"New Era 'Cats" 1-0 at Breese in the Playoffs

Author: Ryan Baker

Photos: SEDIII Productions

After Indianapolis AlleyCat Head Coach Nathan Bussberg brought in a ton of big names this offseason, their season expectations were sky-high. Then, a slow start ensued, and questions and doubt started rolling in, but they finished the season on a strong note.

All that needed to happen was a playoff berth, and after that nothing else matters. Well, the AlleyCats got their chance on Sunday night, traveled to Madison, and beat the Radicals 17-15 to punch their ticket to the Central Divisional Championship.

“It feels good,” Bussberg said. “We expected to do this. Madison has touted their 6-0 home record in the playoffs. We know the outside feeling of the Indianapolis Alleycats. But ‘Indy’s [not] going to Indy’ this time —  that isn’t this team. This team is built differently, with different intentions. When you have a team composed of competitors like we have, Breese Stevens Field feels like home. The silence of the crowd for the past two games was deafening. And — if you give us fuel, we’ll burn your whole da*n house down.” 

All season, it’s been more about how successful the offense is and how much they can take over the game. Especially in terms of how much Elliot Hawkins and Jake Felton can limit their turnovers. On Sunday, the difference ended up being their tenacious defensive pressure and their ability to produce turnovers in the red zone.

The game started shaky, going down 0-2 right away on a Hawkins turnover. However, they were able to bounce back when Hawkins got a block on a huck attempt to get the disc back, setting up a Carter Hawkins to James Pollard score of their first one of the game.

“I consistently told our guys all week, ‘we’re the more talented team.’ We were missing the league’s leading blocks per game in William Wettengel, a top 3 yardage offensive player in Sofiene Bontemps, our ace handler Jonathan Mast, and Keegan North who has historically dominated the Radicals’ passive defensive scheme. Even with all of that adversity, there was not a single doubt in my mind that we were top to bottom more proficient at the game of ultimate. I mean, Sof even elbow spiked the disc for a block the first time we played at Breese (4:44 left in the 2nd quarter). We're just playing with our food when we're at Breese. Once we lock-in, we're in complete control.” Bussberg said about the mindset after going down two right away. “I knew that we were going to win 4 of 4 Timeout calls, minimally 3 of 4 End of Quarter Situations, and would dominate the red zone even without a team practice in over 4 months...

So no, I had no worry about the end result given the first two points of the game. We've unequivocally been the better team all year.”

Indy got their own break right after Joel Close applied amazing pressure in the end zone, laying out to block the path of the disc for the Madison offender. A couple more turns happened after that point, but it ultimately ended in a Felton-to-Carter break score.

With six seconds left in the first quarter, Pollard connected with Cameron Brock to tie up the game at three, which was set up by a huck from Felton. That was one of the wrenches that Bussberg threw into his lineup that paid off incredibly well, putting Pollard on offense.

“Pollard is a great player,” Bussberg said on moving Pollard to offense. “Madison has no defender that can match up with Pollard in the air and it showed. He dominated the game. And, when Madison gravitated his way, we played a large field 6v6 and scored pretty effortlessly. There was a pretty large absence of real pressure most of the game.”

“Monday at 11:50 p.m,” Pollard said about when he figured out he was moving to offense for the game. “Buss texted me saying, ‘Hey, we're going to put you on O. We want you to be a finisher. When our shooters get the ball, know that they are going to shoot, go get the ball, go deep.’ I can go do that.”

On the first point of the second quarter, Felton had a huck throwaway that set up a Madison break score. Most of the second quarter was back and forth. Pulls by Xavier Payne and Jake Wahl were phenomenal all night, constantly making the Madison offense work out of the end zone and forcing them to deal with immediate pressure.

For the last point of halftime, Connor Concannon had a layout block that set up the brotherly connection between Carter and Elliot to take the lead 8-7. That Concannon block underscores how big of an impact players like him, Close, Jack Havey, and others that aren’t in the limelight stepped up in the do-or-die game.

“It means everything. It really does,” Assistant Coach Jalyn Baumgartner said on Concannon’s performance. Playing with our depth and our D-lines has been extremely critical for us, and the trust that all 13 guys on rotation can go out there and do that is a very special thing. Buss and I want it for these guys.”

“It really means more that the team is finding success,” said Concannon. “They put me in positions to make a play, and we all build off each other. It's definitely more than the individual. We came in the game with matchups; coach draws them up, and we trust her game plan, so we go out there and make a play.”

“The score was close, but the game was far from close.” Bussberg said on his feeling following halftime. “We were up one with only converting 2/6 on defensive opportunities. Madison was 2/3. They were playing the best ultimate they could play, and we were dramatically under performing on our transition offense. We were dominant in situational ultimate and knew that would continue. If we could clean up the DLC we would win by several goals.”

Coming out of halftime, Indy took advantage of a Madison turnover, cashing in from a Connor Blalack to Jack Galle break score. Madison tied up the game just once the rest of the way, but they forfeited their lead.

Another break midway through the third quarter that was set up by a nasty Nate Little sky in the end zone allowed Jeremiah Branson to dot up Close for the score and a three-point lead. Throughout the quarter, Indy’s deep game showed out, especially from Felton, throwing two beautiful balls.

With just 12 minutes left, Indy was up 14-12, but it didn’t last long. Madison got two breaks within the first couple of minutes. Pollard dropped a hammer from Felton in the end zone, and an Elliot huck floated up too much and got blocked by Madison.

A methodical 22-throw point by Indy finished with a Payne to Elliot connection that took over two minutes. That gave Indy the lead back with just under eight minutes left. Two points later, Pollard sent a bomb to Elliot, where he boxed out the Madison defender to grab the score. Pollard played well in his transition to offense, posting two assists and three goals on nearly 400 total yards.

“The changes were getting to click with them because I haven't,” Pollard said about the transition to offense. “I've maybe played five minutes total offense all year if you count all the end of quarters put together. So, it was more constantly talking to Felton, Elliott, and Seth about, "Hey, what do y'all see?" I don't really care what my stats are. I care about the W. So, if that's me playing defense, D-1, D-2, or playing offense, I’m here to do what I need to do.”

The next two points were the kickers. A near four-minute point included an outstanding chase-down layout block by Galle near the goal line. Sadly, a drop by Seth Gudeman gave the back to Madison, but Payne got the disc back again to set up the nail in the coffin break score. With two minutes left in the game, Madison needed to punch it in fast, but Concannon rose and grabbed the game-sealing block.

“100 percent,” Concannon said on whether or not he knew getting to that last block would seal the game. “I was kind of kicking myself in the middle of the point when he caught it on the second effort, but made up for it.”

Concannon had a game-high three blocks and was phenomenal all game. Elliot and Felton were the powerhouses, per usual. Elliot had four assists, four goals, one block, and over 500 total yards, while Felton had four assists and 347 throwing yards. Brock also caught four goals and had 225 receiving yards.

Now, Indy set their date with the Minnesota Wind Chill in the Central Divisional Championship on August 8. Indy has lost to Minnesota twice this season in some tough games.

Listening into the huddle after the game, Gudeman emphasized: “Celebrate for 24 hours, then it’s on to Minnesota.”

“Get our bodies feeling right,” Bussberg said about what’s next. “We got some people that are hurt. We're the underdog against Minnesota. We know that. If we go in there scared, we'll obviously lose. It's going in there with an unfathomable sense of confidence. We're going to live or die by the things that we can do well. And if we die, we die.”

Go watch the game highlights here: Playoffs Indianapolis Alleycats at Madison Radicals