Photo by Rachel Seymour

Allan Jackson, Robinson junior and Fighting Blunts team member, attempts to save the Frisbee before it goes out of bounds with the Pinkies’ Weston Buck, Overland Park sophomore, on his heals during yesterday evening’s intramural ultimate Frisbee game at Shenk Complex, 23rd and Iowa streets. The Fighting Blunts defeated the Pinkies 11-6.

For B-team members of the University of Kansas’ club ultimate Frisbee team, the HorrorZontals, it would have been a disappointment if they hadn’t won school bragging rights.

Their intramural team, named the Fighting Blunts for the tournament, defeated the Pinkies 11-6 in the men’s championship game last night.

The Pinkies made it to the finals after an overtime victory against Vanguard of the Proletariat, the Stephenson Hall team, earlier in the day.

The Blunts expected to see the Pinkies in the finals.

“They are definitely one of the best teams out there,” Allan Jackson, Robinson junior, said.

The Blunts came out prepared to make a statement.

On the opening possession of the game, Casey Aull, Libertyville, Ill., freshman, caught a touchdown pass and put the team in the lead.

After that, the game settled into a lull for a few minutes, until the Blunts surged ahead for good.

In a span of four minutes, 25 seconds, the team scored four unanswered points. Jackson and Joe Nickels led the charge with a string of back-and-forth catches while moving downfield. Toward the end of the run, the team’s communication was so good it looked like they were executing a rehearsed pattern each time down field. On defense, the team adjusted their strategy depending on the wind.

“We played a zone defense upwind, and went man-to-man downwind,” Nickels, Elgin, Ill. junior, said. “And we kept the tall guys in the back.”

The strategy paid off, and the Pinkies rarely saw a scoring opportunity. With six minutes to play in the opening half, the Pinkies began to chip away at the six-point deficit. They put up two points before the Blunts regrouped.

On the Blunts’ next trip downfield they had the disc in the corner, just a few yards away from the touchdown.

Instead of trying to throw it in against the Pinkies’ defense, they used a series of four passes to gradually move the disc to the other side of the field, each time moving closer to the line, until they had the touchdown.

Going into halftime, the Blunts enjoyed a commanding 8-2 lead. The Pinkies looked sharp coming out of the break, but were unable to turn their opportunities into points. For the first six minutes of the half, the Blunts were unable to advance the disc past midfield.

Despite these opportunities, the Pinkies did not score until 9:15 into the half. From there, the teams played a fairly even back-and-forth game for the remaining time. While it was a tightly contested game, it lacked the structure of a league game.

“It’s a lot more relaxed out here,” Nickels said, “There aren’t a lot of calls made.”

With just two seconds remaining, the Pinkies found themselves down 11-5, and had the disc in their own end zone.

Instead of ending the game, they chose to call time-out and set up the long pass.

It worked, and fans of both teams cheered the final score as time ran out.

The teams exchanged friendly handshakes after the game, and joked about the outcome.

It may not have been a league game, but the Fighting Blunts came out in midseason form to claim the championship.

ULTIMATE FRISBEE ROSTERS

Name Hometown/year

Fighting Blunts

Nathan Dixey Chicago sophomore

Jack McFarland Sioux Falls, S.D., freshman

Kent Domas San Antonio junior

Joe Nickels Elgin, Ill., junior

Casey Aull Libertyville, Ill., freshman

Eric Lops Olathe junior

Josh Parshall Columbia, Mo., junior

Allan Jackson Robinson junior

Taylor Lenon Hiawatha junior

Pinkies

Zach Straus Topeka senior

Malakai Edison Olathe senior

Alex Straus Topeka freshman

Mark Pacey Manhattan junior

Ian McClard Newton freshman

Matt Henley Ft. Smith, Ark., freshman

Ryan Bigley San Antonio freshman

Riley Rothe Wichita sophomore