May 20, 2025
By Evan Lepler
Rarely does one regular season weekend so thoroughly scramble the UFA’s hierarchy. Week 4 didn’t just deliver thrillers—it sent a lasting and powerful message.
I try not to be hyperbolic. I aim to remain nuanced and measured. But anyone following the Association immediately recognized that Week 4 was different and bonkers.
After not having any overtime games through the first three weeks, perhaps we were overdue. In Week 4, three games went to overtime, including one that ventured into double OT.
It was also a breakthrough weekend for a bunch of teams who’ve been grinding without much payoff. In fact, three teams that were previously winless—actually four, if we want to include 0-0 Chicago—earned their first victories of the season in a way that was thrilling, stunning, or both.
The 11-game slate also delivered a historic and amazing situation: it was the first time that I can remember—and probably the first time ever—that all four teams who participated in Championship Weekend the previous season suffered losses on the same weekend.
With all four 2024 semifinalists absorbing tough and painful rivalry setbacks, the 2025 title pursuit feels more wide open than ever. The four Championship Weekend programs from a year ago—Carolina, DC, Minnesota, and Seattle—are currently a combined 4-9! Meanwhile, the six remaining undefeated teams—Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Oakland, and Philadelphia—all have looked strong, but are certainly not flawless.
And here’s the thing: all these results, even if they are shocking, are not total madness.
Truly, we expected this kind of topsy-turvy season where more contenders than ever would ride the week-to-week results roller-coaster.
Perhaps the thing we did not properly anticipate was the sheer number of teams capable of rising up and springing massive surprises. Not every team who’s able to pull off an upset should necessarily be considered a potential UFA champion, but when Houston, Montreal, and Oregon show they can get it done against predicted playoff participants, it illustrates that the league is deeper than ever.
After all, the Havoc, Royal, and Steel went a combined 13-59 in the last two regular seasons, an 18 percent success rate. And let’s be real, more than half of those 13 wins were Houston victories over Dallas, a franchise that went 3-33 over the last three years before leaving the league this past offseason.
Now, it’s one thing for lightning to strike a single time. The difference between this trio and a team like Philly is we’ve seen the Phoenix catch that lightning in a bottle over the course of multiple weekends, including a pair of road trips.
But who envisioned that we’d be focused on teams like Houston, Montreal, Oregon, and Philadelphia after the first month of the season?
Absolutely no one.
Of course, I’ve already written plenty of words about the Phoenix’s incredible start. In today’s “The Full Field Layout”, the Havoc, Royal, and Steel take center stage. It’s a reminder that even when teams are not experiencing substantial success, they are still grinding hard, striving to be their best, and often dueling with their own disappointment. That can be a dark tunnel, with barely a speck of light even visible in the distance.
When you finally see the light, it can be an indescribable emotional payoff.
The Full Field Layout
Even though Montreal’s Christophe Tremblay-Joncas felt calm and composed standing on the line at the start of double overtime, the feeling after his game-winning throw was the build up of years of falling short.
“I really could not believe it,” said the eighth-year Royal vet. “It was such a long time ago that we won against New York; it felt dreamlike. I couldn’t stop smiling, and it just confirmed that our efforts that we’ve been putting since 2023 were beginning to come to fruition.”
With ultimate players giving so much of their lives to the sport, it can certainly be agonizing to not have all training, strategizing, and development lead to a positive outcome. That’s what made this past weekend so special.
“I’ve been a part of several big games and comeback wins,” said Houston’s Ben Lewis, who participated in four Championship Weekends last decade with Dallas, “but this game was different. No one outside of our team thought we could win this game. The immense pride and joy I felt after this game was different because this win wasn’t just big for the team, but the whole Havoc organization. So many people have poured countless hours into the team, so this win was for them. I couldn’t be happier for [Houston Head Coach] Bex [Forth]. We haven’t always been the easiest team to coach, but she continues to show up and give us her all, and she deserves to win.”
When you’re dedicating all that time and effort to something, it’s natural, even reasonable, to feel like success is deserved. But as history shows—to paraphrase the iconic Wire character played by Felicia “Snoop” Pearson—‘deserve got nuthin’ to do with it.’
A team can believe it’s their time to shine, but the world often won’t cooperate, and there’s not much that can be done. There’s luck and chance built into every journey, which makes savoring the success especially sweet.
“Utter bliss,” said Oregon Coach Timmy Preston, describing the feeling of victory after the Steel’s 20-19 overtime victory over Seattle. “It honestly didn’t feel like an upset or underdog story or truly groundbreaking. But it certainly felt like the team finally knew they could do it. A tasty realization and enlightenment.”
Mixed in with the joy, there’s also varying and important levels of affirmation and relief.
“How did it feel? Deeply happy and relieved,” said third-year Havoc coach Bex Forth. “I say relieved because you always want your players to be able to play to the best of their abilities, and trying to unlock the mental side of a team with such varied levels of elite experience has been a challenge. It’s been a work in progress for three years, but we’ve always been able to see it, so it’s been frustrating at times. To pull players together and have them all bought in and playing together to this degree is glorious.”
