NICK MERCSH
SPORTS EDITOR
The Franciscan FATAL team played its first home game of the year on Friday, April 5, in a 23-19 victory against Ave Maria University.
The game started with back-to-back scores from both team as no one seemed to be able to take control of the game. However, Franciscan’s aggressive play led to big plays that eventually gave them the separation they needed to pull away. Senior handler Dom Schuster continued to throw bombs over the top to whoever he pleased as he picked apart the Ave Maria defense. Senior cutter Louis Heisler and junior handler Nick O’Brien were the main beneficiaries to his efforts throwing the disc.
As the game pushed on, Ave Maria threatened to come back a few times with quick scores and very methodical play that tired out the Baron defense. However, more big plays from the Baron handlers kept the Gyrenes at bay. Junior handler Austin Volk, along with O’Brien and Schuster, continued to make big plays down the stretch. Matt Muldoon had a late game Callahan – catching the disc in the other team’s endzone when on defense – that electrified both the crowd and the FATAL team and served as the dagger to end the game with the final score, eventually sitting at 23-19.
The team played in honor of Neal Rylatt and Max Von Arx, who both played on the team and have since passed away. Two players played with the last names of those players on their jerseys.
Head coach Ian Gill was happy with the team’s performance and wanted to thank the fans as well. “I thought we handled the pressure of crowd well. Our offense was throwing bombs, which is our strongest skill and the most fun to watch. … Overall, the event was amazing; I would like to thank the FUS student government, especially Josh Schutte for scorekeeping and Kyle Aubert and Kellen Lake for announcing. Also, a special thanks to Franciscan FIRE, Anthony DeFallo and Michael Olenchuk.”