UPA Club Championships - Open, Day 4By Derek Gottlieb 
10/27/02 
Speaking with the contenders here before today's title game (without an ounce of 
coffee in my body), the reposnses were terse and to the point. "We were 
expecting to be here," said Ring's Chris Hinkle. "We hadn't played real well 
until Friday, but it was there." Mike Grant was less wordy: "We feel confident," 
he said. 
Furious George looked confident, too. Taking the disc down the field on their 
first possession, a short backhand from Grant to Andrew Lugsdin made the score 
1-0, Furious. Ring's offense, looking nervous, couldn't answer right away. They 
badly overthrew a receiver in the endzone, but Furious put up a hospital pass to 
the middle fo the field and Ring got the disc back. Brian Lang scores to even 
things up. 
On the next possession, Furious dropped an easy throw twenty yards in front of 
their own goal line. Fan favorite Chris Hinkle launches a hammer to John Proctor 
in the front corner of the end zone to get the game's first break and take the 
lead. 
Furious, needing to answer, launches a misguided huck to Roberts in the end zone 
and Ring takes over. A bomb to Proctor makes it two breaks for Ring, none for 
Furious. 
Furious thus far has looked overconfident and sloppy, and the next point isn't 
much of a change. But they are successful this time. Mike Grant hits Rickey in 
the endzone to make the score 3-2 Ring. 
Tiger Pearson throws a huck into double coverage and Pat Hard can't come up with 
it. But Furious biffs a throw and Brian Lang hits Mickey Madzinski in the end 
zone to preserve the advantage. 4-2 Ring. 
Ring comes out in a transition D, but Furious is at midfield before Ring can man 
up. Tobias tosses a short backhand to Lugsdin for the score. Furious looks to be 
settling down now. 4-3 Ring. 
Chris Hinkle looks great today as he marches the Ring offense downfield and 
lofts a backhand to Robbeye Brooks for the easy score. Ring's offense is getting 
the job done in the first half and the D has capitalized on George's miscues. 
5-3 Ring. 
John Proctor gets a big D for Ring but Hinkle tosses one up for Rhett Nichols 
between two defenders and Furious gets the disc back. Mike Grant loves his 
backhand huck, but this one is just out of the reach of Roberts, and Ring takes 
over at their own goal line. Proctor drops the immediate throw and, after four 
turnovers this point, Furious punches it in. A spike on the defender brings all 
the observers and most of the Ring bench onto the field. There's some shoving 
and words exchanged, and Kirk Savage gets a yellow card. But that doesn't change 
the score. 5-4 Ring. 
On the next point, Ring's Robbye Brooks throws away a pass intended for Pearson 
and Furious gets an opportunity to tie it up. But they don't capitalize. A 
terrible forehand into traffic results in another turnove, and Brian Lang hits 
Brooks in the enddzone. 6-4 Ring. 
Ring comes down in a transition D and Hinkle makes a special effort to match up 
on Grant. But the defense at mid-field is soft and a big backhand goes up to 
Mark Roberts. Rhett Nichols makes a great bid at it, but is inches away. 6-5 
Ring. 
Furious picks up the defense on the next point and forces a bad Robby Brooks 
turf. But again, Furious gives it right back on the next throw and it takes a 
special defensive effort from Al Nichols to get it back. Mike Grant hits Andrew 
Lugsdin to even the game at 6. The teams have combined for fifteen turnovers in 
these first twelve points. 
A long offensive point for Ring leads to a high-count huck turnover. John 
Gewirtz pumps a big forehand to Adam Chchinov as he's being tackled on the mark, 
and miraculously, it works. 7-6 Furious. 
On the ensuing point, Ring throws for the end zone and calls foul as a Furious 
player intercepts it. The observer overrules the call and Furious walks down the 
field. An arcing forehand from Mike Grant hits Rickey Melner in the back of the 
endzone for Furious's fourth straight point. 8-6 Furious. 
Paul Klenk drops a swing on the following possession and Andrew Lugsdin throws a 
crossfield backhand to John Frame in the endzone. A 5-0 run for Furious and they 
take half 9-6. In the latter part of this half, Furious has brought their energy 
and level of play back near to where it was in yesterday's semifinal. Ring, 
faced with Furious's surge, has begun to unravel a bit, making unforced errors 
and failing to convert the increasingly rare Furious mistake. If Ring can't put 
an immediate end to Furious's run coming out of the half, Furious will quickly 
build a lead that Ring can't recover from. 
Furious pulls to start the second half and comes down in a zone. Ring can;t 
handle it and overthrows Rhett Nichols in the middle of the field. Seraglia 
beats Mickey Madzinski to the back of the endzone and makes the score 10-6. A 
six-point run for Furious George. 
