the snake player for Saints gets a free kill D side on Mike Brown. This is the issue (one of a few) with not having snake corner and having the head of the snake instead. I would learn after this point, there was a “caution D side corner” call which is why Daniel Camp kept eyes on that way. I am pleased my guys eventually work it out (well, the Saints do that for us) but it was concerning none the less. Pate had the ball early and could have traded with a clever highway run when Evan Manners was in the Home. However, once Evan filtered to the snake wedge, coupled with the miscommunication (lets call it a misunderstanding?), we have now allowed this point to get out of hand. Deductive reasoning. We had discussed at practice that there has to be an “assumption of risk” on this field. But when data is unsure, cover the fronts and that’s what my guys essentially did. Saints win this point if not for the penalty. Canes – 2 Saints – 0
We are on the power play here for the next point. It was a 5 on 3 to start, Canes advantage. We know they will take the back line three bunkers. I anticipate the moment we shoot one, they will concede to get 5 back on the box. I would be lying if I said I was not looking to pad our point margin headed into the 2nd day. To be safe, we double guns up at home, get our cross guns up to foil a big run or at least see it, and take the snake. Saints get wide but their dorito player runs into Nic’s gun from the snake. And then the concession. Canes – 3 Saints – 0
I want to push the D side a little. We decide to spread a bit and see what Saints show us being down 3 and with 3:30 left on the clock. I found it interesting they spread (we would usually do it from the “red” side as well but not sure if they were doing it for the same reason we were). Perhaps they saw no issue with their secondaries. The Saints finally get the right set up. They have the snake, snake wedge, snake corner, coupled with a Home and a dorito 1 (which eventually moves to dorito wedge). Britt Simpson had already made his primary and knows the Saints will more than likely make what we were calling the snake 2. He times it well and shoots the snake 1. Saints home player filters out and draws a minor leaving them with snake corner and snake wedge only versus my five. I would have liked my guys to create a little more pressure at this point and we had a brief discussion afterwards about it. I had also not shared with them my desire for a point spread so that is on me, too. Just the same, Drew Bell sees the line, and makes the right read. He trades with Evan Manners in the snake wedge. The penalty that followed surprised me as Evan was looking that way. I thought I saw a ref call a mutual but then saw a flag go up. Tough break. Canes – 4 Saints – 0
We are on a bit of a power play again (5 on 4) and I am now thinking we are going to get out of this with the bare minimum spread I wanted. But… with 1:26 left on the clock, I don’t want to take any chances. They haven’t been shooting our snake so we are going back. I want to spread to use a “alamo” play but with assets that can shift gears and attack D way if necessary. I state that, if we get the opportunity, I want the point but let’s not be careless. Justin Bailey wins his first engagement with his mirror making it a 5 on 3 advantage. We lose Britt out of the corner (pretty sure Saints snake player got that shot) but Bailey smartly takes the snake corner. Daniel gets hyper aggressive in the snake (I like it!) but the Saints snake player gets a ball on him. But to do it, he had to come out into Bailey’s lane. Bailey, knowing the situation, launches down the snake route, gunning the whole way, and gets us that 5th point. I would have liked him to wait a bit before hitting the buzzer but I don’t blame him. He looked good and that feeling of hitting the buzzer at that point is pretty cool. Canes – 5 Saints – 0
Now, here is where coach makes another mistake. I initially want to take another alamo approach and get out of the match with a 5 point win. In addition, I don’t want to risk further injury on the team. But I let myself get talked into a play call by two of my guys. I normally would have vetoed the request but they were feeling it and I need to let the dogs hunt occasionally. Regrettably, we would pay for it. Not that it was a bad call by my guys, it wasn’t. It was a bad call by me. I am accountable.
During the final point, a decision to call Ryan Williamson off his zone allows Brandon Portman to take a seam and round our D side corner. Ryan does turn in time and they lock eyes both raising their markers at the same time to shoot each other. BUT – Portman hits the buzzer. He is clearly hit. As a matter of fact, Portman wipes himself down immediately after hitting the buzzer (left forearm). You’re probably wondering how I know this for sure. My man Ryan Williamson came to the pit and was adamant that he had got a ball on Portman. I asked for a review which was graciously granted. Jason Trosen confirmed for me that I was, indeed, correct. He concurred that Portman was hit and did attempt to wipe the hit. However, because the on field refs called him clean, I had no recourse. I appreciated his candor and that of the head ref as well (who also felt he saw the hit). Shouldn’t have come to that anyway. Woulda coulda shoulda… FINAL SCORE: Canes – 5 Saints -1
We now had two wins by a margin of 4. I was pleased with the teams performance on day one but the real test was awaiting us on Saturday. We had AC Diesel who surely were addressing the issues they had day 1 and the defending previous event champions, Tampa Bay Damage. We had scouted both and both were playing the field similar to us when it mattered. I had chatted with Mouse on the way into the event that morning and he briefed me of his injury. The dude is a fine tuned machine so I wasn’t weighing his injury too much. I suspected that Hinman would call out the mistakes from their previous matches and the experienced team would adjust. During our scouting of them, we saw a small nuance in the snake and we would try and exploit it (something we learned during our scrimmage with Notorious and Impact). We also had a good understanding of their breaks depending on personnel. We anticipated a knife fight and that’s what we got.
