Lapena leads the way in Glass City

Al Lapena

Friday play is complete at the 2005 Glass City Open and the story of the day is Al Lapena. Lapena, a native Filipino, drew attention with his hill-hill win over Corey Deuel on Thursday and didn't slow down on Friday with a 10-8 win over Larry Nevel and then a 10-5 win over Danny Basavich.

Lapena will have his hands full on Saturday with a confident Earl Strickland who beat Shawn Putnam 10-3 and then Johnny Archer 10-7 on Friday. After the match with Archer, Earl exclaimed the 'The old Earl is back'. Strickland went on to comment that 'These young kids don't know how well I really play'. Strickland looks to be on a mission to show everyone in Ohio how well he can truly play.

In the other winners side match on Saturday, local favorite Steve McAninch will face Brandon Ashcraft. McAninch scored back to back 10-4 wins over Bobby Hunter and Tommy Kennedy on Friday while Ashcraft beat Nick Varner and Juan Garcia.

Online brackets are updated and look for more pictures from Diana Hoppe to be posted this weekend.