The Indianapolis AlleyCats (5-1, 5-1 Midwest Division) keep winning streak alive by defeating the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds, 27-18. Head coach Eric Leonard said his team played well, despite playing the day before.
“The defense came out hot and converted 6 breaks in a row, which gave the offense a comfortable lead to work with,” Leonard said. “The offense didn’t disappoint, and did not yield a single break the entire game.”
All throughout the game, the had a defense called a “line.” With this defense, the defense attempts to keep the team from scoring. Leonard said “once we settled in we had no problems.”
“Their zone seems designed to test our patience, rather than pressure the thrower,” Leonard said. “It worked a few times early in the game as we forced a few poor decisions.”
The AlleyCats shined defense shined in this game. Leading the team in blocks was John Jones, who came up huge in the fourth quarter. At 2:58 left in the fourth quarter, Jones laid out and prevented the Thunderbirds from scoring, adding to his block total with five in the game. What attributed to Jones’s defense, he said “lots of practice.”
“The long hours of footwork drills in practice and getting defensive reps against Cameron Brock, Rick Gross, and Levi Jacobs,” Jones said. “Definitely made me a better defender.”
After this weekend’s games, Rick Gross (17) and Nick Hutton (13) are first and second, respectively, in the American Ultimate Disc League for blocks. Jones is tied for ninth with 9 blocks. On offense, Brock leads the AUDL with 29 goals.
Both teams will face each other at 5 p.m. on May 13 at Grand Parks Event Center. This is the AlleyCats grand opening of their new home field at Grand Parks Event Center in Westfield, Indiana.
Patrick Murphy 