VS AC DIESEL
The first point we kept it simple and took high survivability bunkers to assess while not limiting our options. We bounce BJ (dang it) and they break essentially the way Impact would on us at practice with smart crisp secondary moves. We counter but once again, Pate can’t get to that corner so he options up. This also allows him, Daniel, and Nic to have easy conversations. Once we reposition, I think, okay just don’t let mouse out to the snake corner and we’re Gucci (coach is learning the nomenclature of the youth). Maybe 30 seconds later, I look up and dang it if Mouse isn’t in the friggin’ snake corner. Since we don’t have snake corner, Nic has to be more defensive facing two guns. BUT, my man Pate finally makes it to the snake corner too. Sigh of relief from coach there. Spicka smartly re-positions to the center brick to set a trap. Spicka misses his first shot though and Nic backs up to place the inset mini wall between him and Spicka. I felt Nic could have used the mini wall to block out Spicka and try the bounce off the pin, especially since Clint Johnson had vacated that D side Wedge and was now at dorito 3. If that bounce worked, that relieves tremendous pressure. But Drew Bell gets caught which now creates a small problem, especially based off Clint’s positioning. Daniel Camp has to shift the gun. Mike Brown gets out to D corner which actually sets up a line for Spicka who doesn’t miss his first ball on Daniel Camp. The dominoes fall as Spicka obviously knows the field layout and our positions. I concede the point. A well executed point by AC. Canes – 0 Diesel – 1
We know if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it and figure AC was coming with a similar game plan as their last point. Only difference is they double home. We match them without the two at home. Drew Bell lands his shot on the D side one player for diesel and our nuanced snake approach works catching BJ crawling. The guys check in and once they understood kill count and where Diesel was, Drew knows he needs to filter up the gut and Jacob Searight knows to wrap and trap from dorito way. Spicka makes a smart move again to counter but Drew survives initial engagement and then wins the gun fight. Now its just a matter of polishing things off. A good answer from the Canes if I say so myself. Two well played points from both teams. Canes – 1 Diesel – 1
Diesel spreads to D corner the next point and we go short that side. Both teams take snake and Nic posts up. Daniel Camp filters to snake wedge putting an asset in place to address either threat either side. But dang it if we don’t let Mouse get to corner again! We miss the snake shot opportunity and Mouse is wrapped keeping Pate from getting wide. So once again, he optioned to the god. This point ultimately goes to us because BJ tries to finish his run on Nic in the snake while Daniel was over-watch. I saw it coming actually and threw my own imaginary flag when he got shot by Daniel and continued forward and pulled the trigger on Nic. Baginski tries to stop the hemorrhaging by spreading back snake way from the D side but is picked up and stalled. Hinman smartly concedes the point around the 8 minute mark. Canes – 2 Diesel – 1
When we see BJ and Jess out on the box, we know they will go snake corner and snake on the break. But just because you know doesn’t mean you can stop it. Spicka wins his first or second engagement against Daniel in that center juice box near the snake wedge. However, Nic once again wins the snake war with a clutch shot on BJ. Nic does a head check and sees Diesel’s late fill to the snake wedge. Up a point, he retreats to connect with Pate and piece things together. Then moves back to snake one. Spicka successfully re-positions himself in order to fill the snake. Nic just misses Spicka as he rounds a knuckle. Would have liked for Pate to get to corner but he ops for the god again. Probably because he has been trained by our opponents at this point as they only let him get there once so far. Nic just misses Spicka a second time. But then the read happens. With Spicka that close, Nic knows he has to go, jumps the beam and pulls off a dynamic highway run to get Spicka clean. In the chaos, Pate fills the snake. Drew Bell moves to center to increase pressure. We are just under 5 minutes so I am okay with my guys doing our slow strangle/choke-out, as I am anticipating to win the point. I am hoping to burn another minute or two. We have position and eyes on the three remaining Diesel players. All we have to do is maintain the pressure, not lose a gun fight, and let them hang themselves. I end up getting about 2:20 before Diesel concedes. Canes – 3 Diesel – 1
I would not be an honest man if I were to tell you I was comfortable with a 2 point lead and 2:40 on the clock against Diesel. We were now going to get a peek at Diesel’s bag of tricks. I am confident it will be D side but that is about it. Diesel gets a kill on our two position snake side on the break. We are now dangerously exposed with only Nic on snake side. Drew Bell filters out from home to stem the bleeding. Spicka clocks in AGAIN and scores a kill on my D side corner… Now the cookie is crumbling faster than I anticipated. That’s a terrible feeling when you see two of your back line die and leave your snake player alone. But I’m not hitting that concede button. So Nic has to wear it to further tick time off the clock. Leaving Nic hanging in the wind as sacrifice gets us 10 more seconds off the clock. Canes – 3 Diesel -2
Based off personnel on the box, we assume they want the snake corner and the snake simultaneously again, so we call the audible. Drew Bell does the right thing and keeps Daniel Camp on that D side cut so Drew can take the snake wedge. This was done because Mouse made the snake corner and won’t let Pate spread to match. Once this happened and we were just under a minute, I felt we were in position to contain and dictate, for the most part the next 50 seconds. I was wrong. Jesse makes an amazing crawling shot in the snake on Nic. Then a shot in on Drew. Now the back is broken and the hope is they don’t recognize it in the next 30 seconds. But they do. Spicka clears through and Diesel hits the buzzer with 6 seconds left.
We want to play the 6 seconds so we have time to think about how we want to approach the overtime point. My guys go out and buy us time to confer.
