By Beth Clifford
Online Managing Editor
Frisbee Friday has created a hype among Prospect’s population during every week this year, but this past Friday, the hype was at an all-time high. Every team has spent the season preparing for a championship appearance, and this week was the time where the stakes were at their peak: playoff week.
After teams competed after school Friday at the field on Circle Drive, for the fourth year in a row, LGK came on top as Ultimate Frisbee Club Champions.
In 2010, LGK was created by a senior team that consisted of Brian Matkovic, Alex Thierjung, and Jack Landwehr to name a few. After winning the championship, those boys decided to pass down the name to “Supa Hot Fire,” a freshmen team made up of the current LGK members.
Supa Hot Fire, although one of the youngest teams in the league, had been extremely successful the entire year, ending the playoffs as Consolation Champions. The 2010 LGK team members saw the potential in the young group of boys and wanted them to continue the LGK legacy.
“We really took that to heart,” 2014 LGK member Eryk Krzyzak said. “It meant a lot to us. We accepted the name knowing it would be a big deal for us.”
The expectation for greatness that the predecessors placed on the new LGK team did not go unfulfilled. During their sophomore and junior years, LGK won the UFC Championship with ease while only losing less than three regular season games.
LGK, therefore, entered their senior year with a lot of emotion. There was a lot of pressure on them to meet and exceed expectations.
The bubble almost burst when Skyline Frisbee, the rival senior team, destroyed LGK’s perfect season record. A little under two months ago, the game marked their first lost in almost two years.
“At that point, I thought we were going to lose the legacy,” LGK player Kyle Beyak said. “Instead of scoring as many points as we could against lower level teams, kids just started to not be interested in frisbee anymore. It almost seemed like we didn’t want to win anymore.”
According to Krzyzak, the Skyline game was a wake-up call.
“At that point,” Krzyzak said, “we knew we had to step up our game if we wanted to continue our winning streak and level of play that we have kept up for the past two years.”
The temporary disappointment quickly transformed into motivation to play better than the team has ever performed before. Adversity appeared into LGK’s season again this Friday on the most important frisbee day of the year.
“Trey [Compton’s] competing injury sparked a new team,” Beyak said. “[Alex] Blethen was gone, and [Matt] Nadler was sick. Our group chat seemed emotional, and it definitely made our attitudes change from losing to going out on top as the best frisbee team in history.”
And the team definitely did. LGK secured the fourth consecutive championship for the franchise, the most number of championships any team name has in all of UFC’s history.
The only close game LGK had all day was versus junior star team “Backyard Frisbee.” Beyak scored a touchdown in the last thirty seconds in a tie-game situation to advance LGK to the championship game.
“To me, that last TD meant that I have come a long way from freshman year,” Beyak said. “Every frisbee season I was out with an injury or a sickness. This was my first year that I stayed healthy enough to play every week.”
After the win, the senior team decided that they were not going to pass down the name any further.
“We have officially retired the name of LGK,” Krzyzak said. “I guess you could say, as a team, we decided we kind of wanted to go out on top.”
The LGK franchise ends their legacy with four championships and an overall 90-4 record. Besides those phenomenal statistics, LGK hopes to leave a much more meaningful footprint on Prospect Frisbee.
“LGK was a competitive team that would beat you,” Beyak said,” but then shake your hands and be friends at the end of the day.”
Krzyzak echoes Beyak’s statement.
“We want to be remembered by the way we played the game,” Krzyzak said. “We weren’t dirty or cocky. LGK wanted to be good sports, play the game the way it was supposed to be played, and just a have a good time doing it.”