Bolt set out for Grand Rapids, Michigan striving to prove itself as the best B team in the region. Coming in as the four seed, Bolt had its work cut out for them. The first game was against the one-seed Michigan-B Reserve. Though Bolt fell 3-13, there were still some early morning highlights such as Rubin’s handblock on their tall guy and BLaning going every other to slice through their zone.
Bolt refocused quickly for our next game against Illinois-C. Bolt jumped out to a 4-0 lead through smooth handler play from Kenneth and Joe Harari and a monster sky from Evan “Watergate” Nixon. Octavio caught a deep goal over their deep in a zone, and Arseniy nearly took off his defender’s head with a laser to Gene to take half. George matched his linemate’s sky for a goal, and Song dabbed his way to the game winner, with Illinois calling it early 12-1.
After a bye-round trip to Panera (or St Louis Bread Co. as Shu would call it), Bolt retook the field against Michigan State B looking to build momentum. Each line scored its first point featuring a second-effort hammer catch by Thomas and a Laub to Shu strike (guess the Panera helped!). In the second half, Bruce laid out for a goal, Luke Mansour dunked his way to the end zone on a long Soup assist, and Jon Huang ripped a deep huck to Song for another dab and a 13-5 win.
The final game of the day brought a matchup with Indiana. John Lee had a point-saving layout on the first point which started a 6-0 run for Bolt. Captain BRich scored twice in the second half before a rookie line capped a 13-2 finish.
Bolt played Notre Dame-B during Sunday morning’s quarterfinal round. Coach McCall gave the insider scouting report leading Bolt to an easy 7-2 halftime lead. Rubin had a run-through D on a rare D point and Arseniy threw two goals to Gene. Luke Spencer got on the stat sheet out of half, hitting Pika-Shu for a break. Jon Huang pulled double duty throwing goals to Soup and Evan Nixon on back to back deep shots before a hobbled Bharat closed the game with an assist on his only point.
The win brought a semi-final matchup against instate rival Illinois Boomland. The game was a tight affair after being broken on the first point, Bruce scored bookends to bring Bolt back to serve. Illinois sent out a poachy trap look that our offense struggled to figure out, leading to many Rubin hammers including goals for Soup and Luke. Illinois broke a few times, giving them a halftime lead. Illinois broke out of half bringing their lead to four, but Bolt fought back. Rubin had a layout goal before Soup shot deep for Luke to cut the lead. Brich threw again to Luke to bring the score to 10-11 in a game to 12 because of softcap. On their last chance, Kenneth got a layout D on an up-line on our own goal line but Bolt was not able to convert the chance and Illinois took the game 12-10.
In the 3rd place game against Purdue-B, Rubin set the tone with a first throw poach block and quickly hit Octavio for the score. Purdue’s zone gave Bolt a bit of trouble but some swings, creative over the top throws, and well-timed cuts to space from Jack Burtis and Soup allowed Bolt to hang in until going on a Turkey run to take half. Rubin hit Luke Mansour on a half-field post up hammer and BRich even got a huck in. Things got close late but Bharat made another late appearance, this time catching the goal to seal the game in 11-9, allowing Bolt to break seed and end the season on a win.