Dawson Archer took over as president for the Mississippi State University Ultimate Frisbee Club in fall 2022, inheriting what he said had essentially been a “beer league” for most of the previous decade.
“We just weren’t taking it very seriously,” he said, noting that showed in game results.
Midway through Archer’s senior season, the club has vastly turned its fortunes, with one valuable lesson in mind.
“It’s more fun to win than to lose,” Archer said Saturday morning at Roger Short Soccer Complex, during the 14-team Golden Triangle Invitational he organized.
The USA Ultimate-sanctioned tournament featured MSU’s A and B teams hosting squads from all over the Southeast, though its top two seeds – Illinois and Purdue – traveled quite a bit farther. Pool play started Friday and continued Saturday, Archer said, with games held at both the Roger Short complex in Columbus and the turf field at Starkville Sportsplex.
The tournament ended with bracket play Sunday in Columbus.
MSU’s A-team, seeded sixth, had already beaten squads from LSU and Division III perennial powerhouse Berry College in pool play, and was making short work of Jacksonville State Saturday morning, as Archer took a breather on the sidelines, occasionally looking up at the overcast sky.
“I’m happier it’s a little bit drier, at least for now,” Archer said, though it looked like that might not last for long.
In this tournament’s first iteration last year, a smaller affair that Archer described as “wet and disgusting” due to rain, MSU-A lost in the finals to Chattanooga. This year, Chattanooga is seeded seventh.
“The skill level is a lot higher this year,” Archer said Saturday. “Between seeds 1 and 11, really anybody can win this whole thing.”
Illinois bested Auburn 7-0 in a lightning-shortened championship game Sunday, after taking down last year’s champion Chattanooga in the semifinals. MSU, who fell to the runners-up early in bracket play, finished ninth.
What is Ultimate Frisbee?
Caleb “Deuce” Byers, a senior captain for MSU-A, described the sport as a mix of soccer, basketball and football – but with a frisbee.
The offense and defense form lines on opposite sides of a 110-yard field, which includes 70 yards of playing length and a pair of 20-yard end zones. Once the defense delivers the frisbee downfield, the offense must make a series of passes to their guarded teammates en route to the opposite end zone.
Once the frisbee is caught, the player must stop his progress and pass the frisbee. If the frisbee hits the ground or is intercepted, it’s a turnover.
“You need speed, agility and good hands,” said Byers, a Birmingham native who started playing Ultimate Frisbee in high school. ““When you’re cutting, you’re almost like a wide receiver. You’re making quick cuts, trying to beat your defender. When you’re defending, you’re almost like a DB that’s always running … always trying to keep your hips toward (the offensive player) and trying not to overcommit.”
Games usually last 90 minutes to two hours, Byers said, and teams typically play to 13 or 15, with each score counting as 1 point.
Rise of frisbee in Mississippi
Over the past two seasons, MSU practices two-to-three times a week, competing in five regular season tournaments each year, Byers said.
Last year’s A squad made the USAU regionals for the first time since 2018, which is a step away from the national tournament.
“Our ultimate goal is nationals, but we know that’s hard,” Byers said.
Archer, also from Birmingham, began playing in high school and started following MSU Ultimate Frisbee his senior year.
“Once I committed to Mississippi State, I was following their Instagram stuff,” he said. “… I don’t think a lot of club teams have a lot of fans, other than parents, but I was on there looking like, ‘You lost to St. Louis in the snow! What?’”
Beyond the team’s success, though, he wants to grow the sport in Mississippi, organizing as many tournaments as he can and bringing in schools from all over.
Last fall, he organized a 24-team “Cowbell Classic” in Tupelo, with teams coming from across the Southeast.
“This is not usually the first place you think of when you think of frisbee,” Archer said. “We’re real passionate about it. … I like to call us the flagship program of the state.”
600 miles for glory
Purdue’s team traveled 9 1/2 hours and more than 600 miles from its West Lafayette, Indiana, campus, by far the furthest of any team. For its trouble, the squad tied for third, falling in a tight game to Auburn in the semifinals.
If the Undue (the chosen name for the club team) wants to play much this time of year, certain sacrifices are necessary.
“In the winter, it’s a little chilly, little windy, little snowy in the Midwest,” sophomore club president Kevin Asaro said. “So you’ve got to make the trip if you want to play in anything remotely like nice weather.”
The second seed won its first match and led Berry at halftime Saturday morning, with boisterous battle yells marking the team’s serious tone.
“We’re ready to compete,” Asaro said. “We’ve got grit. We play hard. We play physical and we aspire to win every single point – really demoralize the other team with our play.
“Boiler up,” he added.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
