As a prelude to the main event, an exhibition match took place with Lancaster winning 9-5. This was aimed at giving game time to new players and hopefully nurturing the talent for next year’s competition. Despite being blown away early on, Lancaster rallied to lead 4-3 with 10 minutes to play. With tiring limbs on both sides, 7 points were scored in a hectic final period, Lancaster coming out on top to win 9-5.
In a high quality encounter, Lancaster held their nerve to defeat York 10-9, with Jonathon Carter helping himself to 7 points. Lancaster Captain Charles Cranston was confident pre-game, no doubt boosted by a “fantastic victory” for his development squad.
The main event kicked off at unbelievable pace, with both sides scoring in the opening 2 minutes. Maintaining possession was the key, as spirited defending was making things difficult for both offences. On 8 minutes York Captain Abernethy put his side 3-2 up, but resilience is vital in this sport and within 60 seconds Lancaster had taken the lead thanks to the impressive Carter.
At 4-4 and with 12 minutes on the clock, the game slowed as both squads attempted lengthy build-up play before launching an assault on the end zone. The pattern continued as a fantastic steal from Chris Luby set Lancaster on a ten pass move to regain the lead at 5-4. Every time York got themselves level they were immediately pegged back, this was the case as Carter put Lancaster ahead, scoring his 6th point of the match.
With a time-out called and the score at 6-6 with 10 minutes left it was anyone’s game. However, Lancaster upped the pace and when Will Doole scored a superb point, diving at full stretch to make it 9-7 it was looking ominous for York. Although Abernethy got 2 further points, it was not enough as Lancaster won through 10-9.
The sportsmanship on show was admirable, with tensions running high both sides kept up the spirit of Frisbee and there were no contentious calls all game. Cranston was “ecstatic” after the game and praised his squad for “the first clean sweep in academic memory”.
