Rollerchairball’s Sizzling Summer

Get ready Rollerchairball fans, tournament time is back and better than ever. Fresh off of winter break, the league’s big wigs have announced the most ambitious tournament schedule to date. Planning at least one tournament a month, dates have been set from April through August. Although there is plenty of chances for any RCB fan to get their fix, it’s well worth checking out the teams and players that need to be brought up in any proper Rollerchairball discussion.

Of course, let’s start with the marquee team of the league the last few years, United RC. The Black Knights of Andre is the combination of Rollerchairball royalty; Founding Father Brandon Lock, and league’s in-house savant; Kyle Stout. From its inception, this team has been billed as ‘the greatest team ever assembled,’ and has managed to actually live up to that title. Two undefeated seasons, two Ohio Challenge trophies, the Holiday championship, and the dual Easter Tournament wins all make awfully good highlights for United RC’s resume, but can they be knocked off?

Here’s a look at some possible teams and their players that might challenge United R.C. for the title this Summer.

Scherer and Stone:

Any team with Scherer has a good chance at challenging for the championship. One of the most important parts of Scherer’s game is his offense. As a long-time quarterback, Scherer knows the game, and when he’s on, no one can beat his placement. Thrower-to-receiver, almost no one in the league can match Scherer’s accuracy and skill. When he’s on the other end of passes, his physical play has been the most important improvement; and the holiday tournament is evidence of that.

Stone’s first tournament showed she had much greater skill than many of the experts thought. Speed, toughness, and intelligence, Stone has a great shot at becoming the league’s next great female player. Inexperience is the one thing standing in her way, but once the game count increases, so will Stone’s skill.

The Andrew Wood Project

The second place team from both the Holiday and Easter tournaments with two of the most well respected players in the game. All of these factors should make the combination of Kevin Shaw and Andrew Wood the heavy favorites to challenge for Summer tournaments and league title. However, a string of tough losses make the path to the top much less easy for these talented athletes.

Confidence and inconsistency might come into question, however, Shaw and Wood have the skill and knowledge to make a run deep into any summer tournament. Wood tends to spend most of the time at quarterback, where under the tutelage Kyle Stout, he has made great leaps forward when it comes to time and situation management. Kevin ‘Kee’ Shaw has also seen time a QB, but has been demonstrating extremely strong knowledge of strategy on the defensive side of the ball. Once this team can get the losing monkey off of their back, they should be able to be the force everyone expected them to be. Look for them to make the finals of nearly every summer playoff, and don’t be surprised if they’re there with one loss; this team bends but does not break.

Cole and Doug

If this team pairs up for the entire summer, they should easily break into the top three in every poll. Inexperience has been the problem area for many teams, but Doug Tatz and Cole both have tons of playing time under the belts. Time playing together, however, might be limited, but they have shown a terrific ability to adapt and overcome. Keep in mind both of these players see multiple games every week, meaning their bound to be sharp.

Tatz took the Eddie Cotter trophy in the Holiday tournament for the best overall player, and is looking to springboard that success into another championship. The good news: Doug and Cole should be favorites in every high school division. The bad news: Division B is closed off to them, meaning if they want to make a run at winning two brackets, they will have to play in Division A, which gave Tatz headaches last time around.

Tatz with Brian Vincent made a great pairing, but Cole’s experience could make this team be even better. Cole has the size, strength, and speed to become quite possibly the best player in the game. Under pressure, this team has a tendency to force plays, which often creates costly turnovers or defensive miscues. Eliminating the mental errors could be this team’s key to summer success.



Posted on May 26th, 2007 by kyle and filed under Coverage |

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