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By Pat Clifton
The South’s seeds for their DI Men’s crossover matches with the Midwest will be decided Saturday in Miami.
The first round pits Miami, winners of the Florida Union, against the Atlanta Renegades, runners-up in Georgia, and participants in last year’s final four. “We’ve got to give them all the credit in the world for making the run to the final four, and I think they know what’s on the line for this game Saturday,” said Miami coach Kevin McDonough. “We’re not going to hold back; we’re going to get after them.”
Though the Renegades are probably favored by most this year, the last time the two clubs met, it was Miami who came out on top.
“Last time we played them was three years ago, I think, and our team started dropping like a bunch of flies because of the heat,” said Atlanta captain Scott Hutchison. “We’re just thinking of what we know; we’ve got a pretty good game plan, we got a pretty solid team. I think we’ve got a better team this year than we had last year, and if we can get everybody healthy, I think we’ve got a good shot of running the distance we ran last year, if not further.”
The other semifinal features Life University, winners in Georgia, and Boca Raton, runners-up in Florida. Though McDonough’s club narrowly edged Boca Raton out for the Florida championship, with identical records and one more bonus point, it’s Life who who has Miami’s coach most concerned.
“I saw them play briefly at the Ft. Lauderdale Tournament, and they looked good.,” McDonough said. “I’m sure they’ve lost some guys to the premier side, but they were impressive either way.”
While winning the championship is always the ultimate goal, a victory on Saturday is really more important in this instance.
“Honestly, as long we win Saturday, we’re not really focused on Sunday at all, we just don’t want to have to travel for the crossovers. We’re playing to win, but if we got some guys that are banged up, we’re not going to push it,” said Hutchison.
“We’ve got one guy who’s got a pretty sore ankle already, it’s a high ankle sprain from three weeks ago, and we’re debating whether to even play him this weekend, because essentially all this is is a seeding tournament for the crossovers.”
What Miami, Boca Raton, Life and Atlanta are really fighting for is the right to stay home for the crossover match, as the bottom two finishers this weekend have to make a long, and more importantly, expensive trip to do battle with the Midwest. Hutchison says the difference between winning and losing Saturday can mean a $10,000 – $15,000 swing for a club.
“That’s the key thing we’re playing for. I’ve got a fairly good sized team, it’s just going to be a financial struggle for some of the guys that would help us be solid if we have to go to Detroit or Minneapolis,” McDonough said.
Midwest vs. South Crossover matchups, April 23:
#1 South hosts Cincinnati Wolfhounds
#2 South hosts Palmer College
#3 South @ Detroit Tradesmen
#4 South @ Metropolis – #1 Midwest