Because we have a margin to play with I decide to spread. Especially since Jacob Searight has shown his willingness to get sneaky and press the issue D side. Nic hasn’t been shot on the break this match so… let’s go boys. I got the feeling Diesel won’t risk anything and will probably go with their base play confident in their secondaries. Sure enough, that is what happens. This is what I call the “kenpo” effect. One strike creates a reaction from the opponent which leads to the next strike and the next reaction. With Diesel essentially using one gun to slow the D side push, Searight does what he needs to do, beats the gun, and gets into the 50 dorito. Spicka filters to snake wedge to look D side and address the now large thorn in their side. Nic catches Jesse to win the snake war while Mouse gets caught in the gap by our gun in D tower we specifically asked to shoot for that fill. The desired effect had been achieved and we have them on their heels. The risk had paid its rewards at only 30 seconds in of the 5 minute overtime point. With just over 4 minutes to play with, Diesel will ultimately dictate how fast we tighten the noose. We comfortably move the skirmish line forward with the 5 on 3 body advantage. At least, that was the plan. Mike Brown gets caught. Okay, not the end of the world. We still have the tactical position advantage. But then Jacob loses a gun fight. Well, this… changes things. Especially since my snake side is unaware we had shot Mouse and still think there is a snake corner (meaning someone died with data). As a coach, it is moments like this that you play the point over in your head trying to understand the issue. But Drew Bell remembers his bounce shot and scores a key kill on Diesel’s widest D side player. But then he puts the team on his back again, hauls butt on a bad ankle and no ACLs to cinch up the noose. He gets Spicka making it a 3 on 1. But Baginksi gets a ball on him. But it was too little to late as Nic Ripple launches and takes Baginski out to give the Canes the win in overtime. FINAL SCORE: CANES – 4 Diesel – 3
We have now had the opportunity to scout Damage three times. I’m looking at my data, I’m looking a Damage, I’m looking at my guys, and I’m looking back at my data. We are playing the same game. It will be a matter of who makes the small mistakes. We felt good coming into this match. But I am a contingency guy. So I am looking at our point margin as well as the rest of the matches that will be played that afternoon. I felt confident in Dynasty and X factor’s remaining schedules, and thought to myself, even if we lose, all we need to do is keep it close and we should have a straight shot to quarters… I know what you are thinking, “Coach, what do you mean “lose”?! You play to win!” – yes, correct. But I have injuries on my roster and I want to make sure we have every advantage. We are facing a champion team with tremendous experience who had no doubt scouted us… and my job is to put my guys in the best possible position. So sometimes you have to think uncomfortable thoughts.
VS Tampa Bay Damage
I think we all knew we were in for a grinder. And that’s what this match would be. Two fighters feeling each other out, probing, jabbing, head movement, footwork… the works.
First point, we come out with very similar break outs. Damage uses the pocket space behind the baby dorito to put a gun on the head of the snake and it pays off as they shoot Nic on the break. This was only the 2nd time he had been shot on the break the event. But that Damage player has to sacrifice his body to do it as he gets picked up as well. A better trade for Damage though as they now own the snake. Keith Brown wastes no time at all coming to our side of the snake and they also release up the gut to the center brick to keep us from countering to the snake. Luckily we don’t take the bait and take the snake corner and not the snake. Keith still gets his first two kills on Mike Brown and Britt Simpson. Pate finds Keith and gets him off the board making it a 3 on 2, advantage Damage. I’m looking at the set up and the clock and decide I can give my two a minute to pull something off. Sure enough, we pick up Chris Horn and make it a 2 on 2. Jason Edwards knows the deal and gets out to the snake corner. With Raney at the center brick, it’s essentially a stalemate. But Raney has been at this game a while and cleverly retreats to spread further to the D side. But Pate is no slouch either and knows he wants to spread. He tells Drew so, Drew Bell does a Drew Bell thing. Full send. And it pays off. Holy hades…. composure and gumption won that point. Canes strike first. Canes – 1 Damage – 0
Drew’s D side shot is still dialed and we strike first on the break shooting Damage’s first attacker D side Chris Horn. Keith gets in the snake again but we get Nic to the snake corner which hems Keith up at snake 1. We feed Pate underneath Nic and now we are in position with dorito 1, dorito tower, home, snake corner, and snake. Damage has snake, juice box, home, and dorito tower. Advantage Canes. Those of us in the pit settle in for what will no doubt be a long point. Raney takes a page out of our book and filters to the head of the snake and one of the Edwards gets out to the god bunker. Drew understands he needs to get his gun in the fight snake side and makes his way up to snake wedge. Still I give the advantage to us. Drew pulls back to a pivot bunker to re-assess. But I felt he was good where he was. Pods are piling up at some of my guys feet and we are a little over 3 minutes into this point and I’m starting to grow a bit concerned about paint consumption… Turns out I was right to be worried as Nic only has 1 pod at this junction. Jason Edwards decides to move back dorito side to even guns up. Raney backs up in a serpentine motion and ends up in the snake corner. At 5 minutes into this point, Nic has pulled his last pod and I’m pretty sure Mike Brown was on his last hopper as well. Now Jason makes it out to dorito corner and Keith takes one more knuckle. Easy for me to say but Pate has an opportunity to go highway here. Unfortunately, Nic is dangerously low on paint and we aren’t really communicating well which is unlike us. We are 6 minutes into this point and no coach wants to hear his guys go quiet. So Keith gives his location away after missing his shot on Britt Simpson in the dorito 1. Drew Bell gets crafty and sneaks into the mini wall next to the snake… but misses his shot! I feel like he should have just committed and taken Keith at that point. We would still have the body and position advantage. But then Jason Edwards gets picked up and shot! I’m thinking Joey may towel… but then, he has probably done the math like I have… keep it close. So he is going to ride it. Especially now that this point has gone over 7 minutes and we are at the 5 minute mark. If Joey was on his way to the towel button he stopped as Keith shoots Britt cross field making it a 4 on 3. Then… chaos. Keith goes highway as Pate launches. Keith gets Drew, Nic gets Keith, Raney gets Pate! It is now a 2 on 2 and my last two guys both have less than half a hopper between them. Nic moves inside (I wish he had stayed… I meant to ask him. If I had to guess he didn’t want 50 brick pushing him into Raney’s gun?). Raney smartly takes the snake, gets down to our side and catches Nic and then finishes off Mike Brown. I want that one back. It was now tied up with just under 3 minutes. Canes – 1 Damage – 1
