Reed College’s Beserk saw a spring season with only one tournament before the series began, yet still wanted to make the push to DIII Nationals. They were still able to secure a bid in the North West – with a close win over Lewis & Clark on the way. Francis Dieterle answered some questions for Skyd about their team, season, and everything else.
Francis Dieterle: We only lost one senior from last year, so we have a core group of seniors and juniors that are backed up by some strong freshman talent.
Up and Coming players, guys on your team that are going to be making plays come the season
Francis: Look to our freshmen to make some noise when the series rolls around. Kai Nalipinski and Peter “Princess Peach” Beach are both tall, athletic cutters who can make plays from both sides of the disc. D-Money will live up to his name and Xander will simply be too tall to stop in the endzone. Sophomore “DDev” Sithylemenkat Dashevsky is also a solid O-line handler.
Star Players, who would be your callahan nominee? Who are the big playmakers and leaders
Francis: Our captains Sam “Samay” May and Tevon “Tevtev” Edwards will be directing the flow on offense, with Mr. Edwards playing point guard. Look to Grayson “Grayson” Grayson to make some huge layout Ds. Our real star is 2nd team All-Region 2011 player Andrew “Hotlanta” Lynch, who leads the D-line with solid plays and can make plays on both sides of a huck. Also, Mikey “Pancake” Badr will not only be the most spirited player on the field, but will also sport his good looks.
Captain Tevon "Tevtev" Edwards gets up over a defender.
What tournaments are you planning on going to in the spring?
Francis: We went to Trouble in Corvegas and missed PLU BBQ. At this point, we will be attending a few scrimmages in the Portland area and the series, which means conference championships and hopefully D-III nationals.
Who are the big DIII teams and players to look out for, both in your region, and in the entire division?
Francis: Ben “LohreTime” Lohre (2nd Team All-Region 2011 and Rhino) is a huge force on Lewis and Clark and our friendly rivalry will certainly make for some great games. Puget Sound looks strong this year as well, though we haven’t seen them play yet.
Captain Sam May lays out for the disc.
Is this your first time competing DIII? If so, what made you change your mind from last year? If not, how did you do last year?
Francis: No, we went to D-III Nationals in the years when it was held in Versailles, Ohio, but have not been back since 2009. Last year we finished 4th in our section behind Whitman, Lewis and Clark, and Puget Sound. We are looking to avenge our losses from last year and return to Nationals.
Do you have any other footage/media you want to show the world? If you have trouble sending it to me, just ask, and we can arrange something!
Here’s a Reed COTD, stolen special from Claremont’s idea. More will be coming in addition to full scrimmage footage!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FBQD4RBEUcs
Do you have anything else you want to publicize? I know it’s hard as a smaller school to get any press, but here’s your opportunity!
Francis: A lot of credit must be given to our coach, Shane Rubenfeld. Shane graduated from Reed and played for Oregon EGO, Rhino, and most recently is the captain/coach of South Portland Knife Fight, a local club team comprised of young players from the Portland area. This is his third year coaching us. All of our seniors and a few juniors and sophomores played for Knife Fight last summer and have brought that experience from club back to college. Because of Shane’s coaching, we have been given more defined roles as he split us into O- and D-lines for the first time in our team’s history. Shane has done a great job of maintaining a competitive and fun-loving spirit on our team despite the obstacles of going to a school that is infamous for being a hotbed of “PE-haters and jock-phobes”.
Editor’s Note: Both us here at Skyd and Reed would like to share this article that Shane wrote for the Huddle a few years ago about the difficulties of being a student athlete at a DIII school. It’s a great read.
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