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Midwest Open Recap

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The scoreboard has a way of reducing an entire weekend to a single number.

One win. Three losses.

For some people, that’s all they need to hear or understand. The record becomes the story. But coaching has taught me that the truth is almost never found in the standings. It lives in the space between preparation and execution, between knowing what must be done and having the discipline to do it when the pressure is highest.

The Midwest Open was a lesson in contradictions for us.

This team walked onto the field and defeated the number one team in professional paintball, Red Legion. That match we demonstrated that our systems work, our preparation matters, and that when the team commits to one purpose, we are capable of beating anyone in the world. Then, over the course of the rest of the event, we became our own greatest obstacle.

Our 1-3 finish wasn’t the result of a lack of talent. It wasn’t because we were overmatched. It was because we repeatedly failed to execute with the consistency that professional paintball demands. Great moments were followed by preventable mistakes. Disciplined points gave way to undisciplined decisions. We would glimpse the team we are capable of becoming, only to drift away from the principles that put us there. That is perhaps the hardest lesson in high-level competition: potential is not performance. One exceptional game does not define a great team any more than one poor match would define a bad one. Winning belongs to the teams that can reproduce excellence over and over again, regardless of opponent or circumstance.

As a coach, it can be difficult to confront these truths because they begin with me. Every event forces me to ask uncomfortable questions. Did I prepare the team well enough? Were our priorities clear? Did I communicate effectively? Did I create an environment where discipline could thrive under pressure? Did I instill in my players confidence? Leadership demands ownership before criticism and reflection before reaction.

This blog post will be my attempt to honestly examine what happened in Cincinnati. Not to dwell on the losses, but rather to understand them. Because if we’re willing to study failure with the same enthusiasm that we celebrate success, then a 1-3 weekend can become the foundation for something far greater than a winning record. Growth rarely begins with victory. It almost always begins with the courage to look directly at defeat and learn from what it has to teach.

VS Dynasty

Every tournament tells you who you are or who you want to be. Not because of the final score necessarily, but because pressure has a tendency to strip away illusion. It exposes what you’ve actually mastered and, more importantly, what you’ve only rehearsed. Our opening match against San Diego Dynasty was, in many ways, a preview of our entire weekend.

The 8-3 final might lead one to believe it was a one-sided contest. It wasn’t. We were, in most cases, in each point.

The opening point was played exactly as we had envisioned it during our prep work. Our guns off the break were there. We established immediate control which allowed us to dictate the tempo of the point. My guys made it to their intended positions, and each understood not only his individual responsibility but how it fit into the larger picture unfolding across the field. We closed well. Movement was good, the communication was solid, and the guys decisions were made with confidence. During that point, our execution mirrored our preparation. We were “crisp”.

My understanding of Dynasty’s personnel, I thought, could give us an edge. From the pit, we were able to identify player combinations and for the most part, anticipate how they would approach the field. More than once, we got it right. The challenge, however, is that information only provides opportunity. It does not guarantee execution.

I knew Blake Yarber would be an issue. We did not successfully address him well when he was on the field.

As the match progressed, the quality of our game slowly deteriorated. While our guns on the break continued to do well at first, we failed to maintain that same level of execution once the point settled into the midgame. We began losing one-on-one gunfights, and getting dinked out of our bunkers. Players who should have been accounted for became surprises, and surprises in professional paintball almost always become fatal. The performance that defined the opening point gradually gave way to hurried decisions and missed details. Against a team like Dynasty, those details quickly became points on the scoreboard and not in your favor.

I have always believed that there is a valuable lesson hidden in each match. And this was one of them. Winning the break is only the beginning. The teams that consistently win events and matches are the ones that continue winning the point after the breakout. Through disciplined guns, threat assessment, creating pressure, and in most cases, commitment to the game plan. Our preparation gave us the opportunity to compete. But it is sustained execution that ultimately determines outcomes in our sport. That lesson would follow us for the remainder of the weekend.

Key moments –

  • Point 7, I have to give a shout out to Ronny Tiner. Great heads up play.
  • Point 8 – Dynasty’s guns are hot on the break now. Arturo takes full advantage.
  • Point 9 – Omara got away with one there on his wrist in that 3v2…
  • Point 10 – Ryan Greenspan. Enough said.

