By Alexis Moody

On a day that seemed likely to rain and storm six teams walked away from Bowling Green State University’s campus (Bowling Green, OH) feeling pretty bright and sunny. Teams from all over Ohio and a team from Michigan arrived to Bowling Green looking for a fun day to get in some relatively light-hearted matches before the Ohio Cup. The round robin style tournament featured Ohio State University (Columbus, OH), Eastern Michigan University (Ypsilanti, MI), Denison University (Granville, OH), Ashland University (Columbus, OH), The Charles School Chimeras (Columbus, OH), and hosts BGSU. The following is a break down of each team’s performance.

Bowling Green State University 5-0

The Falcons have had one heck of a growth year. While they performed well at unranked games this young team had a hard time finding success at major tournaments like the Midwest Cup and World Cup, going 0-7 collectively. Coming into these round-robin games with a need to prove themselves, the Falcons roared through their opponents with an incredibly balanced game. Everyone on the team played a major part of in their successful day, but several players in particular stood out. Newcomer Anthony DeCapite had an inspiring debut on the pitch: playing both chaser and beater in his first official games, DeCapite used his speed and agility to evade defenders with quaffle in hand, and stop a play in its tracks with a well placed bludger. Chaser Daniel Daugherty had an outstanding performance during the course of the tournament as he blocked bludgers, tackled opponents, and even completed an alley-oop with keeper Chad Brown. Chaser Samantha Elgin also had an fantastic day of quidditch: this former cheerleader could lull opponents into a false sense of security before stealing the quaffle or tackling them to the ground. A really outstanding job by the whole team who are now looking forward to the Ohio Cup in a couple of weeks with high spirits.

The Ohio State University 4-1

The Buckeyes have been a powerhouse in the state for some time now and rightfully so. Led by captain Luke Changet OSU was certainly a team to beat this weekend, despite being a bit short staffed. The Buckeyes only brought 1 substitute and 1 female, forcing all of their games to be un-ranked. Regardless of their potential disadvantages, the Buckeyes played with clear strategy and definite experience.  Notable players included captain Luke Changet, who played every single position possible (including snitch) and was incredibly successful at all of them. Changet is an athlete who knows the game to its core, and because of that knowledge he fits well into every role on the pitch, helping lead his team to great results. Keeper David Hoops, a freshman, was also very impressive. Not one to stay in the keeper zone, Hoops moves down the pitch with the speed of a seeker and the ferocity of a beater. Overall a solid day from the Buckeyes.

Eastern Michigan University 3-2

The only team from out of state, the Flying Squirrels certainly worked hard in their matches. Plagued by injuries acquired at Michigan State University’s SQuiB Tournament the day before, the Flying Squirrels attacked the hoops with as much power as they could find with their depleted roster–they were without their star muscle man who had a fractured wrist. The offensive game was led by keeper Quentin Turner, who sped down the field so fast that most bludgers missed him. Unfortunately, the team broke down when it came to non bludger defense but hopefully with some injuries healing in the next couple of weeks they’ll be back and ready to play at the Ohio Cup.

The Charles School (aka TCS Chimeras) 2-3

For a high school team that is less than a year old the TCS Chimeras are quite impressive quidditch players. The scores definitely do not portray the level of play these high schoolers possess. With time and development this team will certainly become a force to be reckoned with. One of the special qualities about the Chimeras is the depth at every single position. Everyone on their team played really well and every team in the area needs to be recruiting these players.

Denison University 1-4

Though the Denison Death Eaters have been in the game since 2010, they have recently come across some turnover problems causing a lot of new players to pop on to the quidditch scene. Because of this the Death Eaters had a hard time with the intricate rules of knockout effect. Despite this Denison put up a fight with some well placed beats that stopped a lot of scoring drives. I look forward to seeing this team grow and get new players next season.

Ashland University 0-5

The only unofficial team at the tournament, the odds were stacked against the Ashland Ashwinders. This team has come a long way in the short time it has been around. With the addition of some hard-to-bring-down football players (Will “Twinkletoes” Saxon and Tyler Owens) this team will turn into something fierce in the next season. I firmly believe, after more games and a solid fall recruitment, the Ashland Ashwinders will be able to compete with the best the state of Ohio has to offer.

Full Scores (* denotes snitch grab, bold denotes winner):

Ashland  v Bowling Green* 20 – 150

Ohio State v The Charles School*   60 – 30

Bowling Green* v Denison 140 – 10

Eastern Michigan* v Ashland 40 – 0

The Charles School v Bowling Green* 10 – 130

Ohio State* v Denison 140 – 10

Bowling Green* v Eastern Michigan 100 – 20

Ashland v The Charles School* 40 – 100

Denison v Eastern Michigan* 50 – 140

Bowling Green* v Ohio State 50 – 0

Denison* v Ashland 100 – 40

Eastern Michigan* v The Charles School 120 – 40

Ashland* v Ohio State 30 – 70

The Charles School* v Denison 110 – 80

Ohio State* v Eastern Michigan 80 – 20