Over-The-Line Tournament : Doctor’s Choice Collects Crown and Serves Notice

When the Clairemont Surf Shop Hot Rocks team was eliminated early from the final day of the over-the-line tournament, an OTL era had ended.

It wasn’t so much the four-time defending champions’ loss that signaled a new era. Instead, it was the victory by a team composed of players in their mid-20s.

Doctor’s Choice, whose oldest player is 25, swept the men’s open division to win the 34th annual World Championship over-the-line tournament at Fiesta Island Sunday. An estimated 80,000 spectators watched the two-weekend event.

Doctor’s Choice (Phil Zimmerman, Mike Poteet and Craig Engleman) beat Zip’s Team Bozo (Mike Garrison, David Navarro and Mike Wright) for the championship. In the women’s open division, Pennant (Johanna Helm, Lynn Matson and Pam Rankin) won its second straight championship, beating Rubio’s Tasty Tacos (Tammy Collins, Julie Dossett and Kim Osuna).

The Hot Rocks team of Chuck Cromar, Willie Matson and Kevin Murray, had dominated the annual event. But Sunday, Hot Rocks suffered its second defeat to Pat’s Ski and Sport.

Matson said his team never found the ever-important rhythm associated with playing the five-inning softball-type game. He also cited the influx and strength of younger teams.

“The game is catching up with us,” Matson, 33, said. “We used to get by on our talent alone. We also could go to the beach everyday if we wanted to. It was a big part of our lives.

“Now we’re married and we have kids. The young guys can go play while we stay at home with the fire and the hot chocolate. If we go down to the beach, it’s with the kids. We’ll hit a couple of balls and then go back to watch the kids.”

Matson and his teammates were reduced to watching kids late Sunday afternoon. These “kids,” however, played for Doctor’s Choice.

Zimmerman, 25, Poteet, 24, and Engleman, 23, are the new OTL kings. Doctor’s Choice ended the final game in a spectacular manner when Poteet dived to catch a ball deflected by Zimmerman, who was playing the front line.

Hot Rocks has traditionally been known as the team with the best defense, but with the play of Doctor’s Choice Sunday, that, too, could change.

“It’s a new trend,” said Zimmerman, who played baseball with Poteet at Mar Vista High School and United States International University. “The young teams are finally here.”

Said Dean Dahl, 28, of Pat’s Ski and Sport: “I hate to see the young teams win. In the last two years, there have been 20 good young teams and I’ve seen the number of younger players triple. In the past, all the good teams were 25-plus. It takes that long to get to the top.”

Mike Curren, organizer of the first OTL tournament, said the rise of the younger teams had to be expected.

“That happens in any sport,” Curren said. “Young guys come up and they finally end up winning. The young kids seemed to get psyched out. Their skills may be equal to the older guys, but their minds aren’t.

“When they come up against the hot teams that have been around for awhile, they sit in awe. But, like this year, they eventually bust in there.”