Zanderthon Throw-Down 2 Recap
On February 25, 2017 DePaul, Platteville, and Alumni competed in the Zanderthon Throw-Down 2. It was a fun filled day that brought about some competitive games. We got to see some familiar faces as well as some new ones on the court. The results of the games are as followed:
Platteville–JV vs DePaul (4-2)
The first match of the day was DePaul vs Platteville-JV which consisted of all sophomores and freshmen. As I said early, in order for the JV team to compete against DePaul its leaders had to step up and that is exactly what Tim Ebert, Will Martin, Louis Thompson, and David Ruegsegger did. On
the court they effectively communicated with everyone and led the way in counter attacking DePaul’s offense. They gave DePaul all that they could handle and it was just enough for the JV squad to pick up the win.
Alumni vs DePaul (2-1) & Alumni vs Platteville (2-1)
Next were the alumni games which were a blast and a lot more competitive than I thought they would be. It helps though when the alumni team consists of players like Matt Bautch, Mike McNicholas, Brandon Chappell, and Alex Watkins. Scott Skelly was mistaken when he said that all he was good for was paperwork, he was also a great referee. He also did a really good job blocking for his teammates and pushing back the opposing opponent. David Johnson, aka “The Vacuum” lived up to his nickname as he had several catches and kept the alumni squad in both games to pull out the wins. Lastly, Matt Stadtmueller had one heck of an arm. It was as if he never stopped playing, he got several key outs that helped the Alumni be victorious. Overall, I think everyone had a good time and are looking forward to doing something like this again in the future.
Platteville vs DePaul (6-0)
It was the last match of the day and it was a good one. The score might not show it, but both teams played really well. Platteville’s talent that day was just on. It is the best that we have played as unit in over a year. We were catching, throwing team throws, and communicating effectively. That is what made this game so hard for DePaul. As usual DePaul’s leaders did what they always do and catch which made it difficult to get every point. One person on their team that stood out was Josiah Nodal. Throughout the game he was always one of the last players in, made some big catches, and prevented the score from getting larger. Tyler Hamilton had this to say about the Platteville Club, “We had a lot of fun. You guys work really well as a team. The players that impressed me were Harding’s arm and #69’s catching.” Nick Harding is the President of the club and he has one of the strongest arms on the team. Number 69 is a freshman who is definitely impressive to watch. His name is Louis Thompson and he makes a big impact on the team. In my book he is a top five rookie choice for the league. I can’t wait to see what he does at future tournaments and what trouble he will cause for other teams.
Final thoughts
This was another fun filled day and it was the 6th time that these teams have played one another which is really amazing. Very few teams can say that and both teams are getting to know how each play with no problem. I think that each time these teams get together the games are becoming tougher and the competition is getting harder. For both teams it really doesn’t matter if we win or lose it is just that we get to play the game that we love and that is important. Hopefully, Platteville can get down to DePaul in a few weeks and get a few more games in because it is always fun traveling down there to play.