Shoot Off!

When it comes to gunning for the national title in Handicap Trap, it's one of those 'been there, done that' situations for the North Scott Trap Club. North Scott took the title last year, one of the five national titles the team from Eldridge, Iowa claimed. This year it's a slightly different story. After breaking 881 of their 1,000 targets, North Scott had to go to a shoot off. But the odds were definitely in North Scott's favor considering the shoot off pitted North Scott's Red Squad against their Gray Squad. According to Coach Eric Long, this too was a 'been there, done that' situation as his shooters have often faced each other in both individual and team shoot offs throughout the season. "It's something we run into once in a while," Long explained. And though he admitted having two teams in the shoot off for the national title is awesome, he conceded it's also "kinda bittersweet" watching one of his squads defeat another in head-to-head competition.

So how did the shoot off go? After the flip of the coin the five member Red Squad took the field to face their 125 targets, dropping 15 to finish with 110. Then it was the Gray Squad's turn. After three rotations and just 10 targets left to shoot, the Gray Squad had dropped 12 targets. Then the official's "lost bird" call put them 13 down with just seven targets remaining. Then another "lost bird" call came, putting the Gray Squad four targets from the title, three from another shoot off and anything less put them second, handing the title to their teammates. With the title on the line the Gray Squad took four shots and broke four targets, giving them a final count of 111 targets and, most importantly, the 2017 SCTP Varsity Division National Handicap Trap Title.