Fast Takes with FastBreak: Houston vs Kansas City
By: Brandon Borges and Kaden Roberts
Introduction
Major League Quadball’s Frontier Division starts up in Topeka, Kan., as the Kansas City Stampede play host to the Houston Legends June 13th. While many divisional series can be described as “rivalries,” very few match the heat of competition between the Stampede and the Legends.
Hard tackles, vocal taunting and close games are virtually promised in this series, as Kansas City looks to live up to their championship-caliber expectations and Houston looks to make good on years of improvement and talent acquisition.
The bitter heat of Southern US summers often requires teams in the division to play as deep as possible. This allows MLQ faithful to get a look at a majority of the players on both teams and how those players gel with teammates and employ the team's strategies.
Every series between the Stampede and Legends is required viewing for all who want to see true quadball competition and this upcoming series will be no different. Here is a primer for who and what to look for during the series.
Don’t Rush the Bulls
Kansas City has a lot of reasons to be confident going into this series. Last season, the Stampede brought a limited roster to Texas and beat the Legends three times. While somewhat tripped up by solid point defense and coaching strategy by Legends Head Coach Brandon Kubena, Kansas City was able to attack vulnerable areas of Houston’s defense, nail some great long shots, pressure the Legends’ ball carriers with dodgeball control and keep tempo on their side to come away with the sweep.
Now, with home-field advantage, as well as an upgraded roster, this series could be looked at as a showcase of the Stampede’s dominance rather than a competitive back-and-forth contest. However, while pundits may be free to view the series that way, Kansas City has to be very careful not to come into their battle against Houston with that mindset.
The Stampede’s beater corps looks dominant on paper. Kansas City has accrued beating talent from several great USQ teams, such as Reign QC, Boom Train, Creighton and Mizzou. Kansas City dominated dodgeball control for long stretches of games in this series last season, and the only Houston beater whose average dodgeball stat was higher than 1.5, Sam Reagan, is not on the Legends’ season roster. But this is where pure stats and apparent talent can disguise what was a competitive beating series, as simply holding control and winning exchanges does not equate to winning games in and of themselves.
Houston’s hoop zone defense, captained by Kubena, meant that going only for beater exchanges does not clear up the space needed to guarantee goals. Beating against a hoop zone requires coordinated timing, both between a beater pair and between the beaters and chasers. Finding pockets to attack the hoop zone is a methodical process. This is where on-field leadership from the experienced beaters on the Stampede, such as Ryan Cleary and Purvi Mujumdar, will be most important this weekend. Mujumdar’s average dodgeball stat was the highest of all beaters during last year’s series against the Legends, and Cleary has played several high-stakes games against quality defenses. Veteran play at the beater position will be a valuable asset in this series. Mujumdar and Cleary will be able to provide that.
Keeping a balance of opening up the Legends’ defense with dodgeballs without putting the Kansas City dodgeballs in danger will be key in dictating tempo for the series. It will also stop dangerous speedsters like Riley Moehlmann from causing damage in the fast-break game.
Defensively, the Stampede have to be constantly vigilant against Houston’s beaters’ attempts to attack side-hoop defenders. Whether it is longtime beaters experienced in the Houston offense, like Caleigh Duvall, or fast beaters who can get into position and make beats quickly, like Javi Tijerina, the Legends are all about creating quick openings on the hoop to attack.
Clearing beaters out early and forcing Houston to work without even one dodgeball on offense will do Kansas City wonders. Keighlyn Johnson is an expert in forcing beaters out of plays, even without dodgeballs, as Johnson is a premier tackler at the position. It will be incumbent upon the younger beaters on the Stampede, such as talented Mizzou beaters Tayler Wiederhold and Addi Himmelman, to follow Johnson’s example and make the Legends’ beaters constantly uncomfortable.
Once those beaters are cleared out, that is when Boom Train standout Chanun Ong, longtime Kansas City beater Justin Dewick, and young, quick-footed talents Miles Himmelman and Derek Dearking can rack up the stops. Ong and Dewick earned 11 stops between the two of them during their last encounter with the Legends and many younger Stampede beaters would love to demonstrate their skills during this series.
Kansas City’s revamped chaser corps has become the proverbial talk of the town. Ryan Mehio and Riley Usami are nationally acclaimed talents who have heightened expectations of greatness from the Stampede, and for good reason. Mehio’s passing and driving and Usami’s scoring and finishing are the stuff of champions. Talent like that, however, comes in handy more so in August, when coach Lauren Smith has had the opportunity to work with them for three months.
For this series early in the season, the Stampede’s chasers from last season, as well as some of the younger talent, will be more important to both rely on and recognize. To that end, Smith can lead by example as a fantastic open-field tackler and organizer of the offense and defense.