VS Red Legion

There are some teams that demand your best because of who they are long before the horn sounds. Red Legion is most definitely one of those teams (as is Dynasty for that matter). Legion came into this event as the number one team in the NXL. And rightfully so. They had earned it through controlled aggression, exceptional fundamentals, and what one could only call an unwavering commitment to their identity. Fast paced, in your face, pressure. Few teams in the world lane better, run and gun better, and few teams are as comfortable forcing gunfights and dictating the tempo of a match from the beginning. I made a joke to my wife… but when I thought about it, it wasn’t really a joke. It seemed factual. I said, “When you play Red Legion, you’ aren’t just playing a roster of elite players, you’re playing a proven philosophy.”

As coaches and players, we spend countless hours studying tendencies. To clarify, this isn’t to predict their every move. Rather it’s to understand the principles behind them. At layout practice and throughout the week leading up to the event , the Cats and I had several conversations that weren’t centered on individual players (okay…maybe a little) as much as they were about the Legions intentions. Where would Red Legion want to close from? What routes would they use to get there? Which aggressive sequences would they most likely leverage against our own system? What pace would they use? The thought being, if we could understand the questions they were asking of the field, perhaps we could have the right answers waiting. And one thought kept going through my mind. Red Legion is at its most dangerous when the game is moving at their pace. They thrive in the controlled chaos they create. Their confidence grows with every successful full court press. They look for the aggressive exchange, playing the statistics. They build up momentum like a juggernaut until they are titans imposing their will. So I started thinking, I didn’t want to beat them at their game. That would be foolish. But I damn sure wanted to make sure they played ours.

The objective became simple: clean up our execution from our previous match, survive the initial wave of pressure, and counterpunch when the field gave us permission. If we could extend each point beyond the opening 45 seconds, I believed the rhythm of the game would shift to us. But we would throw gear shifts out there as well. We would use a “broken rhythm” (Bruce Lee). We would throw a punch or two of our own to break up their aggression. Lean into the fight to disrupt their rhythm. Their pace would become our opportunity. Their aggression would create windows of opportunity for us to exploit. But it would require resisting the temptation to force plays that weren’t there. It required believing that patience is not necessarily passive.

I have enormous respect for Red Legion and for the coaching staff that has built one of the premier organizations in professional paintball. Not to mention, Ryan Gray is one of my best friends. Facing great teams like this forces you to think differently. It challenges your assumptions and demands that you solve problems in real time. For one match, my players embraced that challenge. They trusted the plan and, more importantly, they trusted one another. And for the first time that weekend, preparation and execution became one and the same. It was glorious.

It was a bloodbath on the break almost everypoint. I was proud of the composure and performance from my guys. They showed what they can be. THIS is what the Atlanta Jungle Cats are capable of. Don’t tell me Legion were “trying things out” and that’s why we won. Trust me, that’s not how they work. Every decision by them is calculated. We earned that win.

Key Moments

  • Point 1 – Berdnikov in the one on one. Perfect bait move. Props.
  • Point 2 – Davis Stephens in the 1 vs 2 against Kirill and Berdnikov. Wow.
  • Point 3 – Play call here with Aaron Rios doing exactly what I wanted him to do and the guys building off of it.
  • Point 5 – Play call again thinking we would pull up short on the center and see if they commit to take center to move their snake. It worked.
  • Point 7 – Evan Ruelas pulling the point back and forcing a concession
  • Point 8 – Almost gave a 4 on 2 away but Evan Ruelas once again, head on a swivel, catches Sergey who gets a major putting us on the powerplay next point
  • Point 9 – Jay Oller with the shot on Malloy and Davis Stephens getting his 6ft frame tight to survive the onslaught
  • Point 11 – Jay Oller and Evan Ruellas!
  • Point 13 – Mike McGowan and Davis Stephens weathering the storm and making shots count. Would have liked that last point though.

VS Aftershock

I don’t believe the most difficult issue facing coaches in our sport today is necessarily preparing your team to play well. For me, I think it is understanding why the same team can look unrecognizable less than twenty-four hours later.

