Doing It His Way

Coming into Nationals 6, The Gooch may not have been a household name in the Madden Community. But after his impressive showing in Miami, many left impressed with how solid Gooch is on the sticks. In addittion his game management, and the way he approaches the game earned the respect of many of the top ballers in the community. What was it about Gooch's game that was different? For one, not the traditional run&gun that you saw from so many ballers in the 2004 version of the game. Gooch's command of his big sets seemed to give some ballers problems defending his well balanced game. Playing with the Dolphins, Gooch was able to incorporate a healthy dose of Ricky Williams into the game while maintaining a balanced passing attack. Backed by a stingy defense, Gooch's Fins were able to advance over some stiff competition all the way to the championship game, where he was out dueled by eventual champion Big Game James.

Gooch talking question after his loss to BG James in the title game.

After going a modest 2-1 in his round robin games, Gooch got better as Survivor Sunday got longer. After eekeing by eventual EMFL Champion Big Boi in the 1st round, he went on to edge DaGhost in a 44-41 thriller. A 3 point squeaker over Precious Roy landed The Gooch in The Sweet 16 which is where it seemed he took his game to the next level. A 76-21 pasting of Ray Green catapulted Gooch into a Elite 8 matchup with EA Madden Challenge champion, Sandman.

Sandman made a move that many second guessed when he went with the Titans instead of the Falcons against Gooch's Fins. "I was worried about how the Falcon defense would hold up against a punishing running game with Ricky Williams," Sandman later explained. The move did not work for the New Jersey Nightmare, and Gooch took advantage of an inconsistent Titan offense, and rolled to a 41-31 win.

Then in perhaps his best moment, Gooch turned it up another notch eeking out a one point 57-56 thriller over sentimental favorite DaSecret, ending the youngsters dream of a title match with the winner of the Big Game James/Qboy final four tilt.

Gooch performed well earlier in the season defeating The Realist and Jarvis in route to capturing one of the regional tournaments on the east coast. The question was, how strong would he be coming into Nationals against the best of the best.

But when you think about it...anyone that can put together some solid wins over The Realist and Jarvis back to back in the same tournament...is bringing some serious stick to the table. And he showed that those wins were not flukes as he walked away as the Nationals Runner Up, earning the right to have his name mentioned in the same breath as some of the other top ballers in the nation.

Gooch Round Robin Results