Southern Fantasy Recap
The Southern Regional Area Fantasy Tournament was held at the Florida State University Sports Rec Complex in Tallahassee, FL the weekend of Saturday, June 13th. Unlike other fantasy tournaments this summer, drafting was done the day of the games: participants were told to bring both a white shirt and a black shirt in order to differentiate between teams during gameplay. It was a small draft with only about forty players and four teams total. All but a handful of tournament participants hailed from Florida.
Photos by Isabella Gong/IQA Staff.
Team Four, captained by Brian Nackasha of Eastern Florida State College (Titusville, FL), spent the majority of the day vanquishing its opponents; it defeated Team Three 90*-30 and Team One 170-110*, and seemed sure to be the winner even early on, thanks to its players' quick chemistry. On the other hand, Team Two blasted through Team Three 120*-40 after losing to Team One 80*-70. Its players obviously needed a bit longer to bond and learn the inner workings of their group, but their patience paid off when Teams Four and Two were finally pitted against one another.
The friendliness of the tournament finally escalated into serious competition when Team Four's Mitch Starr got into repeated confrontations with University of Florida's Dre Clements of Team Two. Expletives and yelling landed Clements with a warning, and Starr was eventually red-carded. With Starr – its best scorer – thrown from the game, Team Four struggled to both defend against an irate Clements and break its way past the skilled beater defense of Andrea Cammarano and newcomer Maggie Brandenburg, both of Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL). The game went to Team Two despite the best efforts of Team Four's fantastic beater Race McKnight of the University of South Florida (Tampa, FL) and chasers Matt Scherr and Mary Payzant, of the University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL).
Since three out of four teams went 2-1, tournament organizers were forced to decide the final match through highest point differential (Team Two: +120; Team Four: +70; Team One +40). After a short break, Teams One and Three competed in a consolation final, from which Team One emerged victorious with a 90*-60 win thanks to a surprising snitch snatch by Brittany Langham from the University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg, MS) during her first time seeking.
Once the consolation final was completed, Teams Two and Four competed in the final. Mitch Starr came into the final with a mouth guard firmly in place, likely to remind himself not to mouth off to either the refs or the opposing team. With its offense fully restored, Team Four found itself able to hold its own once again. There were no red cards in the final, and Team Four carried away an 80*-30 victory over Team Two.
Complete Rosters:
Team One (Jamin Weeks)
Eric Schnier
Bobby Padan
Elise Hall
Tabitha Yousko
Alex Anthony
Brittany Langham
Josh Brown
Isabella Gong
Celia Garthwait
Team Two (Garrett Powell)
Dre Clements
Andrea Cammarano
Jack Starr
Aidan O
Thianna Diamandis
Maggie Brandenburg
Stephen Smith
Abby Fleming
Team Three (Tim Derrick)
Nick Zackoske
Margaret Eglend
Jimmy Singer
Dave Dunn
Elli Langford
Brandon Harper
Kaela Koch
Greta Pallack
Team Four (Brian Nackasha)
Mathew Clevenger
Mitch Starr
Race McKnight
Mary Payzant
Matt Scherr
Gina Mendencino
Sarah Goad
Sarah Martin
