Yet another showdown in sunny Isla Vista between the old folk and the young guns.

The old guard found themselves taking a nostalgic trip back to IV in their sunset jerseys for the yearly Alumni Day hosted by Tide. A majority of alumni present were from from 2017 and 2018’s graduating class. But also around were some of the older players, like Adam Fischer, Mike Sale, and Lincoln Scott. Notably present, but not playing, were Greg “Hollywood” Husak of national fame, and Pete Gately – one of the founding members of the Tide. The showdown at IV Elementary, slated for 10 AM, didn’t start until 11 (classic).

Of course, the Alumni game couldn’t happen without some controversy, which started immediately when the Tide (allegedly) won the flip, threw the disc across the field for the Alumni to pull, but the Alumni started playing as if Tide just pulled. It wasn’t until the Alumni moved it up to the endzone, completely unguarded, until the Tide decided to shrug off the confusion. Once Alumni punched it in without a significant amount of endzone resistance, the Tide walked – confused, but not worried.

Trade after trade ensued, but not without its messes. Both teams had miscommunications that resulted in quick D’s, but most of those break opportunities wouldn’t come to fruition as the Doffense never found a rhythm all the way down the field. 3-3 quickly became 8-7 Alumni at half, despite that the score was never fully known. (Tide was up a break at half.)

Second half looked like it could look the same with shaky hold after shaky hold. But suddenly the alumni capitalized on a Tide throwaway, working it calmly but swiftly down the field to break. Smelling blood in the water, the alumni attacked again on another Tide miscue, going up two breaks immediately out of half. 10-7. Frustrated with their play, but not demoralized, the Tide restabilized with a hold. This alumni game seemed to be trending toward looking like games of previous years as hold after hold ensued.

Still down a break, with the score at 14-13 Alumni, Tide felt their back against the wall as Alumni gathered the pull. But an Alumni huck that went out of bounds and never returned gave Tide the disc at midfield, and they cashed in on the mistake with a swift attack to regain a break.

Universe, 14-14. Tide pulls to Alumni. After a few swings, a Alumni miscommunication resulted in Ryan “Spikeball” Oswalt quickly D’ing on an under. Eyes wide open, Tide struck like lightning only 15 yards out of the endzone. The Alumni scrambled to an endzone person and successfully forced multiple Tide swings. But Grayson Arensdorf found the the break-space with a nice floaty hammer in the endzone. Game. 15-14 Tide.

The first time in a LONG time that Tide has won Alumni Day.

After, in standard tradition, the Tide split up into Old vs. Young teams for a quick game to 7, which the Young team won after more holds.

Alumni highlights include: calm, swinging offense by Lincoln Scott, aggressive cutting by Jack Hamner, an insane bid just outside the endzone by Marcel Osborne from an absolute huck by Curtis Worden, and an in-bounds pull by Adonay Bahta.

Tide highlights include: Hammers to score in the endzone by Grayson and Rhys Gretsch, Grayson getting absolutely UP in the endzone to prevent an Alumni score, and the normal standard stuff: Jason Zeidman’s aggressive cuts to continue downfield flow, Ryan Barry’s disgusting break throws, and Xavier Prochaska continuing offensive momentum and skying fools.

Afterward, all of the Tide came together to appreciate each other, and former captain Jeff Silverman handed out some scandalous presents to four Tide players that most impressed him: Rhys Gretsch, Ryan Barry, Jackson Weill, and Ryan Oswalt. The Tide then all mobbed to the Black Out Captians’ house, for grub and die until sunset, in classic BFT fashion.