By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – At the end of their American Ultimate Disc League playoff game Saturday night, the Indianapolis AlleyCats were singing “Do You Know the Way to San José?”
The AlleyCats earned themselves a ticket to San José, the site of the AUDL’s Championship Weekend with their 23-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds in the league’s Midwest Division championship game. The AlleyCats scored their victory at Westfield High School’s Riverview Health Stadium in front of hundreds of happy fans.
“Historic,” said AlleyCats coach Eric Leonard. “There’s no other way to put it, in my opinion. This is a great win for the franchise and one that’s, in our minds, been a long time coming and we finally got over the hump. I’m ecstatic.”
The game started out rough for the AlleyCats, as they trailed 2-0 early in the quarter, and were still down 4-2 with 4:49 left in the period. But things changed suddenly, as Indy scored three points in quick succession: Travis Carpenter sent a scoring pass to Rick Gross, then Jacob Fella tied the game by intercepting a pass for a score. Alex Henderson then caught a pass to put the AlleyCats up 5-4.
“They started off with a defense that we were not used to at all, and so we just had to make some adjustments really quickly,” said Henderson. “And then once we made the adjustments, it was smooth sailing from there.”
The Thunderbirds got a goal back to tie the game at 5-5, but Indy finished the quarter with two more points. Keegan North found Levi Jacobs for a goal, then Carpenter’s catch put the AlleyCats up 7-5, and that’s where the quarter ended.
The AlleyCats never trailed again. They scored back-to-back goals in the final three minutes of the second quarter to lead 13-10 at halftime, then dominated the third period, outscoring the Thunderbirds 5-2. That included two goals in the final 42 seconds of the quarter, with Jacobs finding Henderson and Nick Hutton throwing to David Hortemiller. The Cats now led 18-12, and sailed through the fourth quarter to victory.
“We just played with such energy the whole time, and Pittsburgh’s a tough team,” said Leonard.
At 19, Henderson is by far the youngest player that took to the field for the AlleyCats on Saturday. But he played beyond his years with four assists, three goals and two defensive plays (Ds). North led the scoring with five goals, while Jacobs had three. Carpenter had four assists to go with two goals and two Ds. Jacobs and Hutton both had three assists, and Ellison also had two Ds.
“We didn’t get the block every time, but we were persistent throughout four quarters and that was our game plan, to grind them down over time and I think it worked.”
The AlleyCats will play East Division champion New York on Saturday, Aug. 10 as one of the two semi-finals that day. The other semi-final will feature West Division champion San Diego and South Division champion Dallas. Winners play for the AUDL championship on Sunday, Aug. 11.
The Indianapolis AlleyCats and their fans celebrated after the AlleyCats won their American Ultimate Disc League playoff game over Pittsburgh 23-17 Saturday night at Westfield High School’s Riverview Health Stadium. The victory qualified the AlleyCats for the AUDL’s Championship Weekend Aug. 10 and 11 in San Jose, Calif. (Mike Gross)