TCL Signature Series I Recap - ELECTRIC!!

On April 15, 1985, an historical boxing match took place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, NV. It was considered by many to be one of the greatest matches of all time due to the breakneck pace of action, drama and violent back and forth exchanges. The match included the Undisputed World Middleweight Champion"Marvelous" Marvin Hagler and Challenger Thomas "Hitman" Hearns, both riding huge waves of success before this battle. Normally a slow starter, Hagler stormed Hearns from the opening bell landing several devastating rights. Hearns weathered the onslaught and countered with a few big right hands and a smashing uppercut that stunned the Champ. This tremendously violent pace continued throughout the first round causing Al Bernstein to say this was "perhaps the best opening round in history". Both fighters amazingly connected on over 100 power punches with the judges scorecards being split. The pace slowed for round two and eventually a third round barrage of rights were just too much for Hearns and the fight was stopped.

On September 11-12, Texas Cornhole League held their first Signature Event of the year in Bryan/College Station at the Brazos County Expo. For those in attendance, it may have felt as if they had witnessed a huge title fight themselves. In fact, they might as well have watched a complete card of  title fights as the back and forth action and big shots thrown by several participants seemed to be non stop.

The fireworks started in the Social Division with Tony Jaure beating Dakota Regan in an outstanding singles final. Tony beat Dakota in the first round of the event and all Regan did was battle his way all the way through the losers bracket to force a rematch with Jaure. Tony breezed through the winners side and was undefeated until Dakota won the first game of the final 21-20. Regan was up big however Jaure found something and began a furious comeback in the deciding match. Tony ultimately won 21-16 sealing the win with a Big Tex.

Preston Peacock beat Trish Trejo to win the Competitive Singles doing so, in dramatic fashion. Trejo earned a spot in the Kings Seat following some impressive wins over Dario Lopez, Anthony Galindo, Austin Thompson, Justin Manley, and Jon White. Peacock lost a winners semi final match then won his way back to the finals where he would face the red hot Trejo. Peacock carried some serious momentum aided by his boisterous fans and won the first game convincingly setting up a very exciting final. With Trish leading 18-17, Peacock  took advantage of a couple of rare Trejo misses and slammed the door shut with a Big Tex to nail down the win. 

In another exciting match Blake Holly beat Will Davis in the Open Tier 2 Singles final. In the deciding game, Holly was in a bind. With the last bag of the frame and ahead 18-15, Holly nailed a huge airmail dragging in 3 bags to earn a wash with Davis and extend the game. The crowd, still in a frenzy over Holly's heroic shot, watched on as Holly got 3 points the following round to secure the hard earned victory.  

Open Singles had Brandon Gregor facing a hot throwing Dean Parker who had lost to Gregor in the winners semi final. Parker then beat Grant Upchurch, Bella Surprenant and Austin McCuistion to set up the rematch. After losing the first game, Gregor came out on fire in the final game and put Parker away to get the win.

Doubles had several exciting matches with a few coming down to the last bag. In Competitive Doubles Austin Thompson and Derek Young held a 19-18 lead, however Ben Glendenning's last bag was the game winner as he and partner Dacota Dennis won the marathon match. Dennis and Glendenning won the best 2 of 3 match then won the deciding game. This was a really fun match to watch as both teams were throwing exceptionally well. Some definite up and comers here folks!

Open Doubles Tier 1 had Steven Youngblood and Stephen Furhmann beating Craig Conser and Donnie Greer in a thrilling final. Both teams threw some great bags beating some very strong teams in route to the finals. With the crowd several people deep all around the championship boards, it seemed as if every made shot was cheered louder and louder. This game had several big shots and ultimately Youngblood and Furhman made enough to get the win.

Tier 1 Social Doubles had Ryan Derkowski and Marshall Brunson outlasting Todd Cope and Paul Moore while Larry Strider and McGwire Macky beat Aaron Smith and Megan Meaux in the Social Tier 2 Doubles finals. Both of these matches were very close and well played. 

In the tournaments last match, the vibe in the crowd was electric as Grant Upchurch and Steve Stowe sat in the King's seat. They faced a hot throwing J C Nekuza and Jason Andrews who had just beat Chad Jacobson and Joe Arrington to earn a spot in the finals. Jacobson and Arrington beat Andrews and Nekuza earlier in the winners semi-finals however Jason and J C found their stroke and weren't going to be denied this day. Andrews and Nekuza won the first 2 games of the finals to force a deciding game and were ahead 19-14 and seemingly in control. Upchurch wouldn't go away and scored a big 6 spot on Andrews to give them a 20-19 lead. The standing room only crowd had seen a tremendous amount of great shots throughout this match but what happened next may have been the ultimate shot. Stowe had a bag on the board and another near the hole. J C had one on the board as well and one bag left in his hand. He looked at Andrews who nodded his approval...J C could've boarded his bag for a wash to extend the game but he wasn't having any of that. He turned and glanced at the score tower and with absolute ice in his veins, turned loose a perfect dagger of an air mail that barely made a sound as it swished through the hole giving he and Andrews the thrilling win. A massive tournament ending knockout punch that followed with a huge roar from the crowd. It was one of the most exciting endings of any game many had witnessed. 

