Racks On The Rocks in West Peoria, IL was action central this past weekend!
Local sponsors made it all happen – they include Beast Mode Productions, Heartland Marketing, River City ACS, Country Hearth & Home, Skinner Excavating and Xyngular.
Owned by Heather and Rob Williams, they hosted a nine ball challenge match to kick off the weekend. Chicago’s Mark Jarvis and Racks On The Rocks’ own Judex James played a race to 21 for the cheese. Two foul roll out was the name of the game!
When all was said and done, Mark took it down 21-10. Thanks to both players for a well-played match!
The main event – the $10,000 Eight Ball Challenge – began on Friday night. Played on seven foot Diamonds, the format was take what you make with races to 21 – best out of five sets. Eight ball specialist Corey Deuel gave challenger Abrin Schaad of Peoria, IL two games on the wire each set.
Corey easily won the first set 21-14 but Abrin answered the next day with a 21-16 victory.
Taking no prisoners, Corey pounded Abrin 21-9 in the third set. Not willing to go down easily, Abrin hammered Corey 21-11 in the fourth!
One final set for it all!!!
Battling back and forth, the match tied at ten apiece. Still neck and neck, Corey slipped out to a 17-14 lead. Abrin fought back to trail 18-16, then 18-17 and tied it up at eighteen each!!!
Tied again at 19-19, Corey made his move. Moving ahead to the hill, he broke but it was not an easy layout. Corey then proceeded to make one of the best outs I’ve ever seen to win the match 21-19!
Check out the last four balls:
What a match!!!
Although Abrin has to be disappointed, no one is going to ask “Abrin who?” after this!!! Congratulations to both men for a well-played match!!!
PoolActionTV.com would like to thank Josh Suits and his staff for rolling out the red carpet for all of us. We’d also like to thank Larry Schwartz and Ray Hansen for their commentary.
We’d also like to thank our own fans and sponsors for making this all possible. Our sponsors include JB Cases, Hanshew Jump Cues, Lomax Custom Cues, StraightPoolEye, Durbin Custom Cues, Aramith, Simonis, Diamond Billiard Products, the Action Palace of Dayton, OH, Fort Worth Billiards Superstore of Fort Worth, TX and, or course, Racks On The Rocks.
Our next stop is the Iron City Open featuring $1,000 added One Ball One Pocket, $7,000 added One Pocket, $5,000 added Open Nine Ball and $3,000 added Ladies Nine Ball! Making his attendance, the legendary BCA and One Pocket Hall of Famer Efren Reyes will be there! Dates are January 4-9th!!!
World’s Largest Pool League Awards More Than $750,000
Poolplayers looking for yet another opportunity to make it to Vegas are finding their way there by competing in the APA Poolplayer Championships. More than 2,500 players made their way to the Westgate Resort & Casino in Las Vegas in early May for APA’s annual spring event.
Poolplayers from 49 states and two countries competed for nearly $750,000 in five events: the 8-Ball Classic, 9-Ball Shootout, 8 and 9-Ball Doubles Championships and the Wheelchair Championship.
After five days of nearly non-stop action, 12 new champions had cemented their poolplaying legacy by taking home an APA title.
The final round of the 9-Ball Shootout featured four championship matches, one for each Skill Level Tier, with two shooters in each tier competing for $10,000 in cash and prizes.
In the Green Tier, Robbie Schreckengost of Kearneysville, W.V., defeated Donavan Balan of Hacienda Heights, Calif. In the White Tier, Bryan Marcum of Worthington, Ohio, defeated Shareef Chandler-El of Schaumburg, Ill. In the first year of the newly added Gray Tier, Edward Arciniega of National City, Calif., defeated Terry Lecreux of Toronto. In the Black Tier, Dustin Gunia of Omaha, Neb., defeated William Gallagher Jr. of Atco, N.J.
Each of the three Champions received a cash and prize package worth $10,000. Runners-Up in each tier took home a prize package worth $5,000.
Jerry Brown of St. Petersburg, Fla., received the Sportsmanship Award in the 9-Ball Shootout.
More than 4,000 poolplayers made it to the Regional Level of the 9-Ball Shootout before the field was whittled down to the 483 who advanced to Las Vegas.
Nearly 6,000 players throughout North America qualified for Regional competition in the 8-Ball Classic, with 692 of them advancing to the championships.
