Matt Jarrell and David Hall
Just over one-third of last month’s 9-Ball Championship field joins the quest for 10-ball title
There were a few compelling parallels between last month’s $750-added, 2024 Maine State 9-Ball Championships (Feb. 17-18) and last weekend’s $750-added Maine State 10-Ball Championships (March 9-10), both hosted by TJ’s Billiards in Waterville, ME. For beginners, the 9-ball event’s winner and runner-up, Kyle Pepin and Samoth Sam ended up in a 10-ball match that would determine which of them would finish in the four-way tie for 9th (it would turn out to be Pepin). David Hall, who finished 4th in 9-ball, went undefeated to claim the 10-ball title. He had split two 9-ball matches versus Samoth Sam, winning the first and losing the second, double-hill, in the 9-ball quarterfinals. Pepin had been responsible for sending Hall to the 9-ball loss side. Though Hall did not face Pepin during his 10-ball campaign, he did open the 10-ball proceedings with an 8-5 victory over Sam. Bill Longmore finished 5th in both events.
There were others. Maine’s a big state, but its pool community is apparently something of a small world. Of the 78 entrants who competed in last month’s 9-Ball Championships, 28 of them joined 36 others (a total of 64) to compete in this past weekend’s 10-Ball Championships. Dave Hall, who went undefeated to claim the 10-ball title had finished 4th in the earlier 9-ball event. Six of the 12 competitors who finished ‘in the money’ at the 10-Ball Championships had gone home with cash from the earlier 9-Ball event, which paid out four more places (13 through 16). It would have been seven, if Matt Jarrell, who finished as the 10-ball runner-up, had advanced to compete in one more 9-ball match.
In races to 8, Dave Hall opened up his quest for the 10-ball title with his win over Samoth Sam and followed that up with an 8-2 victory over another earlier 9-ball competitor, Robert Lee. Hall went on to advance through Mo Cormier (1) and Keith Trafton (2) to draw Dillon Nickerson in one of the winners’ side semifinals.
Meanwhile, from the other end of the bracket, Matt Jarrell won three of his first four matches 8-6, opening with a win over Derrick Burnham, after which he took an 8-6 break and defeated Sam Hebert 8-4. Jarrell went back to 8-6, downing both Eric Nickerson and last month’s 9-ball winner, Kyle Pepin, to draw Bill Longmore (as noted earlier, destined to finish 5th in both events) in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Hall took a ‘cue’ from Jarrell, defeating Nickerson 8-6, as Jarrell took his racks-against down a notch to defeat Longmore 8-5. In their first of two, Hall and Jarrell battled to double hill, before Hall prevailed to claim the hot seat.
Nickerson and Longmore moved west in the bracket and picked up two of the 9-ball veterans. Nickerson drew Samoth who, following his opening-round loss to Hall, went on a six-match, loss-side run that had included the replay of the 9-ball’s final between him and Kyle Pepin, except for the fact that Samoth won this time, 8-4. Sam went on to down Mo Cormier 8-3 before running into Nickerson. Longmore drew Chad Bazinet, who’d lost his last 9-ball match to David Hall and at this event, has lost a winners’ side quarterfinal to Nickerson, before defeating Guy Bouthot 8-5 and Dennis Patenaude 8-4.
Nickerson ended Samoth Sam’s loss-side run, double hill, and was joined in the quarterfinals by Bazinet, who’d defeated Longmore 8-2. Nickerson went on to defeat Bazinet in those quarterfinals 8-5.
Nickerson and Matt Jarrell locked up in a double-hill semifinal that did eventually send Jarrell back for a rematch versus Hall in the finals. Hall won it 8-5 to claim the 2024 Maine State 10-Ball Championship title.
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