Both teams make it out 5 on 5. We opt for the 2-1-2 split with our snake side one being the corner while Damage doubles home, and takes dorito 1, juice box, and snake. We had been running Nic ragged so I make the call to put Daniel in for him to get to the corner. Unfortunately, Jacob Searight takes a core sample and has to clear his gun (he ends up taking the front of the barrel off) allowing Raney to get to corner and back Keith up. The first domino falls with Pate getting a tad sloppy in his bunker exposing his hopper on a transition. We get it back though when Daniel Camp wins a gun fight with Raney coast to coast. 4 on 4 with just under 2 minutes on the clock. One of the Edwards brothers sees the opportunity since they have an asset in the snake and hauls butt to backfill the snake corner. Daniel vacates the snake corner with the intent to get Drew Bell behind or at least near him. Damage gets into dorito 3 and clips Drew and then we lose Daniel out of the snake… at this point I see we are under 30 seconds. I am not going to towel for two reasons. One, if my math holds, we are already quarters bound and not wild card. Second, why risk the charge lowering our margin? Or worse, my team is already beat up as it is. No need to pull out a dynamic attack play and risk further injury. My guys will go till the wheels fall off. But I need to save them for Sunday. It was a good match by Damage. FINAL SCORE: CANES – 1 DAMAGE -2
SUNDAY – VS Tampa Bay Damage… Again…
We waited and watched for the afternoon brackets to play out. Sure enough, Dynasty and X-factor won their brackets and the points fell where I had hoped. We would be 5th seed headed into Sunday edging out Xtreme, Infamous, Revo, and Impact who would now have to play a wild card round. We waited for the drawing (honestly, I wish they would go back to seeding for Sunday but… I’m new here). We would draw none other than Tampa Bay Damage.
Some would think, “Well dadnabbit, that sucks.” I would not be one of those people. I was actually happy with the draw. Here’s why… we had lost a nail biter to them in the prelims. We knew their game, we knew what they wanted to do, how they wanted to do it, and who they wanted to do it with. We knew this because it was the EXACT same thing we wanted to do. It would be a good match up. We simply had to tighten up, shore up, be first, and play the mistake free paintball my guys are becoming known for. Unfortunately, we would make mistakes and the match would not be as close as our first meeting. Damage was in a rhythm. I wanted to knock them out of if but it was not to be.
*Zen Note – I loved the fact that Raney Stanczak tried to get in my head following our loss to them in the prelims. That guy is a competitor and is always looking for an edge. He made a comment walking by me afterwards about how I had anticipated the wrong break out in the first point of our match. I joked back and forth with him a bit about how I had not. But he was adamant. I smiled ear to ear. What Raney doesn’t know is you can’t get in my head. It’s too crowded and there is no room. But I certainly appreciated the effort.
We wanted to change it up just a bit for the first point. We had planned on using space to get three guns on Keith. We knew if we could shoot him on the break, contain the fill out to the corner, we would be in control. It was a risk reward ploy that didn’t pay off. Couple that with Damage shooting Nic on the break quick followed by a Daniel Camp death out of the back center… I look at our situation, let it go about a minute to see if my guys can dig a kill out. I scan Damage’s posture and positioning compared to our own. This is the stranglehold approach we had used successfully in the prelims, and decide I want to get 5 back on the box. I hit the concede and we get back to basics. Canes – 0 Damage – 1
I knew placing Searight out there would give Damage a consideration for a bite on the D side in hopes of drawing at least a gun away from snake side. The plan was to keep it simple and send him short to dorito 1 (but the goal was for him to press as his stature allowed for him to maneuver better than most over there). Sure enough, they only put one gun snake way and Nic makes it in. Drew Bell had his dorito shot dialed again and gets the dorito 1 elimination. And dang it, Pate bounces Raney on their first engagement… meaning we would have returned the G2 favor Damage gave us the previous point. Again, woulda coulda shoulda. Pate moves forward and we let Raney get to corner. Drew Bell works his way into the snake wedge to be a force multiplier where needed. This point begins to play out past 5 minutes long and we know we have to start making things happen (all my guys are carrying an extra pod or two now). Nic makes the bump and gets clipped on his heel. I feel this is where Pate and Nic should have connected better. Couple that with dumb luck as Keith Brown just happens to switch his gun at that moment. We are now tied up on bodies but Searight is sticking to the game plan. He makes the 50 brick D side. Damage isn’t dumb though and sends the body to trade with Searight. And then another disaster… it appears that Mike Brown got caught in that same exchange somehow. I’m about to towel but Pate catches Keith. It is now a 2 on 2 with Drew and Pate. I’m going to give the boys the opportunity to try and dig the cross out. Regrettably, Drew gets caught making it a 2 on 1 so I concede the point. Opportunity squandered there. Canes – 0 Damage – 2
