|
IN THE BEGINNING . . . The
Watertown Ultimate Frisbee League was created in the summer of 2005 by Dane Street, a school teacher and coach in Watertown
CT. At the time there was a growing interest in the sport and a great demand by his students at the time for a more formal
league in which to play. The result was the WUFL.
Thanks to the extreme generosity of the Kuslis family, Street
and Mykal Kuslis transformed a hay field into a makeshift playing field. Not quite regulation size, not quite level, and
full of dangerous terrain, the original field on Barnes Road in Watertown was the home to the first year and a half of the
WUFL.
There were just four teams during the first season (The Founding Fathers, Great Danes, Flying Beers, and
Blind Beagles) and they played each other A LOT during the first summer. The 40 or so members of the league learned the basics
and began to improve. The very first championship saw the Founding Fathers top the Great Danes.
LET'S DO IT AGAIN! In the second year the league went to a two-session format. Still at the Kuslis farm during the first session
and with another team in the mix (Lozzagurth . . . many other names . . . Boys 2 Men), the league continued to grow as word
spread. An additional hay field housed the second championship, with the result the same as the first . . . the Fathers topped
the Danes, and a dynasty was born.
MOVIN' ON UP . . . With the addition of Off A Hippo (now Wet?) and Watertown United (now Ed
Nevins Forever) in the second session of 2006, WUFL was simply too big for the farm and moved to the fields at Veterans' Park.
The league topped 100 people for the first time and any doubt about the health of the league vanished. The fields at Veterans'
treated the Fathers just fine, as they extended their title streak to three, this time defeating Miss Veronica Vaughn in the
title match.
YEAR
THREE In 2007 the Watertown Ultimate Frisbee League grew to 10 teams for both session one and session
two. The Blind Beagles took a hiatus during session one while Team Secore, Franco's Fury, the Decepticons, and Ven Conmigo
Tortuga all joined the league. Team Secore made the most of their brief stay in the league, capturing the session one title
over the Great Danes. After Secore's disappearing act, the session two title was up for grabs. The Blind Beagles returned
to the league and the 10 teams battled for ultimate supremacy for six weeks. In the end just one was left standing . . .
William Wallace. They topped the Founding Fathers for their first WUFL title.
IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BIGGER! After an exciting first session of 2008 that culminated with some great tournament games and a 4th title for
the Founding Fathers (runners-up Flying Beers), the second session saw the expansion of the WUFL to an unprecedented 13 teams!!
With some of the best ultimate to date in the league and great competitions throughout the ability levels, the second
session of '08 was phenomenal for the league. The Fathers pulled off the double, finishing undefeated during the regular
season and winning the tournament as well, with Boys 2 Men the runners-up.
FIVE YEARS OF WUFL!
2009
marked the 5-year anniversary of this little league that started in a hayfield. The first session featured 15 teams and nearly
200 players. For the first time the league split into two divisions to help create more evenly matched contests. Without
question it was a success as teams across the board improved their abilities and enjoyed the competitive games in the process.
All 15 teams entered the championship tournament and at the end of 5 pools and an 8-team playoff the Founding Fathers remained
standing. Their 15-11 victory over Slippery When Wet in a match that lasted nearly two hours earned them their 6th WUFL title.
In Session 2 Slippery When Wet rolled to a 9-1 record and entered the tournament as the team to beat. They seemed
poised to claim their first championship, but losses to the Founding Fathers and Flying Beers sent them home earlier than
they would have liked. The Fathers found their groove at just the right time, making it through the winners' bracket undefeated
and (after losing 11-1 in the first final) topping Gordon Bombay in the championship to claim their 4th consecutive title
and 7th overall. MAKE
IT EIGHT! Session
1 of 2010 brought 15 teams to the fields to battle once again for Ultimate supremacy and the coveted WUFL Cup. During
the regular season the divisional format once again was used to create even match-ups nearly every night. The Cavs rolled
to a 9-1 record in the B Division, but it seemed as though Robert Frost & the Morning Beats would run the table and claim
their franchise's second championship. They entered the tournament as the #1 seed after an undefeated 10-0 campaign.
But once again in the playoffs the Founding Fathers hit their stride and rolled into the championship match. There
they jumped out to a 7-0 lead that they would not relinquish en route to a 15-8 victory and their eighth championship. Session 2 also featured 15 teams, and the usual suspects were at it again. The Founding
Fathers bounced back from two early-session losses to finish 8-2 and atop the standings in Division A. The Gala rolled
through the B Division undefeated and were out to prove that a B-league team could win it all. In the second session
tournament, newly-named STURDY WINGS (the latest installment of the Lozzagurth franchise) capitalized on pool play perfection
to take the #1 seed in the elimination bracket and the easy road the the championship match. There they jumped on the
Founding Fathers early and opened up an 8-2 halftime lead. That would prove too big a deficit for the defending champions
as Sturdy Wings took home the session 2 title and the WUFL Cup. SEVEN YEARS OF WUFL! There were 13 teams for Session 1 of 2011, with six competing in Division
A and seven in Division B. After filling some roster vacancies with former Wet members, the Founding Fathers overcame
a session-opening loss to Savage Seven by rolling to nine consecutive wins and the tournament's #1 seed. The Flying
Beers, at 7-3, grabbed the #2 seed on point differential over up-and-coming Savage. In Division B Crunchwrap Supreme
(8-2) took the top spot over Legends of the Hidden Temple (also 8-2) on point differential. The tournament played out
almost exactly as seeded, with the Fathers and Beers in the Championship. On an extremely hot and windy day, the game
turned into a 2-hour marathon survival of the fittest. After leading 8-7 at the half, the Fathers fell behind in the
second half and were down 11-9 before finishing with a 6-2 run to claim their ninth WUFL Title. The 15-13 score was
the closest in the history of the WUFL Championship Tournament, and the two-and-a-half hour marathon was by far the longest
game in WUFL history! Session 2 featured 12 teams
with 6 in each division. As usual, the Founding Fathers and Flying Beers led the pack through the regular season, with
the Fathers (9-1) beating the Beers (8-2) on the final day of the session to land the top seed for the tournament. Once
there, the two teams seemed destined to meet up for a rematch of the session 1 title game. But in the semifinal round
The Gala knocked off the Beers to earn their first Championship Game appearance. It the first night game in the history
of the league under the lights at Watertown High, the Founding Fathers were victorious 15-10. The win gave the Fathers
their 10th WUFL title.
|
