By Alex Nicoll
Sports Writer
In a society where people often only recognize the major sports, football, basketball, volleyball and soccer, there are a handful of non-UIL sports competing for state championships, one of these being the Coppell High School Ultimate Frisbee team.
“We had a really dominating season this year,” coach Jared Stansel said. “ We won the North Texas Qualifier, and the Lone Star State tournament in College Station.”
After a two-day tournament in Houston on May 11-12 where the Cowboys faced off against teams like Flower Mound Marcus and Fort Worth St. Thomas, they claimed the championship after a 13-10 win over Belton.
“It was a big feeling for relief,” senior Josh Brunelli said. “When I started playing as a sophomore, you always have the intention of any sport you play to go all the way and win it. So in a way I had made it a goal of myself and really felt relieved. To see everyone so exited was one of the best experiences of my life.”
The stereotypical playoff run is filled with close games and overtime thrillers, but the Coppell Ultimate team had little resistance on its way to the title.
In the pool play on the first day of the tournament, which games were played to 11, the Cowboys beat Bellaire 11-4, Fort Worth St. Thomas 11-2, Kingwood 11-6, and Dallas Hillcrest 11-0. The second day varied little from the first, as Coppell beat Flower Mound Marcus 15-4 in the quarterfinals and then Richardson Pearce 15-5 in the semifinals.
Coppell attributes its dominance to its balance of athleticism and fundamental play.
“That is one thing that really doesn’t go hand in hand with the very athletic teams,” Brunelli said. “They usually do not have the patience or good form.”
Teamwork was another major proponent of the championship winning team. The cliché “defense wins championships,” although overused, was one of the reasons for their success.
The “Cup” defense is a scheme where three players stand in front of the player with the disc and disrupt or obscure the view of the handler. Then the wings and deep-backs, who act like cornerbacks and safeties in football, run up and deflect any throw forced by the handler.
“Our defense is the best in the state,” Stansel said. “Our man defense is good, our zone defense is almost perfect and perfect is one of those wishy-washy words you want to avoid but once we started running our zone against these teams there was nothing they could do against us.”
With a pattern of dominance forming, Belton seemed to challenge the Cowboys to be their most difficult game of the tournament.
“[Belton] was much more fundamentally sound,” Stansel said.
Even though Belton was stronger competition, the Cowboys took a commanding lead early.
“We came out of the gate and we were on fire,” Brunelli said. “We went up 8-1 at half, and in the second half we put in some back-ups so they would get some playing time in the championship. “
Belton took advantage of the choice of taking out the starting seven and came back to make the score 8-5. The starters came back in and, as Brunelli put it, “took the game back”. They made the score 9-5, but Belton soon recovered to make it 9-7 giving the Cowboys a two point lead.
“To tell you I was not nervous would be a lie,” Stansel said. “Belton is a great team. I played against their coach when I was in college and knew the caliber of players they have, but I knew that if we stuck to our fundamentals and our game then we would be able to beat them.”
Seniors Baxter Robb, Brendan Richelet, Ragho Chamkura, Blake Donaldson, Dylan Waters, Alex Garcia and Brunelli made up the starting seven.
Even with the starters back in the game Belton continued their success, mainly because the Cowboys went away from their game plan and looked for the “Hail Mary throw.” Stansel describes their offense as throwing the disc meticulously up the field in short throws.
“If you move the disc slowly up the field it demoralizes your opponent because they are working hard on defense and if that hard work doesn’t pay off then it psychologically decimates them,” Stansel said.
Coppell pushed it to 10-7 but Belton responded by adding two points. Belton would only score one more time after that while the Cowboys took the next three points and the championship.
“It should not have been that close of game,” Brunelli said.
The overall experience of the tournament was one that the team will not forget.
“It was awesome,” Garcia said. “We drove down the day before to Houston to get our hotels.”
For some it was more nostalgic then exciting.
“It was a walk down memory lane,” Brunelli said. “I travel a lot for tournaments like that but I can see if it was my first it would be nerve-racking and it still was to some extent. It was a great experience though, going down and hanging out with your teammates in hotel rooms; it grows your chemistry more and more.”
Their idea of team bonding and chemistry rivals even the most daring, like the Southlake Carroll football team dying their hair blonde in the 2011 football season.
“We got Mohawks in Alex and Baxter’s hotel room,” Brunelli said. “They left the hair just in the corner of the hotel room. It was pretty disgusting but La Quinta cleaned it up for them I guess.”
Behind a great team is a great coach, and the Ultimate team is no different.
“Stansel is such a great coach because he is understanding, which is what most ultimate coaches are, they are relaxed, laid back, and open to discussions,” Brunelli said. “He is the kind of coach that motivates you and that you want to play for.
Stansel was one of the major players to bring Ultimate Frisbee to the forefront of Coppell athletics back in 2010 when he was a student teacher at CHS. He teamed up with 2010 CHS graduate John de la Chappelle to start a team and it grew from there with the help of others like Brunelli.
After three years of playing for some of those leaders, winning the championship was an ideal way of going out in style.
“I was fortunate enough to catch the last point so when I caught it, I looked back and saw the whole team running towards me and thought ‘finally’,” Garcia said.
