TCL Signature 2 Preview - Mesquite

It seems like it's been a long time since J.C. Nekuza drained a tournament ending airmail at TCL's Signature Event in Bryan/College Station. Since then there have been many players stepping up and improving their games with hopes of making similar splashes at this week's Signature Event #2 - Texas ACE Points Series in Mesquite, TX.

Signature Events are big and they always require players to be throwing their very best in order to make the podium and get a snapshot with a hand full of cash! Speaking of cash, this event features a guaranteed $20,000 payout and could have more than 500 players vying for some Benjis and hardware.

Mesquite is known as the Rodeo Capital of Texas and since 1986 when the Mesquite Arena opened, it has been home to the Mesquite Pro Rodeo. In 1998 the facility expanded to include an exhibition hall, convention center and a Hampton Inn. The Convention Center is where the bags will be flying this weekend and this won't be the first time a TCL event will be held here. A season opening Signature Event was held there in 2015 and it is where I played in my very first Signature Event. I played some guy named Reagan Choate and he must have felt bad for me and let me win giving me the opportunity to play Jason Andrews. I knew he was good because he wore a jersey and back then only players who made the Top 60 had jerseys. He beat me but my most vivid memory I have of that match was how bad my hands were shaking as I tried to move the clip. Had to two fist it a few times!! The Convention Center also hosted the TCL Ryder Cup the following January which included several players from all over the country who competed in a Super Division. That was also the Ryder Cup that went into Sudden Death with East Texas and East Dallas battling it out late into the night. Arguably one of the most exciting finishes many had ever seen...and not one video from it!!

This Signature Event will no doubt be loaded with many talented players including the usual top players like Brandon Gregor, Stuart Foster, Daniel Vinson and Grant Upchurch. Other standout players who will be there include Ernest Herrera, Ernest Monarca, Frank Stockton, Matt Longoria, and Christina Espinoza. Folks, I could do this all day...add Bella Surprenant, Shane Creek, Bobby and Braiden Fink to the list of strong players. Not to mention all the young studs like Preston Peacock, Austin McCuistion, Logan Baker, Ryan Ancil, Stephen Furhman, Angel Cruz and Jon White. All of these youngsters have been throwing really well and can't be overlooked. Speaking of players throwing well, Jim Abdella, Justin Fowler, Donnie Greer, Matt Ball, Grant Duffy and Roel Salinas also have been playing well here of late. There are many others that are throwing some serious heat and I'm certain some will make their names known this weekend. I don't know many of the players from West Texas but I have a feeling we all will soon! The Competitive and Social Divisions will have several new up and coming players trying to establish themselves and as was the case in Bryan/College Station, these two Divisions should have a record numbers of players.

It's going to be exciting y'all and certainly not an event you will want to miss out on. I look forward to seeing you all this weekend and I hope you all are safe in your travels. 

Hold on tight and squeeze...my bad, I slipped into Rodeo mode...Throw 'em straight y'all!

TCL Faces in the Crowd

For those who have attended and/or played in a TCL Signature or Conference event, you may have at some point crossed paths with J. D. Thompson. He is one of the guys who is behind the score table doing a little, no, make that a lot of everything! He calls out matches, answers questions...lots of questions and runs multiple brackets, just to mention a few tasks he performs. Thompson is a vital piece to the TCL puzzle and his hard work and efforts are appreciated more than he will ever know.

Raised in New Philadelphia, OH, Thompson was a four year Varsity basketball player for the Fighting Quakers. He attended Wright State and was a walk on for the Raider basketball team before tearing his ACL. He went on to become an Engineer and moved to Mansfield in 2006 to work at Lockheed Martin. He spent most of his career there developing Guidance Navigation and Controls systems for Air Defense missiles...y'all, J D is a stinking Rocket Scientist!!!  

In 2012 he and a buddy started C4C, (Caring for Community but also referred to it as Cornhole for Community) and hosted a fund raising tournament for a local family in need. They had 17 teams raising nearly $2000.00 and decided they wanted to do it more often. Since then they have been a part of giving away about $90,000.00!! Wowser!

He doesn't typically play many events but I believe I've heard rumblings on the streets that he will be playing in Mesquite! Do not take him lightly, he can fill it up folks! 

