2024 PDFA Discflect World Championship Results

The Pro teams all played a total of 15 games in Pool Play in order to determine their seed for the bracket. The #1 seed was Stallion Survivors (Eric Klavoon & Jon Sandino), with a record of 14-1 along with four perfect games and an impressive PPR of 5.17. Rizzo/A. Cybulski also finished at 14-1, but lost their head-to-head game against E. Klavoon/Sandino to land the #2 seed. Close behind was Blue Rays, consisting of Kyle Merrifield & Austin Matteson, who finished 3rd at 13-2, and just barely missed a three-way tie for #1 after losing their final game of pool play.

In the first round of the bracket, teams competed in a best-of-5 series. All the higher seeds won to move on, with all but two of the series coming as 3-0 sweeps. The other two series were 3-1, with #8 seed Captains Crunch (Timothy Burns & Matthew Cherwonik) defeating #9 seed, Mustached Grandpas (Jim Daugherty & Tim Klavoon) and #3 seed Blue Rays winning against #14 seed, Total discheads (Micah Fairbanks & Jacob Fairbanks).

In the Quarter-finals, every series resulted in a 3-0 sweep with the higher seed winning all of them. E. Klavoon/Sandino (#1) defeated Burns/Cherwonik (#8), #4 seed, The Zoo (Ed McKeon & Terry Malloy) took down #5 seed and long-time veterans, PHILorkus (Josh Greenauer & Phil Schneider), and Merrifield/Matteson (#3) defeated #6 seed, Team Rebels (Dan Klavoon & Brian Licht), a team that last played together back in 2008! In the final matchup, Rizzo/A. Cybulski (#2) had their toughest battle of the tournament in a series against last year’s 3rd place team, Sweaty Discs (#7 seed, Chad Cowell & Evan Sardo). In that series, all three games went to overtime, with the final two games going multiple rounds before Rizzo/A. Cybulski won the series.

With four teams left, this set up the Semi-finals best-of-7 series under the lights. In the first series, E. Klavoon/Sandino (#1) took on McKeon/Malloy (#4). After getting out to an early 3-0 series lead, E. Klavoon/Sandino completed the sweep after defeating McKeon/Malloy in overtime in Game 4. The other series was a rematch of 2023’s Pro World Finals, with Rizzo/A. Cybulski (#2) taking on the #3 seed of Merrifield/Matteson. After a close win in Game 1 by a score of 21-19 and following up with another win in Game 2, Rizzo/A. Cybulski took an early 2-0 series lead. Game 3 would be the longest game of the entire tournament, where both teams battled through 6 overtime rounds before Rizzo/A. Cybulski won by a final score of 53-51. In Game 4, Rizzo/A. Cybulski won in overtime to advance to the World Finals yet again.

In the 3rd Place game, Merrifield/Matteson (#3) took on McKeon/Malloy (#4). In a close game, Merrifield/Matteson (#3) won by a score of 21-17 to lock up a 3rd place finish. There were also consolation games for other knocked out teams in the top 16, as these additional matches determined final rankings in the tournament (see bottom of Bracket for all consolation games).

The stage was set for the Pro World Finals best-of-7 series: E. Klavoon/Sandino (#1) vs Rizzo/A. Cybulski (#2). Fittingly the #1 vs the #2 seed, it also saw two teams with the same record heading into the Finals, both teams at 24-1 including both Pool and Bracket Play. Some historic notes: This was the 3rd time these two teams would face off in the World Finals, having previously done so in 2019 and 2022. For E.Klavoon/Sandino, it is their 6th World Finals appearance as a team (14th for E. Klavoon), and for Rizzo/A. Cybulski, it is also their 6th World Finals appearance.

In Game 1, both teams played a smart game catching just one errant throw each and closing out in just four rounds. The game went to triple overtime by a final score of 41-38, where Rizzo/A. Cybulski won to take an early series lead. In Game 2, Rizzo threw it into the slot when going for 2-pointer to close out, but the disc popped out the top to give E. Klavoon/Sandino a chance to close out, which they did. In overtime, Rizzo/A. Cybulski shot four points, but it was enough to win as E. Klavoon/Sandino failed to match. In the next two games, Rizzo/A. Cybulski kept the momentum going, outpacing E. Klavoon/Sandino to sweep the series 4-0 and claim the crown.

For Young Guns, Rizzo/A. Cybulski, it is their record-tying 4th consecutive Discflect World title, matching the run that “Dorkus Malorkus” (Josh Greenauer & Bob Greenauer) had from 2001-2004 in discflect’s early days. Overall, it also gives them five World titles total, which is the most by any team since 1999. Including the early “garbage can” era of the 1990s, it also ties them with another legendary team “Rochester Killer Bees,” composed of Kevin Shaffer & Scott Punter, who also had five total World titles.