Saturdays at Franklin Field are normally reserved for football. Or lacrosse. Or track & field.
But this Saturday, the historic venue hosted the inaugural Major League Ultimate championship, as the Boston Whitecaps defeated the San Francisco Dogfish, 20-15.
The MLU received national attention in just its first season, thanks to its highlight-reel plays that especially drew people in.
“It was kind of mind blowing,” MLU founder and president Jeff Snader said. “We started out and people were like ‘what is this ultimate frisbee league going to do?’ Out of 10 weeks [in the regular season], we were on Sportscenter eight times.”
The Whitecaps (12-0) were the most dominant team in the MLU all season and their regular season success carried over into an undefeated postseason run, culminating in Saturday’s victory.
Boston received a strong performance from their regular season leader in points, Josh Markette, who helped the Whitecaps take a four-goal lead into the half thanks to his seven first-half points.
“Josh, all season long, has been an incredibly steady performer,” Whitecaps coach Jason Adams said. “Every time he is involved in a play – whether it is thrown to him or he has the disc – you know good things are gonna happen.”
Markette, who finished with 10 points, had his role grow larger after Whitecaps captain Jeff Graham was taken off on a stretcher in the third quarter.
“That was the gist of it. Do it for Graham, as cliché and cheesy as you can imagine,” Markette said. “It’s one thing to say it and totally another thing to go out and do it. I really happy we were able to win this for him.”
The Dogfish (9-3) had a strong season and gave the Whitecaps a run in the second half, cutting a four-goal deficit to just one.
However, they were unable to tie the game up in the second half. San Francisco’s Evan Boucher led all players with six goals on the game yet the team struggled with turnovers, partially due to three of their other top players not making the trip to Philadelphia.
Outside of just the players, the game itself proved a success for the MLU as the championship game drew at least 2000 fans to Franklin Field. The attendance made the players comment on how the game had a different atmosphere from their previous games.
“Attendance was certainly the largest we had all year for the Whitecaps,” Markette said. “It’s an overwhelming feeling of vastness.
“With all the technology and the architecture, it was a special feeling from the jump because we haven’t played in a place with this kind of character.”
Despite the solid attendance, it is currently unclear whether Franklin Field will hold the MLU’s championship in the future.
However, Snader liked what he saw with the turn out and said there was a strong chance the championship could return to Franklin Field next season.
“It was great because the first ever game we played in professional frisbee was at [Franklin Field] last year,” he said.
“It was kind of wild seeing things come full circle. It is kind of beyond words how cool it is.”
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