This event was one of the most competitive Signatures I've seen in a while and I can only imagine what Abilene has in store in December. Stay tuned folks, it's going to be another barnburner!! Keep your eyes open as I will soon be spotlighting some Regional Directors and various players.

Till next time, throw 'em straight y'all!

TCL Season 11: Next Stop - College Station Texas....Aaaaaalll Aboard!!

Texas Cornhole League concluded it's 10th season with a record setting Conference Tournament this past July in Denton. Considering how the season was affected by the nationwide pandemic which forced several events to be cancelled, TCL still experienced incredible growth. This growth is evident at every event as there continues to be new players who step up and throw some serious heat. They just keep coming folks and so does another TCL season as Bryan/College Station and the Brazos County Expo will host Season XI's first TCL Signature Series event this September 11-12. Jump on board y'all, this train is rollin' and it's going to be bigger and better than ever!

In 1860 the Houston and Texas Central Railway began to build through the region and coincidentally, 11 years later the site was chosen as the location for a proposed Agriculture and Mechanical College of Texas. In 1876 as our nation celebrated its centennial, the school opened its doors as the first public institution of higher education in Texas. In 1963 it was renamed Texas A&M University and through the years many traditions have evolved. One being the Aggie bonfire which was held each year as part of the football rivalry with the University of Texas. It was halted following a collapse in 1999 killing 12 and injuring 27 and has since been restarted off campus. Another tradition is the legendary Dixie Chicken. Opened in 1974, the bar is directly across the campus in a old rugged wood structure best known for its cold beer, old country music, perpetual ice in the pee troughs and Tijuana Fries! The bar had its roof collapse this past spring and the joints pet rattlesnake, known as "Sneaky Snake" is doing well despite reports it had escaped during the collapse...yikes!

As with any type of growth you sometimes have to make changes and with the sport making huge strides in popularity, TCL has made some changes for the upcoming season. One such change involves the schedule for play for the Signature events. Typically these events draw large numbers of players and usually take longer to run requiring some really late nights! To help with this issue, the start time for Singles on Friday has been moved up to 1:00 instead of 5:30. TCL and it's crew run very efficient events so this should help solve the late night issues!

The addition of Super Regional Events is also something new. TCL is including this year with the intent to provide players an opportunity to compete against the best players within their conference. Winning one of these babies will garner the winner 300 points for first place which can be vital to those battling for a spot in the Top 60.

TCL is also looking into adding a 5th Signature event which will not only add more opportunity for points but will also increase the overall yearly payout! This is gonna be good y'all! The TCL League Championship scheduled for July 2021 will have no less than $25,000 in total payouts. With all these events and all that cash, it's no wonder so many people are wanting to play TCL! 

I had mentioned that there were many new up and coming players who are making noise all across the state. I got some feedback from a few Regional Directors and wanted to mention some players who are looking to make a splash this season. Northeast Texas Cornhole led by Will Davis has several players who are really playing well including Matt Ball and JR Reyes, both being recently added "B" players. Seth Roberts and Cayle Watson in Social and Steven Helm in Competitive have also been filling it up. 

North Texas Cornhole also has some impressive players according to Director Taylor Stone. "C" players John Garnica, Jr., John Garnica, Sr, Chuck Cordell, Michael Gomez and Trey Sparks all have shown improvement here recently.

Other players who are coming on include Lane McManus from Ray Roberts, Jon White from Dallas and Neal Cook who plays with the group from 360. Angel Cruz, another player from Dallas has been posing for pictures standing next to a board holding wads of cash a lot here of late which only means this cat has been doing some winning. Young gun Austin McQuistion, who recently got moved to a "B" player has been slinging several 12's lately as well. Dallas Director Rob Ochoa has it going on folks! All the players mentioned have really stepped up their games and should be moving on up soon. I will include more names of up and coming players in each of my blogs so if I didn't give you a mention, keep strummin' and I'll get ya some ink soon!

The grates have been shaken, the dead ash has been evacuated, the fireboxes are loaded with Anthracite and this locomotive is smoking as it barrels towards Bryan/College Station.  It's going to be a good one y'all so get on board and get ready for a great weekend of cornhole! Next stop..Bryan/College Station!!

Keep slingin' em' y'all!