The Havoc’s 23-17 Friday night rout over the visiting Colorado Summit had to be the biggest whopper of the weekend. Houston had never previously beaten a team that was still in the league—all seven of their past wins came against now-defunct Dallas—and Colorado was largely considered to be one of the premier title contenders in the entire league. Consequently, it was genuinely reality-altering to see the score as the Summit’s deficit grew and grew and grew, as the Havoc built leads of 4-1, 13-7, and 19-9 en route to their stunning six-goal victory.
“To say that all the hard work paid off is an understatement,” said Forth. “I could not be more proud of the team’s mental game and for it to be a complete 180 turnaround [from last week’s loss at Austin] is incredible. It was this aspect primarily that provided us the ability to play as a team that was greater than the sum of our parts. We’ve known for some time that the parts are there. I can’t think of a team that played more together, united in purpose from top to bottom, than this team on Friday night. It was an incredible feat. I wish we could bottle that feeling!”
How did they do it?
On a windy night, Houston’s downwind O-line didn’t get broken in the first three quarters, but it was the upwind group that seized control.
“The upwind line carried us through the game,” said Lewis, who led the Havoc with 332 total yards and three goals. “Matt Bennett, Connor Ughetta, Tyler Reinhardt, and Max Grove anchored the upwind points. Take a look at the point when it was 4-2. We are receiving going upwind. The pull pinned us deep in the back of the end zone, and this line worked it all the way up the field. If there was a point that broke Colorado mentally, it probably was that one. I can’t stress how important it is to have veteran leaders like Matt and Max. Their effort and voices are contagious, and the rest of the team followed their lead.”
Neither Montreal nor Oregon ever created a comfortable lead like Houston did, but the Royal and Steel both brought belief and trust into crunch time. Even after letting late leads slip away.
Montreal was up 21-19 with 3:33 left, but the Empire rallied to send the game to overtime, New York’s second OT game in as many days. Oregon broke Seattle twice in the fourth quarter to take a 16-15 lead, but also couldn’t finish the job in regulation.
Still, confidence, they collectively claim, never wavered.
“We knew we’d win that game,” said Steel handler David Barram, who completed all 46 of his throws with four assists in his 2025 debut.
Oregon closed it out with a game-winning score with seven seconds remaining in overtime, as Quinn Buermeyer caught two of his three goals, including the final go-ahead score, in the bonus five-minute session to elevate the Steel. Then, 21-year-old Callahan Bosworth, making his pro debut as the first person named Callahan in UFA history, registered the last block at the buzzer to launch the celebration.
“We truly knew we were supposed to be on that field in that game in those moments,” said Preston. “Albeit, the proof is in the pudding, so the win tastes so sweet. The joy was true, the crowd was ours, and the hugs felt better than ever. I had biked to the game and my ride home was a slice of heaven, smiling ear to ear like a big dummy!”
Meanwhile, Montreal had to work even harder as the Royal and Empire embarked upon the first double overtime game of the 2025 UFA season, the culmination of an absolutely exhilarating 53-plus minute battle.
Amidst the high drama and significant ramifications of the final result for both sides, the Royal stayed cool. After three short completions, Kevin Quinlan used the team’s timeout, avoiding a risky high-stall throw. Possession resumed with Jakob Brissette initiating to Jeremy Hill, and five throws later, Tremblay-Joncas made a sliding catch just shy of the front right corner of the end zone.
“When I caught Quinlan’s pass close to the end zone, I heard him scream my name because he was open cross-field, and without a doubt, I shot it,” said Tremblay-Joncas, describing his high-arcing forehand that bladed diagonally 50 yards across the field.
But Quinlan wasn’t the only Royal cutter attacking that space in that desperation moment.
“Our cross-field shots were effective all game long,” said Brissette, “and Christophe kept saying to look for those throughout the game.”
Sometimes, two teammates pursuing the same disc can be an issue, but Quinlan gave way and voiced that Brissette should take charge. Seconds later, the 24-year-old handler had the game-winning goal, and his first ever victory over New York, in his grasp.
“I was a bit scared to drop it for a moment, but I had KQ behind me screaming to take my time for the catch, so that definitely helped the nerves,” said Brissette, who’s been on the Royal since 2019, joining the squad one year after Montreal had last defeated the Empire.
For Quinlan, one of just two UFA players who’s competed in every single season since the league was founded in 2012, he was perfectly fine clearing the space for his teammate to catch the cathartic last pass.
“I was just as happy as if I had caught it,” Quinlan said. “Overall, it feels great, but if I am being honest, it didn’t feel like a crazy fluke win. We earned that. Les Boys earned that."
“It was a night I’ll remember for a long time.”
Coming up later today in “Seven On The Line”, the emotional flip-side of these epic results, as Colorado, New York, and Seattle deal with the disappointing fallout. Also, Austin, Boston, and Atlanta remain undefeated, Chicago slams the champs, and all the rest of the Week 4 excitement across the UFA.