If you see him, give him a high five or some knuckles and tell him thanks for all he does. He's very deserving!

Till next time, Y'all stay safe and throw 'em straight!

Dallas Fall Conference Event Recap - Tyler, Tx never fails!

Out in East Texas there are a gazillion Pine trees just about as far as you can see. Nestled twixt a bunch of them in Tyler, TX is a Indoor Soccer Center. This venue has hosted several TCL events and after the last TCL Signature Event, it was considered to be too small to handle the large amount of players. The TCL growth had taken it's toll on yet another outstanding venue. With TCL coming up with another unique format for tournaments, this venue was the perfect spot! TCL's first ever Super Regional was held October 17th and man oh man what an outstanding event!

With several Regions playing host to the Dallas Conference Event, one may have expected a nice turnout. Over 200 Players representing regions from Dallas, East Texas, Rose City, North Texas, North East Texas, Marshall, Rockwall, Hunt County, Oil City, Bonham, DDD, and East Texas Underground battled it out in Tyler and made this TCL Super Regional one to remember. Even more impressive than the number of players may have been the $10,000 in payouts! Yep, not a bad day huh! 

Jerry Crocker representing Oil City beat Dustin Stewart of the Bonham Region to win the Social Singles Championship. Jay Humphrey from Rockwall finished 3rd just ahead of Jeff Henderson while John Hammonds of NE Texas and Tony Jaure from Dallas tied for 5th.

Jeff Daniels and Dustin Stewart came back through the losers bracket to double dip Cassie Kraemer and Denise McEvoy to win the Social Doubles title. Daniels and Stewart, who both play in the Bonham Region, lost in the winners quarter finals and then won several games to get back to the finals. Kraemer and McEvoy, both out of North Texas won 6 straight matches including a nail biter with the 3rd place team of Mandy Hernandez and Desirae Cruz, before losing to Daniels and Stewart. Hernandez and Cruz play in the Dallas Region and also had a really good showing.

In Open Singles Ernest Herrera from Dallas beat J. C. Nekuza to get the win. Nekuza had been throwing really well all day but couldn't put it together against Herrera. After losing to Herrera in the winners semi final, Dallas' Nekuza beat a red hot Matt Ball, Joe Arrington and then disposed of Austin Thompson to get back to face Herrera. Thompson, who finished 3rd and Ball who came in 5th both play in the North East Texas Region, and had great runs in this event. Arrington finished a respectable 4th losing only to Thompson and Nekuza.

Open Doubles had Brandon Gregor and Daniel Vinson facing Ernest Monarca and Matt Longoria in the all Dallas final with Gregor and Vinson pulling out the win. Armando Trejo and Christina Espinosa came in third while Jason Andrews and J.C. Nekuza finished 4th. Taylor Stone and Joe Arrington along with Mason Terry and Stuart Foster tied for 5th.

The Dallas Conference Super Regional was outstanding with plenty of strong competition in each Division. Did I mention that this little East Texas Event paid out $10,000? Isn't that crazy!! The bar has been set pretty high for other conferences and I certainly expect the next Super Regional to be just as exciting.

Until next time, Y'all keep chunkin' em'!!

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!

TCL Signature 3 Recap "One for the Ages"

Back in December of 2019, Texas Cornhole League held their 2nd Signature Event in Tyler, TX. In January they held the Ryder Cup in Denton. That was the last we knew of "normal" with TCL Cornhole. In April, Signature 3 was supposed to be held in Bryan College Station... however Corona hijacked that event! With everything being cancelled and shut down, the TCL brass worked tirelessly trying to secure a venue eventually landing the Cinnamon Creek Ranch Venue and put on a record setting 3rd Signature Event. Of all the Events I've attended in the past 5 years, this one was by far the most challenging. With the growth and popularity of the sport, many more people attended this tournament to the tune of nearly 350 players. Trying to accommodate this many players with space for only 28 sets of boards provided an ultimate challenge. Things got going Friday and even though things were crowded and hectic, games were being played and brackets were moving along! Then a good little Texas sized storm blew in wreaking havoc on the electricity. Lights flickered, power surged and eventually some lights were knocked out completely. With this many people in the building, losing A/C was borderline catastrophic! Just when you thought you had enough deodorant, things started getting a little sticky, including the boards. I know many folks were working up a sweat just watching games, poor Chris Gardner was a hot sweaty mess! With all the issues and challenges, everyone kept playing and eventually all the games that were to be played were played!