Tiger Pearson throws a hammer far out of bounds and Furious converts on a 
forehand from Al Melner to Derek John. 11-6 Furious. Ring now looks defeated as 
they walk back to the line. They aren't playing with the same energy and 
optimism with which they started the game and their decisions get progressively 
worse. 
On the next point, a bad forehand squirts through Ray Parrish's hands and 
Furious comes back down the field looking for the kill. Grant launches a 
sixty-yard forehand to John Frame. Frame lays out, but the disc goes through his 
hands. But then Pat Hard returns the favor by overthrowing Robbye Brooks in the 
end zone. Furious calls a timeout to settle things down, but it doesn't help. 
Ray Parrish gets a big poach block ten yards from the Furious end zone. Hinkle 
puts up a quick backhand to Rhett Nichols in the front corner and Ring has 
stopped the bleeding. 11-7 Furious. 
Ring comes down in a transition zone, hoping for more Furious donations. Not 
this point. A layout snag by Mike Grant makes the score 12-7. 
After a few short passes, Tiger Pearson launches a backhand up to Mickey 
Madzinski, but Marc Seraglia is all over it. Sadly, the Furious huck to Melner 
gets D'd. But there's no movement from the Ring offense and as a result Seraglia 
gets his second D of the point. Furious, needing this backbreaker point, burns 
their last timeout. Furious's handlers do the work, but suffer a severe lack of 
cuts from the stack. Tiger Pearson D's a dump and Ring calls a timeout of its 
own. Ring walks it down the field until Robbye Brooks launches a forehand to 
Troy Revell to make the score 12-8. It has been brought to my attention up here 
in the press box that this may be the first national final between two teams 
that failed to win their respective sections. 
Furious walks the disc up to the Ring goal line and a short pass from Nichols to 
Roberts brings the Monkey within four points of a national title. 13-8 Furious. 
On the next point, Ring shows considerable composure and eases the disc into the 
end zone against Furious's transition defense. Mick Ribault hits Brian Lang to 
lessen the gap. 13-9 Furious. 
Looking to cruise through the rest of the game, Furious looks a little slack. Al 
Nichols drops an easy pass in the end zone and Hinkle dishes to Parrish for 
Ring's first break in a long time. 13-10 Furious. 
Ring's fire is back, and Furious needs to put this point away. A heroic 
defensive bid by Chris Bass nearly forces the turn, but Furious hangs on. Ring 
makes them work for it, but Furious stays patient and a forehand from Lugsdin to 
Roberts finishes the point. 14-10 Furious. 
Ring looks to strike early in the next point but the cross-field backhand huck 
intended for Tiger Pearson gets D'd by John Gewirtz. A partial hand-block on 
Furious's possession gets Ring the disc again. Brian Lang makes a great catch, 
but stands up and jacks it way too far for Paul Klenk. Ring's David Williams 
comes up with a huge block on Seraglia and Ring rifles a forehand to Madzinski 
who makes the layout grab a foot from the end zone. The short pass to Klenk ends 
this point on serve. 14-11 Furious. 
Furious wants to throw the turn on the following point, but Mike Grant won't 
have it. He saves a poor throw with a great catch. Then Kirk Savage comes up 
with a big sky of his own and chucks one to Lugsdin for the score. 15-11 
Furious. 
Ring comes back, working the disc up the field until Seraglia, who left earlier 
with an injury, gets a big block on Brian Lang. Lang gets it back again on the 
very next throw, skying Seraglia in the end zone. But then it's Lang who throws 
the disc away out of Furious's end zone for the point's third turnover. The 
fourth turn comes when a Furious player can't keep a foot in bound while making 
the catch. Ring burns their last timeout in an effort to punch this point in. 
Ring swings the disc around the field a couple times until Mick Ribault, after 
making a great saving catch, turfs a forehand. That's enough turns for this 
point. Jon Gewirtz to John Frame makes the score 16-11. Game point, Furious. 
With their backs to the wall, Hinckle throws a scoober over the Furious cup to 
Robbye Brooks, who jacks a long backhand to Mickey Madzinski. It looks like it 
might be too long until Mickey lays full out to make the grab. Ring's sidelines 
are back in this game. 16-12 Furious. 
But Ring would need to stop Furious's offense, which knows that this can be the 
last point. It is. A beautiful backhand huck from Al Nichols to Tobias Marcoux 
gives Furious George their first national title ever. Ring, who has been the 
surprise of this tournament, must wait for next year. 17-12, the final score.