Knocking the ball off: A viable and important strategy lost in the whims...

[Brandon Holley]

So, I spent all day friday and saturday at the NJ regional watching the competition unfold. I came away with one notable observation: Knocking the ball off is 1. harder than it looks and 2. vital to the success of teams.

Teams who were able to CONSISTENTLY knock the ball off without stopping so a lot of success in NJ, and i'm sure this is true across the country. I can't tell you how much time teams wasted at NJ just trying to get the ball down before they could even score points with it. Team 2590, the #3 seed, made a living by driving around quickly and being able to knock the ball off whenever they wanted to without even thinking about slowing down. Team 103 also did this very well.

Being able to get your game piece on the field and racking up the points as quickly as possible is just as important as any other part of the game this year. Teams that were not able to do this effectively saw half a match go by before they were ready to make their first attempt at a hurdle.

Recognizing the time in the match to knock your opponents balls down too is also very vital, and important part of the ball knockers strategy. The teams who balanced the time left in the match with the time it takes for their opponent to score propelled themselves to the top.

Teams who could, with 3 seconds left, drive under the over pass and knock their opponents balls off were absolutely important to the game as well. 12 points is a lot, and teams who were able to take away all the time spent by a team in the last 15-30 seconds putting the ball up on the overpass, saw great success.

To the ball knockers, I salute you.