Brandon Shuff, Loye Bolyard, Shaun Wilkie, Jake Lawson, Kenny Ruttman and Rick Scarlato
In yet another action-packed weekend of competitive pool, Brandon Shuff emerged as the winner of the Maryland State 9-Ball Championship. The event, which is owned and managed by On The Hill Productions, was held at the Champion Billiards Sports Bar in Frederick, MD during the weekend of May 4th-5th. This has been a successful year so far for Brandon. He recently finished 4th in the Barry Behrman Memorial in April and the VA State 10-Ball in February. In this tournament, he sailed through the field and dropped only one set to Shaun Wilkie, who came back from the B-side to try and claim the title. Brandon held firm and was able to lift the trophy in victory.
Not to be left out, the young guns also made their presence felt. Tournament-regulars Dylan Spohr and Coen Bell were there to stir the pot, but the young man who stood head and shoulders above the rest was Justin Martin from Wilmington, NC. He had a very strong finish of fourth place and impressed everyone with his display of fundamentals, technique, and poise. Don't be surprised if he snaps off one of these big events very soon!
The recent champion of the MD State 9-Ball Bar Table Championship, Brandon Sluzalis was also there, but his efforts to repeat were cut short first by Kenny Rutman, then by the straight-shooting Bobby Pacheco. He had to settle for 9th. place.
Congratulations to all who finished in the top 24 places this weekend.
This event owes its success to the following sponsors:
McDermott Cues
Billiard Sports Network
Lights Out Billiard Apparel
Phillippi Custom Cues
TAP Pool League – Chesapeake Region
Many thanks to the owner Gary Allen & staff at Champion Billiards for hosting another successful event. The high-quality free stream was provided by Jake Lawson and Josh Setterfield of Billiard Sports Network. Tour directors Rick Scarlato Jr. and Loye Bolyard continue to provide great tournaments with the utmost professionalism and quality.
Aranas wins nine on the loss side to challenge him in the finals
Brandon Shuff chalked up his first 2018 major event victory at the On the Hill Productions’ 2018 Maryland State 10-Ball Championships, navigating his way through a field of 79 entrants at Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD on the weekend of Sept. 22-23. He went undefeated through that field. In the end, he claimed the title by defeating, in his final two matches, Earl Strickland for the hot seat and in the finals, Philipines’ Zoren James Aranas, who'd won nine on the loss side to challenge him and was looking to earn his eighth 2018 title.
It was an extraordinarily robust field of entrants for an event with a total prize package of just under $6,000 ($5,925) and included a list of this and other country’s top players, beginning with Shuff, Aranas and Strickland. Also on hand were Shaun Wilkie, Zion Zvi, Alex Osipov, Matt Krah and Jorge Rodriguez. There were women competing, as well; among them, Karen Corr, Jennifer Barretta and Kia Sidbury.
It was, said Shuff, in a post-finals interview with Billiard Sports Network, the first time that he’d been able to leap the ‘Zoren James Aranas’ hurdle. They’d met, most recently, in April at the 2nd Annual Barry Behrman Memorial, where Shuff was defending the title he’d won in the inaugural event. Aranas sent Shuff to the loss side in a winners’ side quarterfinal match, and though he’d come back through five loss-side matches to challenge him in the finals, Aranas defeated him a second time to claim that title.
This time, it was Aranas coming from the loss side. It was Shaun Wilkie who sent Aranas over 7-5 in the second round, which launched the nine-match, loss-side streak that ended in the finals. Shuff in the meantime, was launching his own uninterrupted winners’ side streak with victories over Mark Nanashee 7-2, Kenny Rutman 7-1, Matt Krah in a double hill fight, and Jennifer Barretta 7-4. Shuff drew Eddie Abraham in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Also in the meantime, Earl Strickland was working on the winners’ side toward a meetup with Shuff in the hot seat match. Strickland had downed Eric Gonzalez 7-3, shut out Corey Rausch, defeated Dylan Spohr 7-2, sent James Blackburn west 7-1 and got into a winners’ side semifinal match against Del Sim with a 7-3 win over Wilkie.
Strickland got into the hot seat match with a 7-1 win over Sim. Shuff joined him after a 7-5 victory over Abraham. In the battle for the hot seat, their respective Fargo Ratings – 775 for Strickland and 738 for Shuff – gave Strickland a 68.1% edge in their race to 7. In the first of two straight matches, Shuff defied the odds and claimed the hot seat with a 7-4 win.
