187 cRew WINS WORLD CUP in D2 XBall!

187 cRew 1st Place D2 XBall World Cup 2010 (Photo Credit: Nick Martin, CXIPhoto)

We here at the New England Paintball Network would like to send a big congratulations to Upton 187 cRew for pulling off the hat trick and winning WORLD CUP!  Now, yes they did go undefeated at Cup but, it was no where near an easy road as it looked.  Owner, Dave Painter, gives us the lowdown on the battle that was had to make it to Sunday in an exclusive report for NEPbNet. 

upTon 187 cRew qualified 2nd for the quarterfinals and drew a tough bracket with Grad and Boom. Our first match was at 7:20AM against Boom, the PSP Phoenix Champions as well as strong playoff contenders at both the Chicago Open and MAO. After having beaten them in the semifinals in Chicago, we figured they would be looking for payback. Boom came out strong and took the first couple points from us. They looked determined to beat us. Regardless of what it was they had they took a quick lead and the momentum. We managed to fight back and win a few points. At the end of regulation it was tied 3 to 3 and we were headed into the overtime point. In overtime, there is no time limit – you play until there is a winner, so we came out ready for a long battle. Both teams played tight off the break and dug in their bunkers – waiting to make one or two key eliminations. Lucky for us, we were able to capitalize on their mistakes and we powered our way through for a victory with a 4 to 3 win.

Our second match was against Grad. They had already beaten Boom earlier, so the winner of this match would move on to the final four. The Russians quickly jumped out to a 2 to 0 lead and things were looking a bit shaky for us. The third point went our way but could have easily gone to Grad. Trailing 1 to 2, we decided it was time to step on the gas and close out the match. We adjusted our game plan and managed to rattle off the next 4 points, unanswered, to win 5 to 2. Now it was time for the final four. Having won both our games with relatively close scores we ended up being seeded 3rd behind Distortion and No Limit with Noble in the 4th seed.

The match against No Limit was much like the Boom match – they jumped out to a quick lead and then we traded a few points back and forth. We ended up being up 4 to 3 with a little over a minute remaining. Unfortunately, we were unable to hold up and No Limit tied up the match with a few seconds remaining in regulation. We headed into over time once again. Off the break, Brian lost his mask and we were instantly down one man. Max was also shot out early but managed to take a No Limit player off the snake side with him. We were quickly fighting for our lives – down 3 bodies to 4. The momentum shifted after a key elimination off dorito side. This allowed Tien-Sy to quickly advance up a wide-open snake-side. The guys on upTon 187 cRew never panicked and managed to eliminate all the No Limit players and hang the flag. With the semifinal victory now behind us it was off to the Pro field to play the finals against Distortion.

Distortion was on a roll. They had given up only 6 points over 7 matches heading into the finals. We knew they had been playing great ball throughout the event. We had been scouting their play and felt we had come up with a solid game plan to combat their breakouts. This proved to be the case when their first breakout was exactly what we expected them to do. With that, we were able to grab the first few points taking 1 or 2 G’s off the break each time. Luckily, Distortion couldn’t make the adjustments quick enough and could only manage to win a couple points in the match. upTon 187 cRew took the match 5 to 2 and along with it their third PSP victory in as many events.

We’d like to thank all our sponsors for the support they’ve shown us over the year. Special thanks to:
- Fox 4 Paintball
- Planet Eclipse
- Empire
- RPS
- Kohn Sports

We are already looking forward to playing Division 1 PSP x-ball in 2011. 

Dave Painter, Owner - upTon 187 cRew

Congratulations to Upton 187 cRew on a fantastic season and the best of luck in Division 1 next year!