Time to adjust. Get those guns on Keith again but ensure we get the snake corner with the plan to fill underneath with Nic and as a contingency push the gut. Daniel gets the call to book it to corner with Nic playing the two to slip in underneath. Guns pay off as we eliminate Keith but we lose Daniel. Nic decides we need the corner instead of the snake and makes it out there but we let Damage fill the corner as well. It is looking to be another stalemated point which is obviously Damage’s advantage but Drew Bell sticks to the game plan and takes the center 50. Obviously Damage is spread and should have no plans to vacate these bunkers. With a 2 point lead, just under 6 minutes, they start to push the d side which was a little surprising. I’m thinking, setting a trap at the 50 won’t work but then, maybe it will if they press the issue. Just as I am thinking this Drew drops his gun for a microsecond, misses his shot, and now they know he is there. Searight tries to make something happen as well and gets caught. Mike Brown tries to push while Drew presses the line through the center not getting anyone but both made the right decision. 4 on 2, down on points, time clicking off… I have to save clock and see if we can’t make something happen. Canes – 0 Damage – 3
We know we have to have that corner and snake connection so, let’s just take it off the break. We have nothing to lose at this point. We are under 5 minutes and have to have that combination early. The goal is to create a skirmish line of snake corner, two in the snake, and let our dorito side players go since there is no doubt in my mind Damage is going back line to hold. And why wouldn’t they? But because of this, we were going to try and exploit the hole. It works but takes us longer than originally anticipated to capitalize on our positions. Pate rewrites the script and thankfully so as he realizes he may have an opportunity to be a bowling ball in the center since we have stalled out. Britt is pressing dorito side and Pate sees the opportunity to help him. Pate hits Raney on first exchange but Raney isn’t stupid, he knows the score and isn’t going away. Pate commits to remove him from the field. But Britt and Nic die out of there spots. Daniel and Drew become men possessed. Daniel dies but somehow Drew falls, gets his kill, and stays alive to get us on the board. The game is all but over but proud of that herculean effort. Canes – 1 – Damage – 3
This last point was a fight for a pride. And my guys made it spectacular. I genuinely feel if Justin Bailey doesn’t slip and fall, he gets the last two backs and we snag a second point. Thank you to Joey Blute for the kind words during the handshake after the match. I have taken them to heart sir. FINAL SCORE: CANES – 1 DAMAGE – 3
The New Orleans Hurricanes finished our 4th event for the season with a 5th place finish. The trajectory, for the most part, has continued moving in a positive direction. As a coach, this is what you want to see. Steady and continuous improvement. The fact we were able to perform with the adversity we faced heading into this event, I am incredibly pleased with our team. Grit and gumption. My guys have it in spades.
After our fourth quarter-finals appearance this season, we would win 17 points of the 28 points played giving us a 61% win average and an overall win ratio performance of 55% over 5 matches. Less than our last event but higher than the first two.
In retrospect, I truly enjoyed having Stuart Ridgel help me on the sidelines. At practice, it created an efficiency where he and I could discuss and deep dive more than usual speeding up the learning curve. The extra set of eyes at practice and at the event was outstanding. But I would be absolutely crazy if I didn’t feel he serves the team better on the field. I feel he would have been quite the force on this layout. Now, we just need to get everyone healed up. I am not that overprotective parent though. Not gonna wrap them in bubble wrap and keep them inside. Grown men need to do grown men things. But the GOAL is to get healthy!
Like every event since I have come to coach the Canes, I made some mistakes and have tried to document them here. Whether it was a play call or a personnel decision, I know I can do better. There were a few play decisions I made and there was a player I should have leveraged sooner and more often. Hind sight is always 20/20. That is the toughest part for me… reviewing my performance knowing that I could have put my guys in a better position if I had just made one different call or considered one more piece of data (or perhaps didn’t emphasize a data set as hard). Just like my players, I need to work hard to improve as well. I have to show a positive trajectory too. One thing I will say, my guys gave me 150% AGAIN. And that’s all I can ask. I need to make sure I can look back and say the same. These recaps help me with that process.
We jumped Edmonton Impact and are currently sitting 6th overall for the 2023 NXL series. That’s a positive take away from this event besides our highest finish this season (7th, 7th, 6th, and now 5th). But keeping it is another task that will require every member of this program to be firing on all cylinders. We have two more goals to reach with cup…
Of course, we get handed another difficult bracket headed into cup (the argument can be made the most difficult). But hey, “Non chiedere ciò che non puoi prendere”…
Remember when you were much younger and you were asked to do something by a parent or an authority figure and did it well? Or maybe you showed responsibility/initiative, and did your job/chores without being asked? Most of us were “rewarded”, right? Or maybe you just wouldn’t get your butt handed to you. Either way, you were basically being taught that, if you did your job and did it well, you would see some sort of return.
Chicago was a little like that.
We know we need to perform well each and every event. I’m a firm believer in that success in this sport is not all predicated on talent as much as it is about team trust, cohesion, culture, reliability, and consistency, topped with necessary improvement. If a team has no ego and understands what it needs to do to improve, they will improve. And improvement will lead to reaching goals. And with each goal reached, you will eventually get to the point where you are winning.
We were not happy with our performance in Philly. We knew Chicago was going to be a make-or-break event for us.
As usual, we would face some difficulties, but then, who doesn’t? We would head to this event without Mike Brown, who had life events to address. Justin Bailey would also have a life event that would keep him from being with the team the first layout weekend. Aaron Pate would injure himself during the second practice. We would face bad weather the second layout weekend and I couldn’t nab a pro team to scrimmage either weekend. Luckily, our good friends on Austin Notorious (ranked 3rd in Semi-Pro) came through and not only gave us some excellent looks but really opened our eyes to some aspects of our game! (They took 2nd in Chicago! Proud and happy for them. Ryan Gray is leading those boys incredibly well).