In the finals of the 8-Ball Classic, five champions each took home a cash and prize package worth $15,000 for their performances.
In the Blue Tier, Karla Garcia of Miami, Fla., defeated Noemi Rodriguez of Chicago, Ill. In the Yellow Tier, Jesse Garcia of Joliet, Ill., defeated Christian Delgado of Winter Springs, Fla. In the Red Tier, Lawrence Samuel of Ocala, Fla., defeated Garrett Hogue of Forney, Texas. In the Orange Tier, Nazario Aguilar of Chicago, Ill., defeated James Sevion of Montgomery, Ala. In the Purple Tier, Abrin Schaad of Pekin, Ill., defeated David Barnes of Denton, Md.
First Place winners received cash and prizes worth $15,000. Each Runner-Up received cash and prizes worth $9,000.
Shannon Peek of Sealy, Texas, won the Sportsmanship Award in the 8-Ball Classic.
In the 8-Ball Doubles Championship, Swamp Donkeys – Ralph Serode and Jeff Waterman– of Taunton, Mass., defeated Drunk Tank – Scott Esposito and Vince Boettger– of Chicago, Ill. The victory earned them a $5,000 payday. As Runners-Up, Drunk Tank took home $3,000.
In the 9-Ball Doubles Championship, PFLS – David Griffin and Henry Sevcik– of Fayetteville, N.C., defeated Kidless in Vegas – Brittany Blomlie and Wes Mancil– of Ocala, Fla. The victory earned them a $3,500 payday. As Runners-Up, Kidless in Vegas took home $2,300.
In the finals of the Wheelchair Championship, Charlie Hans of Harrison, Ohio, defeated Earl Hessbrook of Spring Branch, Texas, to take home $2,000 in prize money. Hessbrook received $1,200 as the Runner-Up.
The final of each championship round was live-streamed (courtesy of PoolDawg) and can be viewed online at http://www.youtube.com/apaleagues.
The APA, based in Lake Saint Louis, Mo., sanctions the world’s largest amateur pool league, known as the APA Pool League throughout the United States, and as the Canadian Pool League in Canada. Nearly 250,000 members compete in weekly 8-Ball and 9‑Ball League play. The APA is generally recognized as the Governing Body of Amateur Pool, having established the official rules, championships, formats and handicap systems for the sport of amateur billiards.
The APA produces four major tournaments each year—the APA World Pool Championships, the APA Poolplayer Championships, the APA Junior Championships and the U.S. Amateur Championship—that, together, pay out nearly $2 Million in cash and prizes annually!
The APA and its championships are sponsored by Aramith, Action Cues, PoolDawg and Valley-Dynamo.
The U.S. Amateur Championship is all about legacy, leaving your mark in a tournament contested by some of the best amateur players to ever pick up a cue stick – names like Parks, Brodt, Chen and Jones.
Pool tournaments come and go, but securing the title of U.S. Amateur Champion is something you carry with you forever, literally. Not only does it stand out on an amateur billiard resume, but your name is forever added to the Trophy of Champions for generations to come.
Legacy is what drove more than 2,100 of North America’s top amateur players to try and qualify for the 25th Annual event. That’s what brought 128 men and 41 women to Stroker’s in Palm Harbor, Fla., in early November to compete in this year’s U.S. Amateur Championship.
Of course there were some great perks too. Like a getaway to the Tampa area, one of the premier vacation destinations in the world, at a time when most of the country is experiencing their first taste of winter. An all-expenses paid trip to a pro event next year courtesy of the APA for the winners of each division.
And let’s not forget the championship trophy – a combination of marble and bronze that more closely resembles a piece of art than something won in a pool tournament.
Hurricane Abe Takes U.S. Amateur Championship by Storm
There’s a new kid in town, and his name is Abrin Schaad. The 26-year-old from Peoria, Ill., took this year’s U.S. Amateur Championship field by storm earning the nickname “Hurricane Abe” in the process. Schaad went undefeated, winning seven matches, and knocking five-time champion Brian Parks to the one-loss bracket along the way.
He defeated fellow “young gun” Mike Leigh of Barrie, Ontario in the final round 11-3, after handing Leigh his first loss of the tournament just two rounds prior.
