Four Peaks wins Southwest Brewfest

The first Southwest Brewfest was held Saturday November 8th, 2009 at Tempe Marketplace. It included a cornhole tournament hosted by Cornhole Arizona. Cornhole Arizona has been absent from the local cornhole scene for many months after a period of throwing the best tournaments in the state.

Twenty teams showed up to play. Most were not those who’ve been frequenting other tournaments around the valley. There were many new faces and possibly some new contenders. Some of the stronger teams included John and David of ‘Four Peaks’ and Vic and Doug of ‘Cornaholics’. Shay Lewis, one of the most skilled and oft-winning players in the valley showed up as well, breaking in a new partner Tristan who was playing his first tournament.

The tournament seemed to be put together hastily. A few obvious glitches might have scared off some top teams. Chief among them was probably the Brewfest itself and it’s high cost. At $40 for the Brewfest, even the very reasonable $15 entry fee for the tournament looked steep . It turned out that it was a moot point however. The Brewfest backpedaled on the entry fee by making $25 tickets available from local mechants. It also turned out that the fee was not an entry fee but rather a beer fee, so those who wanted to play the tournament sober weren’t forced to buy tickets too. Foreknowledge of that fact would have been welcome news and could have attracted more competitive teams.

There were also a few glitches during the tournament due to inexperience by the Hosts, Renee and Bill, who were not accustomed to running an event on their own – Rich and Brendon were not present. Hats off however to Renee and Bill who, other than the mishap with the brackets, ran  an impressively organized and professional tournament. It started on time. There was no excessive waiting around. Courts were all used efficiently. Players were briefed on the rules. And the teams and spectators, mostly drinkers, were allowed to have plenty of good fun, but were also controlled when they got too far out of line. Conflicts were kept to a minimum and resolved quickly and amicably.

Playing conditions were good for the most part. Cornhole Arizona boards were used, which are always welcome. Bags were fully broken in, a bit worn, but nothing to complain about. Courts were set up to ACA/ACO standards. There were just three minor nuisances. First, the lack of scoring towers made it a bit harder than necessary keep everyone agreed on the score. Second, the proximity of the band (who were pretty good!) made it nearly impossible to communicate during play. And finally, it was just plain hot! It seemed like it was over 90 on the field. There were also a few complaints that the tournament was single elimination rather than double. A double-elimination tournament might have been better with the small number of teams, but best-of-three game matches assured that every team played at least twice anyway.

The tournament started smoothly and on time. There were no obvious upsets in the first two rounds. There was no seeding that I was aware of, but it turned out apparently by accident, that none (or few) of the top teams eliminated each other in the first two rounds. After two rounds there were five teams remaining. Four Peaks, Cornaholics, Pause and Toss, Miller Lite, and Team America. No byes were assigned beforehand. So at this point, an 8-team bracket was begun with three byes awarded to three of the five teams at random. The two teams that had to play the extra round turned out to be the two strongest in the tournament, Four Peaks and Cornaholics.

It was a shame that one of these teams would have to be eliminated so early and be relegated to 5th place, but that also made this one match exceptionally meaningful and poignant. Vic and Doug of Cornaholics hadn’t played together in about six weeks. While John and David had been winning a number of tournaments in recent months and playing together fairly regularly. Vic had a monster of a week leading up to the tournament. He threw some outstanding SCRs (one over 100pts and several in the high 90s). He also had a night of domination at Four Peaks that included four straight wins over John and 5 four-baggers, and he was on fire throughout the week. He opened the tournament in the same fashion, tossing bags effortlessly into the hole. Doug opened well also scoring easily off of John. Vic and Doug quickly had a 14-1 lead on David and John in game one! John continued to struggle badly and Doug took advantage. But David rose to the challenge. It was up to David to outscore Vic to keep Four Peaks in the game. He managed to get a few points each round, scoring 9 to Vic’s 8, 10 to Vic’s 7, and so on over and over, including many high-point washes. Eventually the game was tied 20-20. There were a number of washes at that point when it came down to Doug and John. Doug threw one short (a blocker), and both players threw the rest of their bags on the board for what should have been another wash. John just needed to land his last bag on the board to keep the hopes of the comeback alive. But instead he threw one wobbly that landed off-center and slid off the side to give Vic and Doug the game. It was John and David’s only loss of the tournament. The next two games were won fairly handily by Four Peaks to take the match. It was all David. He carried John who struggled to adjust to the bags and distance, throwing everything either long off the board, or short of the hole.

In the next round, Shay and Tristan of Pause and Toss faced Team America. The experienced Shay and his inexperienced partner were up against two more-equally experienced opponents. Shay would have to outscore his opponent while Tristan attempted to hold off his. It went to three games, and the third game was close (13-13 last I checked). Pause and Toss had a few chances but Team America edged them out to make the finals.

Meanwhile in a battle to prove which beer is superior, Four Peaks met Miller Lite. Honed by their last match with Cornaholics, Four Peaks came out strong. The David Scorfest continued with a couple more four-baggers, and almost all 9s or 10s. John was recovering slowly, but still gave up a couple points here and there. Four Peaks won easily in two games by a combined score of 42-4(?). The Miller Lite guys were actually pretty decent players and very good sports who just ran into David at the wrong time.

It was Four Peaks against Team America in the finals. There was some time to loosen up before the match and John used it to get comfortable and re-focused. He scored an opening five points in the first game and David continued to outscore his opponent as well, though not nearly at the pace he’d set for himself in the previous two matches. Team America played well, holing multiple bags on many occasions and scoring points occasionally against both John and David. But John was playing more confidently and David was comfortable knowing he could score big if needed. Both were beating their opponents consistently. David was disappointed with his play in the finals, not tossing  his usual 8, 10, even 12 point rounds, but he didn’t get close to being outscored. While David slowly outscored his opponent, John redeemed himself a little by contributing some high scoring rounds, including a final round with three consecutive over-the-top dunks and a fourth that just missed.

Results:

1. Four Peaks (John and David) [$50 cash and KUPD coupon each]
2. Team America [$25 cash and KUPD coupon each]
3. Pause and Toss (Shay and Tristan) – beat Miller Lite in playoff [KUPD gift basket and $25 gift certs]
4. Miller Lite