Meanwhile, back at the loss-side ranch, Aranas was working his way through to a meetup with Abraham. Aranas had most recently defeated Joey Korsiak 7-4 (loss-side win #6) and eliminated Wilkie (#7) 7-5 to reach him. Sim drew Jennifer Barretta, originally sent to the loss side by Shuff in the fifth round, who’d most recently defeated Tom Matikainen 7-4 and survived a double hill fight against Adam Kielar.
Aranas advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-3 victory over Abraham, and was joined by Sim, who’d eliminated Barretta 7-4. Barretta’s finish in the tie for 5th place made her the top finishing female at this event. Corr finished just out of the money in the eight-way tie for 25th.
Aranas and Sim then locked up in a quarterfinal, double hill fight which eventually sent Aranas to a semifinal match against Strickland. Aranas got his shot at Shuff in the hot seat with a 7-3 win over Strickland.
Shuff and Aranas entered the finals with a 68-point differential in their respective Fargo Ratings; Aranas with the advantage, 806 to 738. The calculated ‘odds’ gave Aranas an 80.6% advantage in their race to 7.
Shuff didn’t get the Fargo memo. He downed Aranas 7-5 in those finals to win his first 2018 title and claim the first Maryland State 10-Ball Championships.
Tour directors Loye Bolyard and Rick Scarlato, Jr. thanked the ownership and staff at Champion Billiards for their hospitality, as well as sponsors McDermott Cues, Navigator Tips, Phillippe Cues, Lights Out Billiards Apparel, TAP Pool League (Chesapeake Bay), Billiards Sports Network, Aramith Balls, and Simonis Cloth. The next On the Hill Productions’ event, scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 3-4, will be the Maryland State 10-Ball Bar Table Championships, to be hosted by Bank Shot Bar & Grill in Laurel, MD.
Eddie Abraham came back from a defeat in the hot seat match to take down Shaun Wilkie in the finals of the Great Slates Bar Table 9-Ball Championships, held on the weekend of December 5-6. The $500-added event drew 85 entrants to Great Slates in Cambridge, MD.
Abraham built up a head of steam in this tournament that saw him win his opening matches by a rack or two, while later matches were chalked up, against arguably tougher opponents, with three or four rack differentials. He won his first three matches by an aggregate score of 21-13. He won his next two, against Brett Stottlemyer and Dan Madden, by an aggregate score of 14-5.
Abraham's victory over Madden was in a winners' side semifinal, which put him into the hot seat match against Shaun Wilkie. Wilkie was steady through his opening three (21-8), but then had to navigate his way through two straight double hill matches, first, against Matt Krah, and then, in a winners' side semifinal, against Kenny Rutman. Wilkie was three winning percentage points behind Abraham when he faced him in the hot seat match. Wilkie won it 7-5, although it proved to be his last match win of the weekend.
Ruttman and Madden moved over to the loss side to face two of the mid-Atlantic region's toughest competitors; Brett Stottlemyer and former Mosconi Cup team member, Brandon Shuff. Stottlemyer had defeated Adam Kielar 7-3 and R.J. Carmona 7-4 to draw Rutman. Shuff had gotten by FrEd Scott 7-5 and Matt Krah 7-1 to pick up Madden.
Stottlemyer advanced to the quarterfinals 7-4 over Carmona. Shuff joined him with a 7-1 victory over Krah. Shuff ended up in fourth place on the heels of Stottlemyer's 7-5 victory in those quarterfinals. Abraham downed Stottlemyer by the same score in the semifinals.
Abraham moved back for a second shot at Wilkie in the hot seat. Abraham prevailed in the single set, race-to-9 final match to secure the event title.
Leading the bottom half of the bracket was Shaun Wilkie with wins over Matt Krah 7-1, Adam Kiear 7-1, Kenny Rutman 7-6 , and Darren Appleton 7-5.
Playing for the hot seat was Shaun Wilkie Vs Bob Maidhof. This was a one sided match with Bob Maidhof winning easily 7-1. Waiting for Shaun Wilkie was Darren Appleton. This was a rematch from earlier that day. This was a great match that went hill hill and for the second time in the day Shaun Wilkie defeated Darren Appleton 6-5 to get to the finals.
In the finals it was Shaun Wilkie Vs Bob Maidhof, Shaun Wilkie would have to beat Bob Maidhof twice to win the event but this day belonged to Bob Maidhof as he won easily 5-1 to win the event.
I would like to thank all the players and the sponsors for their ongoing support.