New Orleans Hurricanes and Austin Notoriousat LA Xtreme Paintball in Slidell, LA
Coming into this event, I felt confident our approach to the layout would not only work but was, for all intents and purposes, the right way to play the field (at least for the Canes). However, my resolve would be tested early Friday morning. We drew the dreaded afternoon bracket (I prefer morning games) but the one advantage is, you get to see how teams are playing the field. It seemed in those first few sets everyone was pushing the snake… hard. We pushed the snake too but not nearly like everyone else. I was genuinely surprised since, during our practices, our kill ratio for that runner was a high percentage. I thought surely everyone else was having a similar experience and would weigh it. That being said, we decided to stick with the game plan.
Our approach to the field is what military personnel would call a “flying wedge”. If you aren’t familiar with the term, it was a formation used in early warfare, usually with cavalry against infantry. Imagine cavalry in the formation of a giant triangle charging at your squared formation of infantry (phalanx). The concept was to penetrate the ranks and split the opposing force. Now imagine the flying wedge cavalry with mortar fire… In the case of the Canes, I trust my guys’ guns. We drill our on the break shots religiously. So, that was the idea. We wanted to establish up the center, turn the opponents’ guns inside, make them contend with us there, then expand outside, bully a single gun, and then take more ground. But it would require discipline, communication, and solid guns with a good eye for the read. Simple, right?
ZEN NOTE – to those of you (and there were several) who sent me questions asking why we didn’t attack the snake more often… we did. And we didn’t. Calls were made based off statistical analysis and probability of what the opponent was showing as well as our assets. We had contingencies for when our opponent made the snake as “safety valves”. They worked.
Out of all the layouts this year, I felt this was one was ours. A “hybrid” traditional that would allow us to really leverage all our weapons. And for the most part, I was right. But this would be no walk in the park. We would be tested right out of the gate. People keep telling me we won’t be taken seriously until we start beating the elite teams. Myself and the Canes agree. Well… here was our chance.
VS Heat
I have been accused of not being the brightest guy at times but I’m no dummy. I knew if we let Chad George take a breath anywhere near that snake, no matter our contingencies, we would have problems. But I looked over at my man Aaron Smith and I think to myself… when we shoot George and get Aaron in there… Johnny’s your uncle. We keyed up on ole George early. But they keyed up on Aaron Smith too. Aaron is a warrior and understood he had one of the toughest spots to play this event. I am really pleased with his growth as a player. Keep an eye on this one.
Obviously running anywhere past the snake can on this field was a risk versus reward scenario. So, we pushed it on point one to test guns. Aaron doesn’t make it, George does. But Stuart Ridgel does the patented “Stu Shuffle” and takes ole George off the board. However, we lost some gunfights. Point to Heat. Next point more of the same. We went snake corner, their guns were good there too. It was at this point I realized they are playing the field similar to us. And we always train how to beat our own game plans. They were up 2-0. They were going to dig in on this field, roll their guns, and let us try and kill ourselves. We had other plans. Small bumps with tiny edges. Bully a gun. Push. And use a guy named Jacob Searight.
We finally shot George. But we allowed our tandem line to get too long on D side. Dizon did us a favor though and drew the major. The game was tied and we were on the power play as Heat would be playing down. We figured they would take one of the towers early (probably snake side) and shoot for it. It payed off (happened to be George). 3-2 us when they conceded the point.
The next break was a blood bath. We shot two and they shot two. Then Tyler Harmon had a Tyler Harmon moment. Tied again at 3-3. Next point of what would be the end of regulation, both teams did the exact same breakout. However, Heat established the center first. This concerned me because they were in position to push in the last 60. We traded punches, guys held and time expired.
Headed into overtime, we were feeling pretty good. If it bleeds, we can kill it, and that was our thought headed into that last point. The pressure was on them so we knew they would go pocket thinking if they can get 5 out alive, they win “on paper” as Matty would say. But we haven’t read that book yet (heck, we can’t even read). We decided to push Britt Simpson D side with heavy guns and it paid off. We got out wide snake side as the point developed after establishing a strong center. Aaron Pate made a wicked snap on Tyler Harmon, then smoked Ryan Smith and then Ronnie Dizon gets eaten. Good win for what we had dubbed prior to the event, the revenge tour.
*ZEN NOTE – In the last point, I recall Federov making a gesture after shooting Stu (a kiss goodbye or something) and then I made the same gesture when we hit the buzzer. I know… juvenile. Just because someone is disrespectful doesn’t mean I will be. I have to be a better example for my guys.
VS Thunder
We had watched Thunder (when we could) play Uprising and noticed some tendencies. But I did not depend on the scouting as I knew they would adjust their game plan. The key was going to be identifying the adjustment early… which we did. It was a back and forth match. I was particularly proud of my man Britt Simpson in this match as he earned himself a one on one coin in the 2nd point of the match to put us on the board. Three Hurricanes carry those coins now.
A good example of game planning from both teams was the 4th point of the match. We missed our snake shot (it was going to happen) but we got our inside support kill and took big ground D side. With snake hot, we went to our contingency plan, and it worked. But Thunder was a scrappy team and there was still a lot of time on the clock. For the 5th point, we shot their snake side runner again, but they made a good read, took ground, and established early in center and on D side (something we had been doing). It paid off for them as they dropped Drew Bell early and picked up our counter through center. But I felt they had just shown us their best effort. Next point, we wanted to key up on the wides and the boys did a great job sweet spotting BOTH. This is a good example of “permeating” the point, something we had discussed as a team. With the amount of time left in the match, we didn’t have to be in a hurry, especially since we shot 2 and lost 1. We were also in good field position compared to Thunder. My guy’s maintained zone control, had a conversation on who has the ball and where we needed to punch. We burned off just under 3 minutes here. But then we got a little sloppy, let Thunder spread, and lost two gunfights we shouldn’t have. Luckily, Thunder did us a favor and drew the red towards the end. (Aaron Pate shot their center player who continued to shoot).
