CCC LIX Previews – Georgia Jojah

Caleb Edwards sends a backhand around his defender at CCC 2009. Photo courtesy of Chad Borer.

Just like a couple of other previews we’ve mentioned, the preview of Georgia’s Ultimate team is going to be more focused on who isn’t there anymore than who is still there. Jojah has become a staple of the Nationals scene and seems to reload on talent every year no matter who leaves but there is no question that last year’s graduating class was one of its best in recent history.

Easterns 2010 – Quarterfinals

Pitt's Colin Conner snags a disc in front of a Georgia's Matt Bailey during Eaterns quarterfinals. Photo courtesy of Jesse von Fange.

Quarterfinals had a bit of a different feel than prequarters. All four of the teams that had advanced through prequarters had advanced through dogfight games. Mostly fighting tooth and nail to advance, only to face an even tougher opponent than the round before.

Unfortunately for spectators, this resulted in some lopsided scores. The round of eight consisted of Pitt vs. Georgia, Virginia vs. Cornell, Middlebury vs. Virginia Tech and Wisconsin vs. Brown.

Just like prequarters, we were only able to watch three of these games. Wisconsin toppled Brown by a count of 15-6. We have no further information as to the manner of method by which this happening occurred. Meanwhile, Pitt whooped Georgia, 15-5, Middlebury and Virginia both avenged Saturday losses, Middlebury over Virginia Tech 15-9 and Virginia over Cornell 14-11.

Easterns 2010 – Prequarters

Georgia junior Matt Bailey lays out for and catches a 'mac'ed disc to save a possession for UGA. Photo courtesy of Jesse von Fange. http://www.unitesports.biz

Although most things had gone more or less to seed on Saturday, the only exception being Jojah not winning its pool, prequarters presented an opportunity for many quality teams to go home.

The matchups included: UGA vs. UNCW, San Diego State vs. Cornell, East Carolina vs. Virginia Tech and Ohio State vs. Brown. We only could watch three of these at a time so we can only report that Brown defeated Ohio State 15-11, we do not know the manner or method in which this transpired.

Easterns 2010 – Round Four – UGA Jojah vs. Cornell Buds

Cornell's Ethan Pollack comes down with a catch block over Jojah's Matt Bailey at College Easterns. Photo courtesy of Jesse von Fange. http://www.unitesports.biz

In their final pool play game of the day, Georgia and Cornell squared off against each other in a game that had plenty of meaning. Since Jojah had lost to UVA and Virginia, in turn, had lost to Cornell, a Bulldog victory would create a three-way tie across the pool that would be decided by point differential.

Needless to say, both UGA and Cornell were feeling the pressure coming into the game and with the wind picking up, the game was bound to be an exciting one.

Cornell would mount a huge comeback over the course of the game in order to pull out a 14-13, double game point, victory over the Dawgs.

Easterns 2010 – Round One – UGA Jojah vs. UVA Night Train

UVA's Andrew Wilkes grabs a disc in front of a bidding Peter Dempsey on the way to a Virginia victory. Photo courtesy of Jesse von Fange. http://www.unitesports.biz

Easterns 2010 wasted no time in getting competitive and interesting. In the first round two of the heavyweights from the Atlantic Coast region squared off in an excellent game.

Georgia was coming in off a disappointing finish at College Terminus and Virginia was coming into Easterns with a similarly bitter taste in its collective mouth after finishing poorly at the Wilmington 8s. Both teams were ready to start off on a new foot and it showed in the play as the game, which ended in a capped, double game point style in Virginia’s favor, 10-9.

Easterns 2010 – Previews – Georgia’s Peter Dempsey

Peter Dempsey gets a layout block against Wisconsin in the CCC 2009 semifinals. Photo courtesy of Chad Borer. http://www.frameatatime.com

“TRAP! TRAP! TRAP!”

Peter Dempsey’s bellowing voice could be heard over all the other noise at CCC 2009. Georgia was on defense against Delaware and Dempsey’s cutter had made the mistake of cutting too close to the thrower. Dempsey flashed into the lane and ordered the mark to prevent the dump or anything other than an upline throw.

Stall 6, the thrower looked IO, Dempsey was there. Stall 7, the thrower looked for a loopy OI forehand, Dempsey was there, Stall 8, back to IO and Dempsey was somehow still there. stall 9, the thrower launched a flick right into Dempsey’s chest.

“When I’m playing D, I guess I just think about playing O at the same time,” Dempsey wrote in an e-mail. “I don’t just try to get inside the head of the guy that I’m guarding, I try to figure out what all 7 guys are the other team are thinking.”

CCC LIII Previews: Jojah Bulldogs

They say that success is contagious. If that’s the case, then Jojah is certainly in for one of its most successful seasons of all time.

Since 2003 Jojah has only missed Nationals once. It is safe to say that the Bulldogs have made themselves a staple of the competitive Ultimate scene. However, apart from their trip to the semifinals on the back of future World Champion Dylan Tunnell, Jojah has not had much in the way of success once Nationals has rolled around. Last season was no exception as Georgia, the No. 2 team from the Atlantic Coast, won one game in Columbus and finished tied for 19th in the nation.

“For all our players that were on the team last year,” Jojah captains Peter Dempsey and Rob Herrig wrote us in an e-mail. “(That) was an embarrassment.”

However, Jojah has been surrounded by success this offseason, as two of men who play pivotal roles on the team, fifth year captain Dempsey and coach AJ Tiarsmith helped lead Atlanta’s Chain Lightning to its first UPA Club Championship.

Classic City Classic LIII

When we started this blog it was our dream that one day the idea of responsible journalism around Ultimate would catch on and become the norm rather than the exception. It seems that the ball has started rolling on that dream sooner than we expected. You may or may not have heard that we are working with Jojah Ultimate to bring the Ultimate world in depth coverage of college Ultimate’s premier fall tournament, The Classic City Classic.

You can have your No Wiscosequences and your Wilmington 8s but for our money, CCC is one of the best run tournaments in the nation. This year is going to be no exception as Jojah has gathered a group of top tier talent as well as observers and, of course, the best Ultimate journalism out there.

So strap in readers, these next couple weeks are going to be chock full of team previews, polls, announcements and schedules. We’re thrilled to be here and we hope that you enjoy the coverage.