The night before our match against Aftershock, there was a confidence in us. Not arrogance, confidence. We had just played one of our best matches of the season against the number one team in the league. More importantly, we had done it by trusting our prep work rather than abandoning it. Our systems had worked. Our guns were hot, our communication had been sharp, our discipline had held under pressure, and we had been solid in our execution.

I reviewed Aftershock with the team the same way we had every other opponent. We expected them to make adjustments based on what we had shown. We discussed those possibilities at length, but I never felt compelled to reinvent or change anything. Right, wrong, or indifferent, I believed how we were playing the field was still our greatest strength. I was getting production out of most of the guys. We just needed to continue applying pressure, dictating tempo, and forcing them to react to us instead of the other way around. I felt very little needed to change. But on the field, everything did.

From the opening moments, our offense never seemed to find its rhythm. It seemed disjointed. The aggression that had defined us against Red Legion gave way to hesitation and what I can only say was uncertainty. Opportunities presented themselves, and we didn’t capitalized on them. It almost felt like Aftershock was at our team meeting, agreed to our plan, and executed it better than we did. We played as though we were waiting for the game to happen instead of making it happen ourselves.

My coaching instinct after a loss is to search for the mistakes I made. Did I misread the matchup? Did I misread the confidence I sensed the night before? Did I fail to communicate the priorities clearly enough? Those are questions every honest coach should ask themselves because accountability begins at the top. But, as I have also learned over the years, coaching has its limits.

A game plan is only a framework. Preparation, play development and calling, lines… all of this only takes you so far in creating the opportunities. Adjustments only matter if the situations that require them actually develop. Looking back at this match, I don’t believe our play calling failed us. The adjustments we had anticipated never became the deciding factor because we never established the offensive pressure necessary to force the game into those moments. Sure, there were some flashes but one or two guys can’t do it by themselves. Sometimes the hardest film to watch isn’t the one where you were outcoached. It’s the one where your team simply never becomes the version of itself that you know exists. Those are the losses that stay with me the longest. Not because the answers are obvious, but because they aren’t.

Aftershocks guns were solid on the break. Survivability was an issue that plagued us this match. I will be watching this tape a lot as will my players.

Key Moments

  • Point 2 – We dominate the point thanks to Oller and Tiner but fall for a deadman’s walk. I had turned my back on the point to work and later found out two of my guys in the pit suspected… we had the bodies, we should have taken a “tactical minor” for talking from the pits and told our guys on the field to shoot that &%$^@#$. Jetski thought he would add insult to injury by shooting some of our pods too. Class act that one. What people don’t know is just prior to this point, the teams had been warned about overshooting… I have a sneaking suspicion that Jet just put a big target on his entire team’s back for the rest of the season.
  • Point 4 – The team showed composure while Aftershock was creating pressure pressure and more pressure. Ronny Tiner broke the game open with solid help from Ruellas while McGowan stayed alive in a precarious situation.
  • Point 5 – we shot the snake on the break. Ronny gets bad intel but once Davis got into the small snake brick, I knew we would pick up that d side can cross and let Jay go to work. And that’s what happened. McGowan should have been in the d Side wall at this point but we let Markie Frans get wide which complicated things. Davis almost steals the point back. Markie played it well.
  • Point 6 – no urgency. Should have at least had another point on the board.

VS Ironmen

One of the unwritten rules of professional sports is that every game contains something you cannot control. In the case of Paintball, a bad bounce, a missed shot, perhaps an equipment failure… A questionable penalty.

Winning teams understand that those moments are inevitable. The good ones don’t waste energy on them. They acknowledge it, reset, and move on to the next point. Of course, that’s easier to write in a blog than to actually live it.

The Ironmen were 0-3, but records can be deceptive. They are a dangerous opponent with talented players capable of punishing complacency. We had invested significant time scouting them throughout the event and felt we had developed a strong understanding of their personnel and tendencies. We knew where they preferred to attack, how they wanted to do it, and where we believed opportunities would present themselves. The plan was pretty straightforward again. Play our game, pressure the field, force them into difficult decisions, and trust we had what it takes.

For the opening points, we did exactly that. While perhaps a bit more measured than we had been against Red Legion, our structure was sound. We were playing disciplined paintball, managing the field well, and putting ourselves in position to control the match.

