Jeremy Sossei didn’t compete in the October 5th / 6th Joss NE 9-Ball Tour Stop, but he was back in action the last two weekends where he earned his seventh straight title and then finally lost in a final match.

 

The tour stop at Utica Billiards on the Boulevard on October 12th & 13th saw Sossei run through the field undefeated, beating Ron Casanzio for the hot-seat 9-7 and then Brad Guthrie in the finals. Sossei had defeated Guthrie in the final four on the winner’s side Sunday 9-4 and then did so again 9-2 in the finals. 

 

The next stop, October 19th & 20th at Sharpshooters Billiards and Sports Pub, was looking like yet another Sossei victory as he went through Saturday matches against Bob Nerkert, Chris Braiman and Bruce Carroll undefeated. Sunday was more of the same, with Sossei defeating Danny Hewitt 9-5 and then Qais Kolee for the hot-seat 9-4. 

 

Bucky Souvanthong had dropped a late Saturday match to Kolee, but ran through the one loss side with a Saturday night win over Ben Werblow and then Sunday wins over Ron Casanzio, Hewitt and Kolee to earn his place against Sossei in the finals. 

 

Souvanthong is the only man to have won a Joss Tour Stop this season, aside from Sossei, and he won that stop on the one weekend that Sossei was not in attendance. He proved that he was more than capable of a tour stop win, with or without Sossei in the field, as he double dipped Sossei 9-3 and 7-5 in the finals for first place. 

 

The October 13th second chance tournament saw Fred Gokey drop the hot-seat match to Nick Coppola and then come back to defeat Coppola twice in the finals for first place. The October 20th second chance tournament saw Bruce Carroll with an undefeated run that included 3-1 wins over Norm Vernon for the hot-seat and again in the finals. 

 

The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be back in action this weekend at Brickhouse Billiards in Syracuse, NY for another $1,500 added main event and $500 added second chance event. 

Ron Casanzio has had several shots at the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour’s Al Conte Memorial over the years. He’s cashed in seven of the nine, to date. He was runner-up to Dennis Hatch in the first one (2009) and Shaun Wilkie in the fifth (2013). On the weekend of November 4-5, he became the event’s seventh winner, following in the footsteps of (in order) Hatch, Shane Winters, Mike Davis, Jeremy Sossei (three-time winner; ’12, ’14 and ‘15), Wilkie and Nelson Oliveira. The $1,500-added, 9th Annual Al Conte Memorial, the fourth stop on the 2017-2018 Joss NE 9-Ball Tour, drew 33 entrants to Hippo’s House of Billiards in Yorkville, NY.

 

Casanzio was one of three competitors at this event, along with Bucky Souvanthong and Angelo Hilton, who cashed in the first Al Conte Memorial. He became the only one of the three to do so in this one. Match by match, until the finals, Casanzio’s opponents steadily closed the margin of victory against him. He got by Bruce Nagle in the opening round 9-1, then Aaron Greenwood 9-3, and Marko Clarke 9-4 to join Matt Tetreault in one of the winners’ side semifinals. John McConnell, in the meantime, who’d sent Frank Cartani (9-4), Jerry Crowe (9-3), and Dwight Dixon (9-4) to the loss side, squared off against Mike Donnelly in the other winners’ side semifinal.

 

Casanzio got into the hot seat match with a continuation of the ‘reduced margin of victory’ phenomenon, downing Tetreault 9-5. McConnell joined him with a 9-5 victory over Donnelly. Casanzio claimed the hot seat 9-7 over McConnell and waited on his return.

 

On the loss side, Tetreault picked up Joe Darigis, who’d been sent over by Donnelly in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then defeated Nick Brucato 9-4 and Dwight Dixon 9-6. Donnelly drew Jose Mendez, who was on a modest four-match, loss-side winning streak that was about to end and had included recent wins over Norm Vernon 9-3 and Marko Clarke 9-5.

 

Tetreault advanced to the quarterfinals with a 9-6 win over Darigis, and was joined by Mendez, who’d handed Donnelly his second straight loss 9-7. Tetreault eliminated Mendez in that quarterfinal 9-3, but had his hopes for a re-match against Casanzio eliminated when McConnell defeated him 9-5 in the semifinals.

 

In their second of two, Casanzio broke the ‘margin of victory’ chain. He defeated McConnell 9-5 to claim his first Al Conte Memorial title.

 

A $500-added Second Chance tournament saw Willie Oney finish in the top spot, downing Mark Creamer in the finals. Aaron Greenwood finished third and Bruce Carroll took the fourth spot. Pete Khudc took home a $1,200 Joss Cue in the event’s raffle.  

 

The fifth stop on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour will be the 29th Ocean State 9-Ball Championship. Scheduled for the weekend of November 11-12, the $5,000-added event will be hosted by Snooker’s Billiards, Bar and Grill in Providence, RI.

Jeremy Sossei recovered from a late Saturday loss, and avenged that loss on his way to winning stop #10 on the Joss NE 9-Ball Tour at Sharpshooters Billiards & Sports Pub in Amsterdam, NY on Feb 18th – 19th. 

 

It was smooth sailing for Sossei early on Saturday, as he notched dominating wins over Willie Oney (9-1), Joe Hagen (9-1), and Danny Basavich (9-0). Bucky Souvanthong then derailed Sossei’s trek through the winner’s side with an equally dominating 9-3 win over Jeremy. 

 

The late Saturday loss meant that Sossei would have a long day of pool on Sunday, if he hoped to add another Joss tour stop to his resume. Sossei resumed his winning ways on Sunday with wins over Mark Creamer, Steve Lillis, Nelson Oliveira and Jorge Teixeira. 

 

Back on the right side of the board. Souvanthong had beaten Ron Casanzio, but then dropped the hot-seat match to Martin Daigle 9-6. That left Souvanthong facing Sossei in the semi-final match, where Sossei redeemed himself for the earlier loss and defeated Souvanthong 9-6.

 

As always, the Joss Tour final match is a true double elimination contest, and Sossei forced that second set with a 9-5 win over Daigle in the first set. The second set was Sossei at his best, as he crushed Daigle 9-0 for first place. 

 

Sunday’s second chance tournament saw Bruce Nagle put on a show. Nagle’s 3-2 win over Josh Harding in the second round of the tournament was the only rack he lost over five matches. Nagle followed up the win over Harding with 3-0 wins over James Chemaly and then Norm Vernon for the hot-seat. After Vernon’s 3-0 loss to Jordan Turner on the one loss side, Nagle ended the day with another 3-0 win, this time over Turner for first place. 

 

The Joss NE 9-Ball Tour is back in action this weekend at Snookers in Providence, RI for the N.E. Pool & Billiard Hall of Fame 9-Ball Open.