In the championship match, Schaad opened up an 8-0 lead in the 8-Ball set before Leigh finally got on board in the first game of the 9-Ball set. By then though, the outcome seemed but a mere formality. Schaad ultimately closed out one of the most dominating finals performances in U.S. Amateur Championship history with a 9-on-the-snap to cap the victory.
Schaad will move on to compete in a 2019 Pro Event courtesy of APA, and, more importantly, his name will be added to the Larry Hubbart Trophy, forever cementing his legacy as a U.S. Amateur Champion.
Leigh finishes as the Runner-up, his highest finish in the U.S. Amateur Championship.
One hundred-twenty eight players competed in this year’s U.S. Amateur Championship including eight former champions.
[photo id=50533|align=right]Cossette Takes Down Reigning Champ in Epic Hill-Hill Battle
Lisa Cossette of Rockwell, N.C., defeated reigning champion Melinda Huang of Los Angeles in a hill-hill battle by a score of 9-8. She’ll advance to a pro event next year.
That’s how the story ends. But, how it unfolded is a tale that will go down as one of the most epic showdowns in U.S. Amateur Championship history.
The opening act begins late on the final day of competition in the hot-seat match, with both players undefeated and the winner heading to the championship match, while the loser would have to square-off in a play-in semifinal.
Huang, the defending champion, and savvy veteran of many U.S. Amateur Championship matches, outlasted Cossette 5-4 in a hill-hill battle that would serve as the opening act for what was to come.
Cossette then battled her way back by ousting Tina Hess in the semifinal round, setting up a rematch between herself and Huang.
In the finale, Huang jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the extended race-to-9. Cossette then found her stroke and took the next four games and a 4-3 lead. That lead was short-lived as Huang quickly won the next three games, regaining the lead 6-4. Then it was once again Cossette’s turn to go on a run, winning the next four games to go on-the-hill. Like a true champion, Huang wasn’t going down without a fight. She took the next two games, to force one final game, where the winner would take all.
In the final game, Huang was at the table with no clear shot on the 4-ball which was blocked by the 9-ball and the 5-ball. Rather than give her opponent ball-in-hand, Huang attempted an aggressive shot that would have been remarkable if she could execute it. Unfortunately, however, she fouled. With ball-in-hand, and the 4-ball no longer tied up, Cossette ran out the table for the victory.
After nearly four hours, Cossette had avenged the earlier loss to Huang and captured her first Women’s U.S. Amateur Championship title.
Huang finished as the Runner-up while Tina Hess of Huntsville, Ala., finished in 3rd Place.
Forty-one ladies competed in this year’s Women’s U.S. Amateur Championship, including three former champions.
Match coverage, including the finals, of this year’s U.S. Amateur Championship and Women’s U.S. Amateur Championship can be found on the APA YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/apaleagues. Streaming for the U.S. Amateur Championship was sponsored by PoolDawg.com.
The entry window for the 2019 U.S. Amateur Championship is now open with the Preliminary Rounds scheduled across North America in mid-September.
The U.S. Amateur Championship is conducted by the APA, and is the only tournament produced by the APA open to both members and non-members. Preliminary qualifying rounds were held throughout the country in mid-September.
As Champions, both Schaad and Cossette will return next year to defend their coveted titles.
The U.S. Amateur Championship is a double elimination tournament that offers the nation’s top amateur players the opportunity to showcase their skills through a combination of 8-Ball and 9-Ball matches, in the only APA event that does not use The Equalizer® handicap system.
The APA, based in Lake Saint Louis, Mo., sanctions the world’s largest amateur pool league, with leagues throughout the United States, Canada and Japan. Nearly 250,000 members compete in weekly 8-Ball and 9-Ball League play. The APA is generally recognized as the Governing Body of Amateur Pool, having established the official rules, championships, formats and handicap systems for the sport of amateur billiards.
The APA produces four major tournaments each year—the APA World Pool Championships, the APA Poolplayer Championships, the APA Junior Championships and the U.S. Amateur Championship—that, together, pay out more than $2 Million in cash and prizes annually!
The APA and its championships are sponsored by Aramith, Action Cues, Pool Dawg and Valley-Dynamo.
To register for next year’s U.S. Amateur Championship, visit https://usam.poolplayers.com/. For more information on the American Poolplayers Association, visit https://poolplayers.com/.
