Dennis Orcollo
Day two of the 17th Jay Swanson Memorial 9 Ball Tournament, held at Hard Times Billiards in Bellflower CA, saw a star studded field fighting it out for this coveted title. Player fighting it out included Francisco Bustamante, Shane Van Boening, Rodney Morris, Jayson Shaw, Oscar Dominguez, Ernesto Dominguez, John Morra and Chino Reyes to name but a few.
Dennis Orcullo found his way to the hot seat match by beating Oscar Dominguez and Rodney Morris, only to wait to play young gun Jayson Shaw from Scotland.
In the hot seat match, Dennis got the upper hand and beat young Jayson, putting Mr. Shaw on the left hand of the bracket to wait to see who would finally emerge from the losers side.
By early evening on Sunday, it was Rodney “The Rocket” Morris that found his best game and took down the following players to get to the losers final with Jayson Shaw. First he beat John Morra who played well throughout the event, then he got by Ernesto Dominguez, who this time got further than his son Oscar in the event.
Next, Rodney had to face the young (24 years old) Jayson Shaw for his chance to get to the title match up against Dennis Orcullo, who was patiently waiting in the wings to take down yet another prestigious event on US soil.
Unfortunately, Rodney’s travels were about to end as Jayson immediately took control of the match and showed us more of the amazing pool that we have become accustomed too from him.
Next, we had the match that everybody was waiting to see. The mighty Dennis Orcullo and Jayson Shaw battling it out in this 9 Ball final with over three hundred spectators crammed to the rafters in anticipation of the outcome.
Unfortunately this match would be decided by the predictability of the break, which in conjunction with the use of the Magic Rack really suited the semi soft break employed by Dennis and soon found him making two or three balls on the break with almost all the balls in play and always on the one ball for his first shot.
Jayson won the toss and took the first game, with the second game going to Dennis. From there on, we were to witness one break and run after the other in this race to 13 final. With Dennis making it look so easy that there were usually 6 or 7 balls on the table after the break - all in the open - and with the pattern racking, each layout was the same as the other within a couple of inches (50.8 mm for our overseas readers).
Jayson never even got the chance to emulate Dennis’s break as Dennis just seemed to run rack after rack and with the final score being 13-3 to Dennis, I would have to say that he must have run at least 8 or more of his 13 racks made.
Dennis I guess must be complimented for taking advantage of the playing conditions and certainly would have been hard to beat in that match.
We now have a new winners name to go on the trophy, that of Dennis Orcullo, and second place to Jayson Shaw, and third place to Rodney Morris.
Who would have thought that an event brought about to memorialize “Jay Swanson - The Gentle Giant” would now be in its 17th year. Kudos to the original people behind the idea and all those that over the years have helped to perpetuate this beautiful tradition. Well done!!!
FIRST PLACE: Dennis Orcullo $3,000
SECOND PLACE: Jayson Shaw $1,500
THIRD PLACE: Rodney Morris $1,000
