Western Wayne Upsets 2 College Teams

On a recent cold, rainy Saturday morning, the Western Wayne High School Ultimate Frisbee team began an eight-hour tournament against 13 college teams and knowing that the odds of placing better than last place were against them. However, after seven rounds, the Cats finished an amazing 11 out of 14.

Among their accomplishments were two wins against Haverford College (8-7) and Wilkes University B team (10-7), wins even more astounding since they were expected to be shut out by some of the top college teams. “All teams play five guys and two girls at all times,” said science teacher and Ultimate Frisbee coach Anthony Zoppi. “These were high school kids against college kids, sometimes a high school freshman against a college senior.” The Wildcats never scored less than three against any team and upset two. WW scored three points against both Eastern College (who came in second in the whole tournament) and Wilkes University A team (who placed third).

“Two seniors, Ryan Lee and James Hanley, even showed up at the start of round 5 after taking their SATs all morning. And all 21 members of the team were academically eligible for the tournament,” boasted Zoppi.

College teams that played in the tournament included Wilkes University A and B, Eastern College, Haverford A and B, Bard College, University of Scranton, West Chester University, Marist College, University of Southern Connecticut, Kings College, West Coast (a private team), and Team Heim (a private team). Western Wayne was the only team from a high school. Some college teams are a mix of college students and alumni and have enough players to field two separate teams.

Zoppi said that “Wilkes plans on doing another tournament in the spring and the Cats were told they would be invited to try for more upsets. We also plan to host a tournament at home in the spring where they can try for some upset wins in front of a home crowd.”

Playing that day for the Wildcats were: Andrew Warnock, Taylor McDevitt, Ryan McDevitt,Ryan Lee, Brendan Snyder, Rachel Yamialkowski, Ronald Mrsich, James Hanley, Melody McClintock, Johnny Sizemore, Ronald Sizemore, John Anderson, Michael Koch, Tyler Gale, Amanda Bowden, Samantha Parr, Doug Evarts, David Gilligan, Wayne Gilligan, Tarina Usher, Timothy Plaza, and Sarah Hampton.