FREDERICK, MD – November 17, 2008 – On Saturday, November 15th, All-Star Billiards of Frederick, MD hosted the 2008 Maryland State Open 8-Ball Championships. The original plan was to limit the field to 32 applicants, but due to the large turn-out, the tournament directors opened the field to 55 participants from Maryland and nearby states. The tournament was open to both professional and top level amateur players with BCA rules in effect, where every ball and pocket is called, not just the 8-ball.
In the race to seven game finals, Adam Kielar from Quakertown, Pa. defeated Matt Clatterbuck from Front Royal, Virginia 7 games to 5 to become the 2008 Maryland State Open 8-Ball Champion.
The final match was not without its share of controversy. In the final game, Kielar faced a shot where the cue ball was near the 2-ball at the head of the table and his object ball (the 6-ball) was clustered among Clatterbuck's high balls at the opposite end. Kielar called the 6-ballin the far corner and the ball went in after glancing off of a high-ball. This left an open shot on the 2-ball in the corner and a routine shot on the 8-ball to clinch the match.
After the match was over, Clatterbuck approached Kielar and Larry Nicholson, the tournament director, and claimed that Kieler had nudged a high ball with his cue, clearing a path to the 2-ball which, if true, would be loss of turn and ball-in-hand for Clatterbuck. This started a debate among the crowd, with some people claiming they had seen a foul, while other people saying it was a clean shot. In the end, Nicholson said that he did not see a foul, so he ruled that Kieler had won and the match was over.
Larry Nicholson, tournament director said, “In a case like this, you have to call the foul as soon as you think it happened, not wait until after the entire match was over. So either way, it was a moot point. But I was sitting right by the table and I did not see a foul. Both Adam and Matt played extremely well. It was a great match.”
With a talented field that included nationally known players such as Shaun Wilkie, Brandon Shuff, Scot Tollefson, and Ryan “The Genie Man” McCreesh, getting to the finals was no easy task.
Throughout the day, Matt Clatterbuck looked nearly unstoppable, pocketing balls with ease and getting nearly perfect cue ball position for the next shot. Clatterbuck mowed his way through a talented field with quality wins over Joe Wright, Kevin West, Joey Ryan, Danny Nicholson and finally over Adam Kielar in the hot-seat match. After a long day, Clatterbuck relaxed and waited to see who would emerge as the winner from the one-loss side of the field.
Up to that point, Adam Kielar has beaten a number of players including Scott Tollefson, Brett Stottlemyer, and then after losing to Clatterbuck, faced Brandon Shuff in the semi-final match. In a race to three games in the losers-side finale, Kielar picked up a head of steam to beat Shuff 3 games to 1 and set himself up for the rematch with Clatterbuck in the finals.
Larry Nicholson, owner of All-Star Billiards and tournament director said, “We had a much larger than expected field at the 2008 Maryland State Open 8-Ball Championships, but we had committed to get it all done in one day and we accomplished that task. We are already looking forward to even bigger Maryland State 8-ball Championships in 2009.”
