Farris Cup 2018
Greatest wins of all time in sports are generally
synonymous with last second heroics. Buzzer beaters in basketball, last play
touchdowns in football, overtime goals in hockey, walk-off home runs in
baseball… and of course in terms for squash and the Farris Cup, last match
valiance, stepping up under the daunting pressure of win or send your entire
team home.
The Birmingham Athletic Club hosted the 14th edition of the
Farris Cup, a now established and most highly regarded event between the two
clubs. As usual, we were treated with open arms and welcomed as if we were part
of their membership. Of course, that didn’t stop us from wanting to kick their
behinds and having me drag the awkwardly big trophy back to our court area cabinet,
making its visit to the BAC halls as brief as possible.
My pre-event, soothsayer thoughts of this year’s outcome
was one of uncertainty. Some matches I was fairly confident of the result, some
were complete unknowns as I didn’t recognize the names, and some were certainly
up for grabs. Most importantly - and I believe I speak for most of us - is that
no matter which club wins, the score line is competitive. No one wants a one
sided clobbering. We got what we wanted.
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| Gus Ploss and Brian Salkowski |
Our quest started off in an encouraging fashion. John
Rogers was simply too steady and quick for his counterpart to take all 3
games giving us the perfect start to the day. Gus Ploss was initially not
as smooth, however. Recently coming back from a long term injury, Gus needed a
game to find his feet a little. But he started to find his groove shortly
thereafter, and was able to recognize his open court opportunities more
regularly. As confidence grew, each game become a fraction easier and the 3-1
win was in the bag. The BAC, though, did pull one back early. Brad Steel tackled
our Blake Ellis and although Blake has been playing well recently, he
just wasn’t fit enough to outlast Brad’s consistency and endless good length.
Blake got within reach in a couple of the games but Brad never looked too
ruffled or worried. 3-0 BAC.
 |
| Bob Dodge and David Pontes |
Our good form continued into the next round of matches. Han
Peng had a nervous start to his campaign, considering this was the first
time - ever - he had played squash outside the DAC! His opponent looked
like he worked out fairly regularly and as it turned out he was a fitness
trainer. Han was in for a hard time, especially since the jitters got the
better of him in the first game and he hit some uncharacteristic wild unforced
errors. He did calm down for the second thankfully and started to extend the
rallies, finding the middle of the strings and worked himself back into
contention. But it was a slog. In the end, Han proved the stronger of the two
and walked off with a shirt drenched 3-1victory. Add on David Pontes’ 3-1 score
and suddenly the DAC pushed ahead with a 4-1 lead.
That was as large as it was going to get.
Claude Mencotti is 65 years old, but you wouldn’t
call him old. He certainly doesn’t play like he is as John Mann can
attest to. No matter what John did, how hard he ran or hit it, Claude was
lapping it up giving John a free tour of all four corners of court 2. As John
was playing fetch, one court over, Mike Parker held a steadier hand for
the first two games, squeaking them out by just a couple of points. That was
enough to mentally ravage his opponent as the third became a train wreck for
the BAC lad. Mike was 10-0 up before giving up the point and missing out on the
bagel.
Our 3 match lead was currently still intact.
Let’s divert our attention for a moment to the doubles. On
paper, our A team were the underdog. The BAC’s Jon Uffelman and Peter
Schmidt are very experienced and quite frankly, very good at this game. Peter
Logan and Robin Basil had an arduous mission ahead of them. And they
almost pulled off the unlikely upset. They lost the first 2 games 15-14, won
the third before succumbing in the 4th. It easily could have been ours. And we
also could have had the next doubles result! John Dunwoody and Bob
Burton made life difficult for themselves early giving up the first to
games to Joe O’Connor and Nick Post. It is a monumental task at
any level to come back from a 2-0 deficit, you give up any margin of error.
John and Bob got their act together, however. It wasn’t quick, but it doesn’t
have to be. They clawed their way back into the contest to even it up a 2 games
apiece pushing the pressure squarely back onto Joe and Nick. But the BAC team
responded in the 5th and proved to be a little more stubborn taking the last
game 15-12.
The third and final doubles of the match went on, and we’ll
get back to that in a minute. It was more meaningful that what all four players
would realize.
Our lead was slowly eroding away. Mark Gregory gave
us a little breathing room with his 3-0 win over Ryan MacVoy, but losses
to Chris Van Tol (all 3 games were decided by 2 points), Andy Adamo, Robin
Basil and James Van Dyke and the DAC were blindsided with a Bomb Cyclone. The
tide had suddenly turned.
We were now trailing the BAC 7 matches to 8. Two
results to come in. We had to win them both.
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| Jed Elley with the Farris Cup |
Appropriately, both clubs played their Aces for the final
singles match of the day. The respective club champions went head to head. Seth
Rogers v Jed Elley. Seth is remarkably awkward to play, retrieves
some of the most incredible balls and is as resolute gutsy and as they come.
Jed had a specific game plan going in and he was a little wayward with that
game plan in the first game finding himself 10-7 game ball down. The turning
point could be traced back to this rally where Seth called for a ‘let’ and
was wanting a stroke. I understand he wanted a stroke - he had game ball after
all - but the correct call of ‘let’ was played. Maybe it hurt Seth psyche,
maybe it didn’t, but Jed picked off the lead to snatch the first game away. I
think the mental victory was bigger than the lead on the score board. Jed then
went on to execute his game plan better in the second and third. And Seth
worked hard as Jed moved him around the court, never giving up, never letting
go. He at no time made it easy for Jed, but on this day it was Jed who was
certainly the better player. Not by much, but just enough. 3-0 DAC.
8 matches each. It was all down to the final doubles match.
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| Jason Currie and JC Tibbitts |
As Jed was trying to catch his breath, JC Tibbitts and
Jason Currie were just completing their first game win against Jack
Parks and Max Surnow. Obviously the start we needed and very helpful
considering the players were keenly aware that the fate of the Farris Cup was
now weighing squarely on their shoulders. All eyes on the match, JC and Jason
got off to a strong start in the second game, but gave it up in ugly fashion
with some poor unforced errors allowing the BAC team to get the score back to
13-all. Luck can definitely play a role at this stage of the game, but we didn’t
really need it since our boys pulled their socks up and shrugged off the
previous few lousy points and slotted a couple of committed winners to finish
off the game and grab the 2-0 lead. One more game to go, once again JC and
Jason started out with a convincing mentality and created a worrying lead for
their opponents. This time, they held firm and did not allow any momentum
change to materialize and won the third game comfortably.
And with that, the DAC would retain the title! 9 matches to
8. Wow.
It was our day. What a great effort from our team
especially since it was played at the BAC. It is only the 3rd time we have won
on their turf, the first time since 2010. Overall we now hold an 8 Farris Cup
Titles to 6 advantage. A huge thank you to the BAC for their wonderful
hospitality and sportsmanship and we look forward to defending the Cup next
year!