Houston employs a good deal of misdirection in their offense, and with the additions they have made at chaser, scoring can come from anywhere on the field. Smith’s ability to key into and pressure a ball carrier, as well as take away a passing option, can limit the time and variability of the Legends. That allows for stops to happen around the half-line, where scorers like Usami and Gregario Gomez can work against unsettled defenses and launch runs for the Stampede.
Jackson Herdade was critical in Kansas City’s wins over Houston last season. Herdade has six goals, six assists (highest in the series) and seven stops (also highest in the series) against the Legends in 2025. He is a player who has the full trust and support of a head coach, as well as an all-around talent who can perform a multitude of roles within play and system design. Herdade now joins the staff as an assistant coach, and his play and leadership will help the Stampede fall back on the formula they had during their last encounter with the Legends.
Of course, no one’s performance against Houston last season was as obviously impactful as that of scoring extraordinaire Vincent Reyes. Reyes’s combination of shooting, speed and vision overwhelmed the Legends last year, to the tune of 17 goals. For a single series in 2025, only Bryan Mulcahy matched that total. Reyes is, frankly, a nightmare for Houston. Even with a half-second of daylight against a rotating hoop zone, he can score. Expecting the perfectly timed defensive rotations that could stop Reyes from Houston this early in the MLQ season is ridiculous. Expect another stat-sheet-stuffing performance from Reyes as the Stampede look to repeat their sweep against the Legends this season.
Can the Legends Make History?
It's no secret that the Legends have some insanely tough competition, with the two other teams in their region, the Kansas City Stampede and the San Antonio Soldados, both ranked in FastBreak News’ top five MLQ teams. As such, many people have good reason to assume that the Legends' winless record from last year could continue into 2026.
However, there have been changes in Houston that could prove to be a turning point. The returning players from the 2025 Legends had stellar USQ seasons as part of the Texas Copperheads and Sam Houston State University. As part of Houston this summer, they will look to translate that development into MLQ success. Furthermore, as mentioned in the Legends season preview, there have been some strong additions to the Legends roster, with the highlights being Tijerina and Dylan “TJ” Farrow from UTSA, as well as Moehlmann and Milena Sousa from Texas Hill Country Heat. Other notable additions include rookies Daisy Alfaro and Sam Lehmann from SHSU, and Evan Ferchuck and Logan Farrow from UTSA.
Aside from the team’s talent, some of the Legends' biggest strengths come from their team composition and diversity in playing style. The team is able to bring 21 players to Topeka for the series, which is a feat given the distance the Houston-based players have to travel. While this may not seem important, this makes it easier for the coaching staff to play a deep rotation and keep player lines fresh.
As for the Legends' diversity in playing style, they have players who can do pretty much everything. On the beater side, their dominant and aggressive beaters like Connor Mason, Duvall and Tijerina can open space for their team to close the distance. Beaters such as Kevin Raber and Raymundo Nunez can easily adapt to any situation offensively or defensively. Rounding out the beaters are Alfaro and Sophia Araujo, who excel in cleaning up the plays and ensuring a goal.
The chasers aren't to be forgotten either, with a mix of incredibly fast chasers like Billy Nellums and Moehlmann able to easily close in on ball-carriers and pressure offenses. Nellums can also score in bunches, scoring seven goals against Kansas City last season. The speed of those aforementioned players plays well in tandem with Houston’s powerful chasers such as Chase Contreras, TJ Farrow and Ashton Butler. Those three chasers can muscle through opposing defenders en route to goals. It's safe to say the Legends are packing some serious heat.
Prediction
Brandon: Homefield advantage and serious upgrades to the talent pool would, on paper, spell a sweep for the Stampede. Kansas City ranks first on FastBreak News’ Power Rankings, while Houston comes in at a rather humble eighth. So this prediction could come as a shock to most, maybe even disrespectful to the presumed best team in the league. However, watching this series for the past two years, Houston has always put up a tremendous fight against Kansas City. Early-season matchups within MLQ have also seen several games come down to the wire, as teams feel out not only their opponent but their teammates in a non-practice environment. Houston has made upgrades to their roster, and Kubena deserves some respect as a head coach who puts his players in the best spots to succeed. Kansas City should come out ahead to win the series, but expect both teams to demonstrate just how dangerous and competitive the MLQ Frontier Division is.
2-1 Kansas City Stampede
Kaden: All in all, I can see this series going either way. The Legends have seen some serious upgrades and their players are hungry for victory following last season. Considering two of the Legends' games against the Stampede last season were close losses, the boost they received this year may be enough to push the Legends over the edge for victory. However, I am not too biased to see that this could go the same way it did last year. The Stampede is ranked No. 1 this year for a reason and they have been training just as hard. As for my prediction, I believe we’ll see a 2-1 scorecard in either team's favor, although I think the Legends have a fire in their hearts that can lead them to triumph.
2-1 Either Way
