MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- The 8th Annual Dodge Ball Tournament beamed in to action here at the IronWorks Gym basketball courts Saturday with AFN taking the first place title in an improbable finish.
AFN jumped to a quick start, winning their first match against the Kamikazes and moved on to face 65B. Crash Crew won their first game as well, beating the tournament favorite Five-O to move on and face ADAA in the second round of the tournament.
The double-elimination tournament had a total of eight teams competing, so each team couldn’t afford to make too many mistakes or else they went home early.
“Our team strategy was to not go up without a blocker and keep our double teams so that we had someone to cover our back and not get crazy,” said Justin Simons, member of AFN and tournament most valuable player.
After winning their first games, both teams had a while to wait as the loser’s bracket had to compete as well on the same court.
Five-O was the first team to be eliminated from the tournament. “I thought Five-O was going to pose the biggest threat, because they looked pretty good in the preliminaries,” said Brian Niemczyk, member of Crash Crew.
Following Five-O were the Kamikazes as they also lost two straight; then Average Joes fell to the Samurai Knights.
In the regular bracket, AFN and Crash Crew both won their second games with ease and set up what would be a preview to the championship game in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Before the quarter final match, Niemczyk said AFN was definitely the underdogs, but they were looking good out there.
Crash Crew started off good, knocking out two of AFN’s key players, but Rachel Moore, a member of AFN, called a time out to substitute two teammates for another two teammates back in.
Once AFN had their top four back on the quart, their balls were on fire as they surprisingly took down Crash Crew in a best of three set.
“I told them we were better than what we are, and we proved it,” said Simons.
Crash Crew’s loss put them into the loser’s bracket but not out of the tournament. It was clear that in order for a team to win they had to go through AFN, which wasn’t as easy as first thought.
Crash Crew faced the Samurai Knights in the loser’s bracket final and won to earn another shot at AFN and the championship.
It came down to a best of three matches once again in which Crash Crew won the first match when time expired. They had more men on the court, so the win went to them.
AFN regrouped and came out on fire, eliminating all players from Crash Crew to tie it up and force a third match. Crash Crew’s strategy at this point was to take out AFN’s top players then work the weaker ones.
It paid off as they took the win and the set. Had AFN won, that would have been the tournament, but since Crash Crew won, it forced a final championship game to end the tournament.
“Winners take home the trophy and losers just go home,” said Tony Stone, official for the tournament just before play commenced.
Both teams came out strong, utilizing the teams’ strategies, but in the end, it came down to Kevin Harmon to hang in there for Crash Crew once all other teammates were knocked out, and unfortunately, he was unable to pull off the win.
Harmon was called for a line violation, which cost his team the game, and more importantly, the championship.
“We were the best team. We didn’t lose once in the tournament,” said Simons. “Crash Crew put up a good fight in the end.”