The next point was another bloodbath break for both teams. Unfortunately, Thunder got the best of it with that late fill to the snake from home. We had lost Stu who would have protected against that move. Britt recognized that, with Stu gone, plan B was to flip the field and got on his horse D side. But it wasn’t enough as Thunder’s player,I think it was Pat Gleason, got himself two and a buzzer.
It was now 4-3 in our favor with 4 minutes left.
*ZEN NOTE -I heard there was a comment made that we went defensive. That is inaccurate. The intent was not defense but to set up a push. The setup, much like snake on the break, has its risks and has to develop. This sometimes creates an issue getting offensive when you lose key components of the set up. Running into a zoned gun on purpose isn’t offense. It’s stupid.
Thunder made the snake corner on the next break. This was a good call but that also meant his support must come from one of 2 places. We shot one of them. The snake fill by Thunder was what slowed this point down. We had the body advantage, but we had to leverage two of our own to contain snake. Both Stu and Daniel knew the deal and adjusted accordingly. Searight understood his role in this as well and pushed D side. Pate saw the opportunity to reposition to support Searight. Gleason got clever and took my Rook (Searight). He got clever again and took Stu who had just positioned on 50 snake. However, Aaron Pate dashed his dreams decisively. Daniel Camp smoked the press from center leaving it a 2 on 1, Pate and Daniel vs Thunder’s snake player. At this point, I turned and began congratulating my guys in the pit for the good first day. Nothing against the Thunder player, I just knew the statistical outcome of that one with those two gunfighters in.
I would have liked that last point though…
VS Uprising
There was no doubt the other boys from Seattle had an axe to grind after our first meeting (and our first pro match ever) in Kissimmee. They were showing a highly aggressive approach to the field, but we also noticed some tendencies that we could exploit. The question was, again, what if any adjustment did they make? We soon found out that, they didn’t really.
The first point was gruesome. There were so many yellow birds in the air… but Daniel Camp finally gave the Canes our first point win (something we struggled with this weekend was coming out strong and winning the first point each match) and gained his THIRD one on one coin.
More solid guns on the break next point. We shot 3. The following point, we shot the snake again but lost Pate early. Uprising beat us to the center but this was where their tendencies showed (no I will not share what they are…my secret). My guys recognized it and acted accordingly making it 3-0.
The 4th point Uprising got the advantage early again. We tried to take ground early D side but they caught us and we miss our shots. We recognized the tendencies again but aren’t able to capitalize. Justin Bailey did an excellent job of killing the clock in a 3 on 1, a minute twenty . 3-1 with just over 7 minutes left.
We decided to give Uprising a different look the next point. I almost didn’t do it because of an injury Pate was nursing. But the guys are all warriors, and he told me he was fine and could do it. I went with the gut and it paid off. We knew Uprising would push center but with our new snake side presence, I knew it would cause them to swivel. And they did. Searight took advantage and got onto their side of the field… again. But, again we let that tandem line get too long. We had to settle for a trade. But, Uprising’s tendency reared, we took advantage and Stu finished with a 3 pack.
The next point was a bit sloppy on our part. Stu looked into a ball and Aaron Smith made the mistake of asking for a paint-check. Minor on us.
We lost Stu early on the next point but take 3 of Uprising on the break with the help of a minor (it was on their dorito player). Uprising conceded the point leaving approximately 3 minutes on the board down by 3.
We shot one on the break but lost Pate early again. Though, once Searight got wide and Stu established in the center, it was simply a matter of time… literally. We knew if we won the point they would let time expire in an effort to maintain point margin. Funny note and I don’t know if they show this on the webcast but as the guys are standing around watching the clock go down, Searight decided to shoot Stu in the foot… on purpose… But the joke was on Searight as I think the ref called Stu clean LOL
VS Red Legion
Goodness gracious. The revenge tour almost came to a screeching halt with this one. But the guys showed composure, discipline, belief, and a whole lot of grit. If there was ever a match to define the New Orleans Hurricanes, this would be it. We never quit.
I can sum this one up rather quickly. The first point we just lost gun fights. The next three points of this match, the Russians essentially took our game planning and just did it better than us. That and we got penalties and they didn’t. We were also trying one or two things differently since we had already made Sunday. That whole plan went out the window quick though as things were getting out of hand. This was the most penalized I think we have been in a match. I told my guys, back to basics. The game plan was solid, the Legion was simply beating us to the punch. If we quit getting penalties, we will win this match! That, and our guns on break had taken a dip for some reason. Down 4 to 0 now but there was a BUNCH of time left in the match. They went up 4-0 on us in Kissimmee and we brought it back to tie only to eventually lose. But we are a completely different team from that first event. And this was the revenge tour…
The Heat/Thunder match put us in X-ball rather early which I felt was an advantage to us. We already knew what we wanted to do and how to do it.
That 5th point was the game changer. They put in their 2nd line as if they felt the game was in the books. But we didn’t get that memo (and remember, we can’t read anyway). There was just under 10 minutes left after all. We put one up on the board. And that’s all we would need to steal the momentum.