After scoring 2, the Ironmen’s guns started getting hot on the break. It was a tied match with a little over 4 minutes on the clock. The Ironmen score another taking the lead with 2:40 on the clock.

Then came a penalty.

From where I stood, it was unwarranted. Even after watching it with Jason Trosen, I still feel it was a bad call. I understand the refs have a difficult job. I get that. But the explanation I received seemed…off. Inconsistent really. Jesse Stephens creeps up on Jay in the snake. Jay sensed it, and was turned that way expecting him. Jesse swings his gun around and fires a MILISECOND before Jay pops his hopper. To me, Bang/Bang. I had watched players ALL weekend at the wall exchange rounds WAY slower than this… but they felt we deserved a red. It turns a 4 on 3 up body situation into a 3 on 1 at a critical moment when we could have tied the match. Instead, it handed life to our opponent, who, in my opinion, (and I have GREAT friends on that team. Mad respect) were searching for confidence. Those moments happen. Every coach who has spent any amount of time around this sport has faced them.

But… the painful truth though is that the penalty didn’t beat us. We were now down by 2 with a little over a minute left and were forced to run into guns.

If you aspire to compete at the highest level, you must become emotionally immune to circumstances beyond your control. It’s the Stoic way. Officials will make calls you disagree with. Bounces will/won’t always go your way. Momentum will swing without warning. None of that changes what should happen next. We allowed some uncontrollable moments to influence too many controllable ones. That’s a difficult lesson, but an essential one. Good teams don’t merely overcome adversity because they’re mentally tougher. They overcome it because they refuse to give adversity ownership over the next point, the next match, the next event. That afternoon, we weren’t what we could be. And in this game, that’s all it takes.

Key Moments

  • Point 2 – We win a low body situation with Ronny and Davis.
  • Point 4 – Ronny almost steals a point again in a down body situation. I’m telling you, I’m glad to have this man on our team.

Final Thoughts

When I look back on this event, I don’t necessarily see a 1-3 record. I see a team that briefly became exactly who it is capable of becoming. That may sound like an odd conclusion or even mumbo jumbo to some after a disappointing weekend, but coaching has taught me that growth doesn’t always follow a straight line. Sometimes it reveals itself in isolated moments long before it reveals itself in the standings.

Against Red Legion, we didn’t stumble into a victory. We earned it. We prepared appropriately, trusted one another, hit our shots, executed our plan, and defeated the number one team in professional paintball. That performance wasn’t an accident. It was proof. Proof that our systems work. Proof that our players possess the talent. Proof that myself and others are preparing this team to compete with anyone in the world.

The challenge is no longer discovering whether we are capable. We know that and think we always have. The challenge now is becoming capable every point, every match, every event. Consistency is the most difficult skill in professional paintball because it demands significant discipline. Anyone can play one great point. Good teams can play one great match. Great teams repeat excellence until excellence becomes their identity. And that’s where our work has to be focused on.

As I am known to do, I examine my own leadership first. Could I have communicated more clearly? Prepared differently? Seen something I failed to recognize in the moment? Those questions are part of the responsibility that comes with coaching, and I don’t think they will ever disappear from my process. The moment I believe I have all the answers is the moment I stop growing. But leadership is also a shared responsibility. I can provide vision. I can prepare a plan. I can study and suggest tendencies, anticipate adjustments, and make the right calls from behind the net. No, I am by no means perfect and get it wrong a lot. But eventually, the players step onto the field and the horn will sound. At that point, preparation has to become performance. No coach can execute a breakout, win a gunfight, or make a decision under pressure for his players. That bridge belongs to the team. The encouraging part is I know this group has crossed it. I’ve seen what it looks like. So have they. Now, we have to keep moving forward, keep crossing the bridges. The next step is making that version of ourselves the standard instead of the exception.

There is an old saying:

“Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong.”

That’s where our focus should be. We won’t change who we are. And we aren’t going to be something we’re not. But change IS coming…and if done right, we’ll narrow the gap between what we are capable of doing and what we consistently do. Because somewhere inside that 1-3 weekend is a team capable of beating the best in the world. Our job now is to make sure that team is the one that shows up every time the horn sounds.

Be water my friends

San Diego Dynasty’s Midwest Open Event Recap

zenandtheartofpaintballLeave a comment

“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.

Be water my Friends!