The boys’ ultimate State Championships took place at Neudorf Stadium at Foster High School, on Sunday Nov 3rd. Northwest played against Cleveland High School for the state championship. Our boys ultimate team played a tough, exciting game, but sadly lost with a final score of 15-8.
Overall their season went very well; they won almost all their games and ended the season with a winning ratio of 13-3. Their only losses of the season were to SAAS and to Cleveland (twice). Head coach, Reid Koss, reflected on the team’s season, noting how “Our biggest strength as a team ended up being our zone defense. We got a lot better at it as the season went on, and it helped carry us in the playoffs. Our other main strength is that we have two of the best players in the state – Miles H. ‘20 and Owen D.’21. They had to do a lot this season and did an awesome job of both playing well and making players around them succeed.”
Reid also spoke about some of the obstacles the team came across over the season; One of the biggest challenges the team faced was that only six players returned from last year’s ultimate team. This meant that they had 11 players who had never played on varsity before, six of whom were freshmen. Reid also said, “we wouldn’t have had as successful a season as we did if all those rookies didn’t step up and play so well all season.”
Alongside Miles H. and Owen D., another leader on the team was Jasper S. ‘21, who was one of the six returning players. Jasper stepped up this season and asked to take on a totally different role of being a leader; he rose to the challenge and consequently had a memorable season.
I also had the chance to talk with Miles H. about his leadership throughout the ultimate season. Miles has been playing ultimate since elementary school and has been on the ultimate team at Northwest for four years. Miles said that during the state finals game the main advantage that Cleveland had over Northwest was their energy. Miles said that he reminded everyone to focus and play the game. He said, “mostly I just trusted that we’d be able to recover as a team.” I also asked Miles how the ultimate team has changed over the past four years. “The program now looks a lot different than the one I joined,” Miles said. “First, in terms of results, we lost in state quarterfinals my first year and this year we played in the championship. I also thought we got along better as a team this past year and truly embodied the idea of family on and off the field.”
Overall the boys’ ultimate team has had a very successful season and ended on a high note with their qualification for the State Championships! Congrats boys!
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