Strong handler offense powers WHOU to Ultimate Frisbee Championship

    HOULTON, Maine — Top-seeded WHOU overpowered No. 3 Bond Family Mercantile in the Houlton Ultimate Summer League (HUSL) Championship held last Tuesday night at the Maliseet Field. WHOU won the title with a 13-8 win.
WHOU’s first three points were scored quickly, but the Bond defense made adjustments and forced the understaffed WHOU team to really push their endurance. WHOU had just enough players to have a starting five on the field, while the Bonds had eight players, enough for three subs.
The first half of action went back and forth, as the score was knotted at 3-all. The handling tandem of Chris Rines and Dustin Hines started to click and WHOU scored the next three points to win the half 6-3.
The championship game was scored to a total of 13 points, which is two more than a regular season HUSL game of 11, this is a common practice seen in many popular Ultimate Tournaments. At halftime a representative of Maine Ultimate was interviewed and spoke about how Ultimate Houlton, the organizing body of the HUSL can become part of the Maine Ultimate system.
The second half saw WHOU on the attack again, scoring the first point, but it wouldn’t be long before the Bonds started to claw their way back into the game. Long “Hail Mary” passes over the top would beat the WHOU defense. The Bonds used their quick passes to take advantage of a tired WHOU team, which forced them to call the game’s only timeout.
The Bonds would continue to push the issue scoring to their game high total of eight points, but the resilient WHOU team would take control, as Rines threw the game-winning pass to Brad Burlock of Caribou for the win.
A full video recording of the championship game can be viewed on the WHOU website at www.whoufm.com. Ultimate Houlton also strongly encourages everyone to follow them on their Facebook page for all the latest updates of the club. Sunday pick-up games will continue at 2 p.m. at the Houlton High School small soccer field.
In the first semifinal game, a hard-fought first half would be all that the well-led Rent-A-Center team would show. RAC would start the scoring by going on a 4-0 run to start the half. WHOU’s players just weren’t clicking and committed several turnovers early on. Finally WHOU had a hot streak of their own, scoring back-to-back points to tie the game at five-all.
In one of the longest points of the game, WHOU’s Julia Lunn found herself with a chance to win the half by throwing a beautiful inside-out flick to handler Rines, as he dragged his toes to stay within the end zone.
RAC’s regimented vertical stack worked wonders for them as they carved up the field in the first half, but a more resilient defense from WHOU would shut them out in the second. WHOU would score every point ending the game in their favor 11-5.
In the second semifinal, the first half of play saw the score fluctuate between the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds. Bond Family Mercantile used a balanced handler attack to swing the disc easily to create plenty of scoring opportunities. Goetsch Custom Design’s usual long bomb offense would keep them in close contention early on as the points were traded. The Bonds took a 6-5 halftime lead.
Action in the second half seemed to move at a much faster pace as the Bond handlers really started to fall in sync with one another. The goal distribution among all the Bond players was really spread out, every single player scored, making it hard for Goetsch Custom Design players to really focus hard defensively on one or two receivers. The man handing out all the points for the Bonds, captain Chris Bond had a game high six assists. The Bonds would start to rise above with fast action plays and converting Goetsch Custom Design turnovers into valuable points. the Bonds won the match 11-8 to punch their ticket to the championship finals against WHOU.