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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.
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| 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
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