FOSS NATION DOMINATION

Boasters League quarter finals~~

Activity a plenty! The buzz of league finals makes it one of the more enjoyable evenings of the season. It never ceases to amaze me how everyone (most!) players are suddenly available to play on Wednesday, whereas during the regular season, it’s feels like pulling teeth to arrange the matches. I guess it is something to discuss with the captains over the summer: how to encourage regular participation from October onwards, not just March onwards.

Good news is that the quarter finals were decided on the court. Meaning, that most of the matches were completed. We aren’t left wondering about different outcomes (the could-haves!) because half a dozen contests didn’t manage to play. My crystal ball prophecies from last week once again prove that I have utterly no idea about such witchcraft. If I forecast that the sun would rise tomorrow morning – it wouldn’t. So I won’t.

Foss Nation v Butter Nutz

The first result to come in was 14-15; 15-12; 15-14. Brian Rassel (Foss Nation) squeaked past Ryan Covell (Butter Nutz) in what clearly was an epic encounter, worthy of a separate paragraph, photos and interviews, but since no one witnessed this blockbuster, we can only imagine the level to which these two performed. It also set the tone for this quarter final – Foss Nation never looked back.

The rout was on early. Greg Jones, Spencer Roed, Joe Schmidt and Iain Prendergast all recorded 3-0 wins and the only scoring that Butter Nutz could manage at this stage was their bonus points. However, no amount of bonus points were going to make up for this large deficit- they desperately needed some wins.

Mike Jenkins was the first winner of the night for the Butter Nutz. After losing game one to Shail Arora, he steadied the ship to roll out the next two. Scott Beals also took two of three games from John Roarty, and follow that up with another 2-1 win for John Perkins, the outlook was improving, but too slowly. Butter Nutz needed 3-0 victories. And fast.

Jack Bernard heard the frantic calls and stepped up to record the first straight sets victory for their team to give them just a glimmer of hope, They were mathematically still in it but the margin of error was decreasing with each passing match. And the glimmer of hope faded shortly thereafter.

Foss Nation’s Matt Buslepp was having none of it. Determined to stop any more talk or thought of a comeback, he took down Gordie Maitland 3-0. Tony Sorgi then picked up a game from Matt Moore, followed up by Matt’s identical clone Evan, who dampened the hefty cries of “Boo-Yah!” from Dewey Steffen with his 3-0 takedown, and suddenly Foss Nation could start thinking about next week. It was over.

A dominating performance, Foss Nation are looking like a tough opponent. Overall score: 43-29. My prediction last week: “Foss Nation by a hair.” I was right about the winner here, but waaay wrong about the hair! 

Vivio’s v Cadiuex Café

Motivated by my audacious announcement last week that Cadieux Café would be struggling to compete against Vivio’s, Patrick Petz inspired his team to greater heights. Determined to make me look like a babbling ignoramus (not that difficult apparently!), Cadieux Café gave Vivio’s everything they could handle. From start to finish, there was never more than a 3 point margin between the two teams, and the lead changed numerous times over the course of the evening.

Subs would play a part in these results. We needed five, found four, and three of them won. We had one forfeit for each team as well. Surprisingly, Vivio’s only managed 8 bonus points, which for a final is worryingly low. Cadieux Café picked up 11. Would it be the difference? It certainly helped to keep it close. 

The two teams traded wins all week long. A Mark Gregory (Cadieux Café) 2-1 win would be quickly countered with a Rich Stimson (Vivio’s) 2-1 win as well. And back and forth it went. Only 6 of the matches were played on Wednesday – eight of them were re-arranged (2 were not played), so by the time Thursday morning rolled around, no one really had any clue where the teams stood! We would have to wait until Friday morning to find out the final victor here. And it would come down to the number 2’s: Blake Ellis (Cadieux Café) v Derek Aguirre (Vivio’s).

Every match is important of course, but the fact that this one will make or break the season, the pressure was on, the focus intense. In round 6, Derek beat Blake 3-0. In fact, Derek has a solid record against Blake winning ten of their recorded twelve matches. But they haven’t played a lot in recent times. Outside of round 6, the last result was in February of 2020 and, notably, Blake actually won that encounter. Could he go against the trend again? Ummm, no, he could not. Derek seems to be in form and did not concede a game – a good move for his team because if he had done so, Vivio’s would have lost the day. I know there will be some mutterings and mumblings about this overall result: Vivio’s 32 - Cadieux Café – 31. I did predict a Vivio’s win here, but not one that came down to the wire. I got my ‘hairs’ crossed last week!

Onto the semifinals! First we have Foss Nation v Mongoose. Their round 4 meeting was close – 28-26 in favor of Mongoose. Twelve of the 16 matches were completed, Mongoose won 7 of them, only four of those were 3-0, and both teams picked up the same amount of bonus points. So it should be tight again, right? Well, one would think that from last week’s pathetic attempt of being a soothsayer, I would pack up my tea leaves and exit the building, but obviously I don’t learn from my own nitwittedness so here goes… the winner will be… and the team I therefore condemn …Foss Nation!

The other semifinal is Winky-Dinks v Vivio’s. They met way back in round 2, and Vivio’s pulled out the win 32-29. All but one match was played, only 4 of those results were 3-0, Vivio’s won 9 of the 15 matches both teams picked up the same amount of bonus points. Another anyone-can-win scenario it seems. In the spirit of keeping up with my shameless divinations, my tarot cards for this contest are telling me… to stop trying to predict results… not to complain about the broccoli in my dinner tonight… and that Vivio’s will be in the final!