Monastery Tournament Results

Lois and Brian of the USACL hosted a Secret Santa tournament at the Monastery in East Mesa to benefit BACA (Bikers Against Child Abuse) with a combined toy drive and cornhole tournament.

Joe, board maker and fellow host, couldn’t make it because his wife was having a baby – congralutions, it’s a boy! It was the first USACL tournament to take place at the Monastery. It was disappointing that a mere seven teams showed up to play. But it was a great tournament with some tough competition. And a lot of money and toys were collected for the kids. All those who contributed a $10 toy or cash were entered into a raffle. The winner received a leather carrying bag and a bunch of gift certificates to local businesses.

The tournament was double elimination, best 2 of 3 matches. It was played on the volleyball courts (sand). The boards were provided by California Beanbags and were excellent as usual. The bags were also conducive to good play, being a bit heavy and a bit large. They tended to slide judiciously and bunch up over the holes when added drama or skills tests were called for.

Strong teams included Four Peaks (John and David), Cornaholics (Vic and Doug), and Dale and Terry (forgot the team name), the White Mountain Cornhole champs who made the trip down just to play the best ‘flatlanders’ 🙂 The tournament also marked the return of Mike ‘The Round Hound of Hole-Bound’ who teamed up with Dale in their first team effort back on the circuit.

It was an intense tournament at times so it’s hard for a participant to recount the highlights, but here goes. The luck of the draw pitted Four Peaks against Dale and Terry in the first round. Dale and Terry played strong and demonstrated why they win most of the tournaments up in Overgaard. But David and John got past them due to the fortunate timing of some big rounds. The match went three games. In the first, Four Peaks dominated with some high-point rounds right off the bat. The mountain men came back in game two with a big early lead before John’s four bagger turned a 17-11 lead into a 17-19 deficit, only for Dale to clean it up in his next round. Not to be outdone, in the deciding third game David opened with an impressive 11-point round over Terry setting up a Four Peaks coast to victory. Also in the first round Mike and Dale won their first match together and Vic and Doug advanced as well.

In the second round Four Peaks played Cornaholics in the first of three matches that would prove to be highly competitive. After last week’s key loss to John and David at the Brewfest, Vic and Doug decided to try matching up Doug vs. David and Vic vs. John. The strategy would be for Doug to try to slow down David while Vic tried scoring big on John. Doug proved up to the challenge. Vic played strong and aggressive, engaging John in a high scoring shoot-out and coming out ahead more often than not to give Doug control. Doug responded by throwing well-placed blockers time and again on his first shot. David had to play more conservatively and was certainly slowed down, if not altogether neutralized for short periods. Meanwhile, John could not do the same to Vic due to board conditions, and Vic keenly took advantage of his historically proven pattern of coming out hot when matching up against John. Four Peaks won the first game, but just barely. Then in a stunning proof of their strategy, Vic and Doug took the second game 21-2! But Four Peaks righted themselves in the third game and won the match by a comfortable margin.

Also in the second round Mike and Dale “MD MVPs” lost to Ray and Greg. It was Ray’s first appearance at one of the events we’ve taken part in. He’s an avid fan, board-maker, Jersey’s regular and solid layer. Greg was a first time player who had no trouble hitting the dunks to keep things tight as Ray cleaned up with some consistent sliding.

The winners side final match came down to Ray and Greg vs. John and David. Four Peaks won in two straight by comfortable margins due to simply having too much combined firepower up against unevenly experienced opponents.

On the losers side, Dale and Terry eliminated Mike and Dale and advanced to meet Vic and Doug who eliminated a team I unfortunately didn’t get to meet (or recall 🙂 In the match between Cornaholics and Dale and Terry, Cornaholics dominated, marking the first time Vic and Doug beat Dale and Terry. Next Vic and Doug took care of Ray and Greg to set up the finals between Cornaholics and Four Peaks.

It was true double elimination, so Cornaholics would have to beat Four Peaks in two straight best-of-three matches to win the tournament. Cornaholics continued their strategy that worked so well in the first round. Doug played as well as ever, blocking perfectly then sliding into the open hole whenever it was available. Vic played his usual shoot-out style effectively as well. Cornaholics beat Four Peaks in the first match to set up the true finals. In the final match the scoring was very high as each team threw 8s, 9s, and 10s consistently to set up a more offensively styled series. The scoring balance tipped slightly in favor of Four Peaks who got first place.

1st: Four Peaks (John and David) $100

2nd: Cornaholics (Vic and Doug) $60

3rd: Ray and Greg

4th: Dale and Terry