After earning their title as West Division Champions in the AUDL, the San Diego Growlers have a chance to take it one step further this weekend with a national championship on the line. The team will be traveling up north to San Jose for Championship Weekend, where they’ll face the Dallas Roughnecks in the semifinals before having a shot at the crown. This will be San Diego’s toughest test yet, as Dallas has won this title before, while this is the Growlers first time under the big lights.
While the lack of experience may hurt San Diego, they aren’t necessarily the underdogs in this fight. Sure, Dallas has made it to Championship Weekend every year since the program’s inception, but the Growlers have been building to this moment for half a decade. Since 2015, San Diego has prioritized building their young core, relying on those players to earn their stripes and become a team worthy of a national title. Now, after their first winning season as a team, they have a chance to make it happen.
Between the two teams, San Diego’s path to Championship Weekend has been more impressive --but not by much. The Growlers boast an 11-2 regular season record, while Dallas finished their season 9-4. Both of San Diego’s losses were anomalies rather than signs of concern. Seattle surprised them early in the season for their first loss and Los Angeles pulled out a gritty win in a game where San Diego was missing a set of their best players. Dallas’ losses, on the other hand, were far more concrete. The Raleigh Flyers had the Roughnecks number all season long, beating them in three of the five games the two teams played. Still, Dallas won the game that mattered, the South Division playoffs, that earned them a spot at Championship Weekend.
Dallas has some weapons that should give San Diego pause. Abe Coffin is having an MVP caliber season, racking up 41 assists and 20 goals throughout the year, along with getting all the intangibles right. In the playoffs against Raleigh, Coffin posted a monstrous 9 assists in that game alone. He’s flanked by Jay Froude and Dalton Smith, two smart throwers who’re explosive enough to catch San Diego off guard. Together, these three have carried Dallas through the season, and have pulled out impressive wins over some of the best teams in the nation.
The Roughnecks offense will be tough for San Diego to tackle, but it’s their defense that should worry the Growlers. The Lone Star State is known for producing world-class athletes, and they leave it all on the field in big-game situations. There are five defenders on Dallas that have double digit blocks from this season --San Diego barely has three. Considering how strong the Growlers’ offense has been all season, this will be their toughest challenge yet.
If there’s any line you’d want taking on a premier defense, it’s the Growlers offensive unit. Headlined by Travis Dunn, Jonathan ‘Goose’ Helton, and Sean Ham, the squad has been the most efficient offense the league has seen in 2019. It helps that San Diego’s best players are versatile threats. Dunn can play any position and still make magic happen. With 52 assists and 37 goals over the course of the season, Dunn has skyrocketed into the national spotlight and is one of the sports fastest rising stars. He’s paired with Goose Helton, who’s one of the league’s most venerated stars after winning the MVP title in the AUDL’s inaugural season. Helton is an athletic marvel who’s quietly having the most productive season of his tenured career, and is back to championship weekend after a long absence. He’s got a bone to pick with Dallas, too. In the past two seasons, Helton’s Raleigh team was knocked out of contention by the Roughnecks. There’s no one who wants this win more than Goose.
It’s not just San Diego’s offensive players that should put Dallas on their back foot, the Growlers boast a premier defensive unit to match. Their defensive strategies and unearthly athletic ability haunted the West Division in 2019, being largely responsible for the Growlers’ 11-2 record. Maxwell Hume, Steven Milardovich, and Scott Radlauer have cut their teeth on SportsCenter-worthy plays, and they’re itching to show Dallas what they can do. San Diego is known for swarming cutting lanes and baiting difficult passes. If Dallas isn’t careful, they’ll find themselves in a hole before the half -- one that they may never dig themselves free from.
For all of San Diego’s strengths, it’s hard to bet against experience. Dallas has been to Championship Weekend for four consecutive years, while San Diego has their first crack at it this weekend. Still, the Growlers have been proving everyone wrong all season, and there’s no reason for that to stop now. They’re set to play at 7:00PM PDT on Saturday, with the winner going on to the finals, which will be played on Sunday afternoon. The watch party in San Diego is being held at Barrel Republic in Pacific Beach on Saturday night. All are welcome to join.
