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 – 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.

Weekend Roundup: In Which Teams Actually Play Ultimate

Three (nearly) full tournaments were played this weekend, in what proved to be the first weekend of the preseason that was not severely affected by inclement weather. That being said, teams attending Queen City Tuneup had to deal with snow and shortened round times while teams attending Mardi Gras had to deal with bayous encroaching into the middle of the field. Meanwhile, President’s Day frolicked out West like one would expect Californians to.

After the jump is this weekend’s recap. It may be of some interest to many of you but we are making some efforts to get in touch with the UPA, Mike Gerics and George Mason’s Ultimate program to try and sort out just what went down this last weekend. It would be somewhat of a tragedy in our opinion if the UPA decided to go through with what, at the moment, seems like a rash and harsh decision.

That being said, we’re reserving judgment for the time being because, having played against Gerics and knowing his history, we would not be the least bit surprised if this suspension was deserved.

Perhaps we shouldn’t say anything in order to avoid alienating any of the parties involved but we wanted you, the readers, to know that we’re on the case to get the story from all involved. Good luck to all teams searching for sanctioned games.

CCC LIII: Semifinals Recap

With the bracket narrowed to four, this topsy turvy tournament appeared that it had finally returned to normalcy (with the exception of Georgia Tech). Georgia and Wisconsin were squaring off late in the Championship bracket, like they had so many times before in the history of CCC.

On the other side, last year’s AC  Regional Champion, Virginia, was taking on upstart Georgia Tech.

With the way that these teams had all been playing, and now that they weather was mostly clear, we knew that we were in for quite a semifinal round.

CCC LIII Second Round: Georgia vs. Delaware

As inclement as the weather was in the first round of CCC, it got worse in the second. Although the snow started to melt and the sun started to emerge from the gray clouds that had shrouded it all morning, the conditions began to worsen. The wind began to pick up and the ground began to turn into a slippery muck of mud and mire.

In our eyes, this became the great equalizer for the day. It was grossly apparent that during the Georgia/Delaware game, the conditions negated almost any athletic advantage that individuals may have had.

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.