It doesn’t go unnoticed that Sergei was playing tall over home on the previous breaks and then filtering to the center. We decided to turn a gun on him and get the elimination. Now, I am only guessing but perhaps they looked down on paper and figured their 5 best alive on the break beats us a larger percentage of the time. We decided to start focusing on taking that snake side tower sooner which would “trap” the Russians and hopefully force them into the kill box. We had seen them do what we called “double double” before, so we took center early and got a second point on the board. Letting Berdnikov get out to the snake side was disappointing but we flipped the script D side. Justin Bailey got to drop the hammer on Berdnikov as a bonus for our 2nd point.…
I did not anticipate them to continue with the double/double… but this is why I make the assumption in the paragraph above that they figured they would just need to get their best 5 out alive and kill clock. I called a timeout to give my guys a bit of a breather and make sure we all knew the game plan and situation. We knew that if they didn’t take that snake side tower early, they would most likely concede the gap between the doritos and that first small brick D side. And if they didn’t take the first dorito looking inside, that would allow us to take a line through the center undetected.
Strangely, the Legion came out with double/double again (meaning everything stated above could come to fruition). So Stu took the center-line and got the kill but got caught. We spread to snake corner drawing guns which allows Drew Bell to do Drew Bell stuff down the D side and trade. That drew a gun and now Daniel fed the snake. Daniel shot the last Russian but Aaron Pate decided to run through with the goon hand just to make sure and hit the buzzer with 1 second left.
Goon hand Pate. Thanks to Trevorwillpb for the shot! Check him out on IG and FB
And this is why I am religious.
Even though we had just had an amazing point, emotions got a little high. The Canes have several rules about pit control and we all started to break them… but just for a bit. The disruption was over the 1 second point. We needed that additional time to get my guys squared away but it almost put us over the edge… not really. But it could have. That’s on me. We finally get our decorum back with a little laughter and knew that, with the overtime point, we needed to get back to base play, didn’t get in too much of a hurry, and let the play develop the way we knew how. Once again, the pressure lay squarely on the Legion.
This was a crap shoot point. Part of my job is to determine what I think the opponent may do. I was torn here statistically. Again, in my mind, they were looking at the “paper”… their 5 beats our 5… So we figured they would go safe with a Dorito 1, the two cans and home. That or their double/double. When they broke with double double, and we made it out 5 alive, I smiled ear to ear. We shot one on the break and quickly dropped another… slow steady grind until they were none and we were three. Five unanswered points against the Russians in 9 minutes. Incredible performance from my guys.
VS Heat (again)
This was a chess match. Best way to describe it. We made a couple of mental errors here and they ultimately cost us the match. But I think we gained a little respect…
Both teams lost a can on the first point. Stu made a great center push but we died behind him leaving Pate in a 1 on 2 situation. Heat struck first. Heat followed that point up by shooting two of us on the break and we couldn’t generate anything. 2-0 Heat. Obviously Heat was taking our approach and just executing it better. Our guns came back into play on the 3rd point and we were back in it with 5 bodies alive. 2-1.
We both broke the exact same way on the 4th point and we struck first shooting Federov. We also established a strong center with Stu and Pate early. Monville attempted to wrap and paid for it allowing Stu to trade with Harmon in the Tower. Searight got the last kill and we were now tied. The execution of the goals on that point were pretty darn near perfect.
Of course, this is where we end up shooting ourselves in the foot a bit metaphorically and literally. The guys decided to let the clock run down a bit (40 seconds if you only count standing at the box). I was at the net with my arms open wondering what they were doing. Then Searight decided to shoot himself in the foot…yes, on purpose and for a laugh. I did chuckle. The time loss would be one of a few mental errors that would haunt us later.
The next point haunts me still too. We shot two on the break but gave those bodies back with a penalty (top of the pod hit on a dive – it happens – these were our penalties all weekend. Pod or hopper hit penalties). We shot another but we then gave two more almost immediately in exchange. Devolved into a 2 on 1 in about 30 seconds. 3-2 Heat.
We know we can win the match. And it looked as if we were going to tie it up on the next point. We lost a 4 on 3 instead. But still lots of time on the clock. 4-2 Heat.
We struck first and got Monville then get a shot in on Federov. However, we spent a little longer than normal filtering but I was okay with it since we were still well above 3 minutes. Searight caught one but Daniel made it out snake way and we repositioned to close. Stu shot Tyler and the rest fall. We are one point down with about 2:50 left in the match.
I felt all we needed to do was be a bit quicker with our secondaries. Thing was, Heat knew that too. As I watched the next break, it was if Todd and I both had the same conversation with our teams. We lost two quickly but I am in the pit begging (not too loud of course) for a penalty on Sam. We got it and it was now 3v3.
What unfolded over the next 2 minutes was… crazy. Aaron Pate made a WICKED wrap and snap shot on Chad George in the snake at about 30 seconds. Daniel Camp got on his horse and fed the snake and went to Heat’s side of the field. He saw Federov who had re-positioned and applied pressure. Pate cleared and wrapped putting a shot on the back of Ryan Smith’s head before Federov shot him… just as Daniel shot Fedorov. If Searight had 2 more seconds, we would have hit that buzzer and taken it into overtime… again. Or maybe Ryan gets a major… the world will never know.
5th place for the event. As I understand it, we are the first rookie pro team to ever go undefeated in prelims and have the first-place seed headed into Sunday. Not a bad consolation prize, however, we felt that had we got past Heat, the revenge tour obviously would have continued and very well may have culminated in another first in PB history…
We have to take these mistakes (Coming out flat, tandem line getting too long, penalties, clock management, coach not arguing for a call, etc.) and learn from them. Trust me, they are fresh on our brains. But I have to say, I am incredibly pleased with how my guys carried themselves. Not just with the way they played, they played great… but they really kept their composure and a “can do” attitude all weekend. I know the goal of a coach/team is to put wins on the board. But the more I watch these men overcome obstacles, haters/doubters, life events, and still maintain a positive and good attitude while bringing their A-game, the more I feel like we are chalking up wins in the right column. We will be better for it. See you at Cup. Until then…
Zen and the Art of Paintball 