By now it was going on around 3 AM and most people had called it a night. Chad and his crew stayed until the power was restored and when everyone started arriving for the Singles Tier Bracket games around 9 AM, the building had cooled back down. This was the sign of what would be a awesome day of cornhole! Usually when I write about the results of a big event I try to list the names of the winners and highlight some memorable performances. This time I just want to write about some things that stood out to me.

It was absolutely awesome seeing everyone after the Corona induced layoff and everyone seemed to be on the same page. It was just good to see some of our friends along with some new faces back on the boards. There were the usual top level players like Josh Groce, A J Sims, Eddie Grinderslev, Brandon Greggor and Grant Upchurch to name a few. These guys are always in the mix with Groce and Sims winning the Open Doubles and Sims winning Open Singles. There was the Cartel with Ernest Herrera and Ernest Monarca finishing 4th in Open Doubles. The surprise of Open Doubles had to be Adam Utz and his fellow Dem Boys partner Blake DeLeon coming in 3rd which is pretty strong considering how stacked this field was. In the Competitive Division Eian Cripps and Jamie Sledge beat Dillon Turpin and Delmar Davis...I know..haven't heard those names before have ya! Jamie has been throwing really well lately and completed her weekend coming in 2nd place in Competitive ingles losing to Ryan Fillingim. Folks, the growth and popularity of cornhole is simply on another level right now.

2020 TCL Ryder Cup

Those that play or have played golf usually are familiar with the PGA's Ryder Cup. The United States fields a team of 12 players to play against 12 players from Europe. They play several matches in various formats with each team obtaining points for each match they win. The first team to reach 14 1/2 points wins the Cup! It's a pretty cool event as it promotes a team environment for players who usually compete individually. The camaraderie and pride these players display is awesome to watch as they come together and cheer each other on.

In Texas those associated with The Texas Cornhole League know the words "Ryder Cup" as something kind of the same, but not really the same! On January 24th and 25th TCL's 10th Annual Ryder Cup will be hosted by the Denton Convention Center. There are hundreds of players who have taken part in this event and for the newbies, come Sunday morning they won't know what hit them! This event is easily TCL's biggest event of the year, not so much in payouts but due to the amount of people who will be in attendance. Every year it has increased in the number of teams and this year the trend will continue. Last years Ryder Cup had 430 players making up 43 teams in various divisions and this year they are expecting over 60 teams. Over 600 players will be taking part in this years event making it TCL's largest attended event to date. It. Will. Be. Epic!

The TCL version of this event consists of 3 different events, Team 10, Singles and Doubles with players obtaining points for their team as they win games in these events. After all events have been played, points are tabulated and the team with the most points wins the cup!

Team 10 is easily the most stressful game as it has all 10 players, 5 on each end. Players each get 1 bag as they alternate throwing with the other team. Each bag is super important and when you have 19 players all staring at you, it can be a fairly pressure packed scenario for some players. 

Singles is a NCAA March Madness style tournament, win and advance, lose and your done. Players win points as they win and advance. Seems every year the competition in this event gets better and more challenging.

Doubles is a round robin style where each team has 5 doubles teams. The designated number 1 team will play all the number 1 teams in their division. Same for the number 2,3,4 and 5 teams. Strategy comes into play in this event as Captains determine how they will line their players up.

This will be my 6th Ryder Cup to play in with the first one being my first ever TCL event. I left that event blown away by the whole darn spectacle and how good everyone was. The next year I was able to play with the East Texas team led by Brad Jones in what many would say was one of the more exciting Ryder Cup events. I look forward to this event as it is the ultimate team cornhole event and with the "Our area is better than yours" mentality, it can get pretty competitive.

Organizing big tournaments are challenging enough but this event really requires exceptional effort. When you have this many teams and players it can be more work than most realize.This weekend if you get a moment, walk up to Chad, Jason, and Justin and thank them for their time they have invested to help make this event one we all enjoy. It is simply put, "An event like none other"!

Throw 'em straight y'all!!