Rockin'Cocks take 2nd at PSP World Cup

Courtesy of Jani Anderson, Paintball Photography.com

World Cup 2012 preparation started for the Rockin’ Cocks in the cold winter months of February when it was agreed upon to play 2 events in the PSP series and attend World Cup 2012 in Polk City, Florida.  The team knew that if they wanted to succeed at World Cup they needed to have the dedication to practice regularly and attend some regional and local tournaments.   Various forms of the RC squad traveled throughout Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Illinois to participate in the CFOA pump series, PSP Chicago, and the Mid Atlantic open held in Chesapeake City.  It was a long several months leading up to World Cup, but it would turn out to payoff for the Rockin’ Cocks.

Courtesy of Jani Anderson, Paintball Photography.com

            Dana Colegrove (PigPen) and Joe Turner (Ninji) arrived in Florida on Thursday to take in all the sights and sounds of World Cup.  Thursday and Friday were filled with watching some divisional games and taking care of our paint deal, GI Sportz, and of course checking out the 10-man event.  Friday night the remaining team members Alex Myers (Amish), Scott Swartz (Scottie Don’t), Chris McDaniel (CMcD), and the weekend’s honorary member Brittney Miller arrived in Orlando.  Our last two teammates Patrick Flood (P Flood) and Kevin Peiper were already in Florida.  Saturday was filled with more divisional games, and walking through the trade show.  RC wrapped up at the event early on Saturday, so they could have a good team dinner and get their rest for Sunday.

            Saturday night the brackets were released and the times set for Sunday.  RC drew Dallas Notorious  (winner of PSP Galveston 2012), NBK, New Pump Invasion, and Blitzkrieg.  RC registered at 7 am and continued to prepare for their first game against Blitzkrieg.  RC started strong with its first win of round 1 in 2 minuets and 23 seconds.  The next team on the docket was NBK.  NBK had a very aggressive break out to S3 and D1, but RC didn’t panic and shot them out of their bunkers and hung the flag in 2 minutes and 32 seconds.  RC won its first point against New Pump Invasion. Dallas Notorious worked there way up the D-side to hand RC its first loss in Round 1. RC’s record after the first round was 3-1.

Courtesy of Jani Anderson, Paintball Photography.com

            The second round started with Blitzkrieg and RC closed them out in 3 minutes and 2 seconds.   RC knew that closing games out was key to getting a buy into the quarter finals, so we went out and finished off NBK and got a 36 second crazy win against New Pump Invasion.  Our final game in round two was against Dallas Notorious.  RC broke out to their initial bunkers and started battling it out with Dallas.  Kevin worked his way into S3 and Joe down the D-side.  RC got a few key K’s out of the D-side and center, but their snake player was holding it down.  Kevin ran down their snake and traded out, but got a 1 for 1 called on him for supposedly sliding back into the snake after he had been shot.  The refs pulled Pigpen leaving P-Flood and Amish.  P-Flood traded out with their back center leaving no one left for Dallas Notorious.  Amish thought that Patrick had grabbed the flag on the way through, hanging it once the back center was gone.  Unfortunately that was not the case as P-Flood traded out and everyone was gone on RC so we couldn’t tell Amish to get the Flag.  This chain of events happened rather quickly, so I could understand Amish’s confusion with people walking off the field.   Since we did not hang the flag the game resulted in a tie. 

Courtesy of Jani Anderson, Paintball Photography.com

            Since the second game with Dallas Notorious was a tie we needed to play a third game to break the tie.  Amish made up for the second game by coming out shooting like an AC-130 Gunship getting a 4 pack. Our win in game 3 was faster than Dallas’s 1^st game win, so RC finished the preliminaries 4-0 and in second place.  

            RC relaxed and scouted the other teams while they battled it out in the quarterfinals.  Once the dust settled RC was matched up against Biltz and the other matchup was Tennessee TrueBallers and TPG AllStarz.  RC broke out with Kevin in S1, Pigpen in God, P-Flood and Amish burning at home and Joe breaking out to the D-side.  RC traded out a K early and the 4 remaining locked down the field.  Blitz got another K and started to push down the field. RC tried to hold off the attack, but ended up with a 2 v 1.  After Blitz had the last K the flag was hung, but the hang was dirty resulting in a tie.  The second game went much like the first with another tie because of another dirty hang.  Since there were two tie games the third and final game would be and unlimited time game with the winner moving on.  RC broke out to their bunkers and started getting some K’s in the middle of the field.  This allowed Joe, Amish and P-flood to move up the field and get the last K’s sending us into the finals.

Courtesy of Jani Anderson, Paintball Photography.com

            The finals came down to showdown between the top ranked Tennessee TrueBallers and RC which was the second ranked team going into World Cup.  The first game RC went to their primary bunkers with Kevin in S1, Pigpen at God, Joe and Amish holding down the D-side and Patrick at the command center in the middle.  RC and Tennessee battled it out and tried to advance up the field, but each team was holding strong.  Pigpen got a K in S3 reliving some pressure on the D-side.  RC then began to work up the field leaving the last guy in S1.  P-flood advanced up the middle bunkering him out leaving 48 seconds on the clock.  The next game both teams got into their initial bunkers and started holding the field down.  The TrueBallers had someone at home, god, S1 and two on the D-side.  Their S1 moved into S3 and god S1 and home moved into the snake corner.  Our D-side was locked down and we locked their snake side down.  Tennessee got a K out of our D’s and we still held of the advance.  Time was running down and the TrueBallers made a push hanging the flag with 3 seconds to spare.  To no ones surprise the always-competitive pump division would end with a third came.  Both teams ended up using a similar approach as the previous game, but Pigpen went into S-corner to help control god and get Kevin farther down the snake.  Time was coming down to an end with only P-flood and Pigpen left.  Tennessee ended up shooting us both out and hanging the flag with 3 seconds left. 

            RC was upset that they had just lost in the finals, but after the dust had settled we realized that we fought hard all day. We played some really good teams from all over the US and Puerto Rico and showed that we could compete nationally in the PSP.  We would like to Thank Sandana, Exalt, Stiffi, Raza, GI SPortz, CCM, Pev’s, KPS, Fireduppaintball.com, Lifestyle Clothing, and MCB for providing us with some of the best gear and support as we competed in the PSP, CFOA and any other local and regional event we could squeeze in. RC had a great 2012 and hopefully a better 2013. 

Here's a short vid of RC on the podium: