Photo by Meghan White
Written By: Ryan Baker, Journalist
In front of a record-breaking 1,516 fans at Sea Foam Stadium, the Minnesota Wind Chill secured themselves a home playoff game after taking down the Madison Radicals 16-13 this past weekend.
“It’s a blast getting to play here in front of that many fans. It’s the best part of playing frisbee. We love that we can give the fans another chance to come and support us,” said Blake Krapfl.
The game started very shaky for both teams as the wind was gusty and strong, creating miscues on both sides of the disc. It was an absolute dogfight in the first quarter after the first twelve minutes produced a score of 2-2.
Madison decided to go with a zone defense on a majority of the points throughout the game in an attempt to slow down the Minnesota offense. That was something that happened against Minnesota in their matchup with Chicago a couple of weeks ago. It did the job. The Wind Chill were questioning their immediate looks, and when they did work it through the defense, it took a while.
Not to mention that Minnesota had an abnormal amount of drops and easy execution errors in the first half, especially for a team that does so well in the wind. They reaped the consequences of those errors when they were down by one heading into halftime.
“It’s the story of our life. It’s never going to be perfect. It was tough to get it going. We've got to figure it out, but we have a talented group. Catches and throws are what we feel is our biggest area of opportunity right now,” said head coach Ben Feldman.
Much like their first matchup, Minnesota struggled in the first half but turned it around in the second. After Klane smacked down one of his two layout blocks on the night, Bryan Vohnoutka was able to punch in the dirty hold to Greg Cousins, tying up the game.
Photo by Meghan White
“We just adjusted our offense a little bit, and allowed for more creativity and leeway for our handlers to work and run the offense. That’s something that I’m much more comfortable doing. We still got off to a sloppy start, but I think we worked ourselves into a rhythm,” said Klane.
The very next point, Madison struggled to get a handle on the pull and was forced to punt the disc from the back of their endzone to avoid getting stalled out. Arguably, the highlight and turning point of the game happened when Justin Burnett cashed in on that break with a toe-tap break score from Tristan Van de Moortele.
To continue the run, James Pollard grabbed a huge block in the endzone that allowed for a big huck from Klane to Cousins that put the Wind Chill up two. After that, the reigning champs held on to the lead for the remainder of the game.
Photo by Meghan White
“I think it was windier in the first half, so we were second-guessing our throws a little bit more, and not able to hit those second and third layers. I think we can hit it even in that wind, but we were a little bit hesitant to do that, and that created more of a stagnant offense in that zone,” said Klane.
A push by Madison was made about halfway through the fourth quarter, but Krapfl was able to get his second block of the night on a huck attempt from the Radicals. Krapfl followed that by catching a goal from Van de Moortele that ricocheted off Thomas Shope’s head for the bookends. That goal was the final nail in the coffin, putting the Wind Chill up three with three and a half minutes left in the game.
“I trust that the marks are going to make it a bad throw. I just hope that it goes up and I get a chance to make a play on it and trust my skills,” said Krapfl. “Honestly, that was the strangest play I’ve ever been a part of. Weird stuff is going to happen, and you just have to try to be on the right side of it.”
The Wind Chill have been a second-half team most of this year, but Madison is a team that struggles in the second half, especially in the third quarter. Take that combination, and Minnesota made their adjustments to be able to come away with the win.
Photo by Meghan White
“We got our legs going, and we got a little bit of confidence back moving the frisbee. Josh [Klane] started playing really well and was hitting his spots that opened up the field. Then, everything got a lot easier,” said Feldman.
Klane played phenomenally with his four assists, two goals, two blocks, and 375 total yards. Alongside him, with four assists, was Van de Moortele. On the receiving end of those goals was Paul Krenik, leading the charge with three of his own.
Now, the Wind Chill will gear up to finish their regular season this next weekend with a game in Salt Lake against the Shred on Friday night, then the final game hosting the Detroit Mechanix Sunday evening. The home playoff game against Madison may have been secured, but they have a lot to figure out if they not only want to get their revenge against the Shred, but also contend to protect their trophy in Madison come August.
“It’s expected. We did our job. The ultimate goal is to get back to championship weekend, regardless of the path we have to take. The goal is the same. We just made it a little bit easier, although Breese Stevens is really our home away from home. I never mind playing there, because we just own them. We own them here and we own them there,” said Klane.
