Mike Dechaine, Ryan Cullen and Darren Jevons
Sixty-four players attended the April 24th & 25th Blufelt (Handicapped) tournament at Shooter’s Billiards and Arcade in Southington, CT. Many eager amateur players tracked in from neighboring states, ready to wage friendly war against other table felt junkies, to satisfy their innate competitive drive. Sixty men and four women converged on a clear sunny day, battling it out to be crowned champion of the literal blue felt.
Day 1:
Many fast matches with big upset, 6-1 by Jerry Barton over Stephen Rowe, Frank Celadita made fast work of Brandon Coley 7-1, Mike Serencko over Phil Inacio 6-2, Steve Romann defeating Oscar DeLeon 6-1. Other close matches: Darren Jevons 8 over Ty Speedwell 7, Chris Blanchard 6 over Alex Bausch 6, and Nick Bousquet squeaked by Jim Gravel by a score of 7-6.
Day 2:
We brought back 12 players for Sunday action – 4 from winner’s side and 8 from loser’s.
Local player Darren Jevons made a big splash in tournament by taking down Nick Bousquet 8-4, Pete Genovese 8-7, Lukas Fracasso-Verner 8-8, losing 9-0 to Mike Dechaine for the hot seat, and eventually outed by Ryan Cullen 8-4. He earned a respected 3rd place for his strong finish.
Cullen was firing back after his initial lost to Alvin Lam 5-5. With strong determination, he bested Jason Noble 8-3, Kenny Hoke 8-3, Pete Genovese 8-5, Kerry McAuliffe 8-5, Alvin Lam 8-5, Lukas Fracasso-Verner 8-5, Darren Jevons, 8-4, and finally succumbed to Dechaine in a one race final, placing 2nd for his impeccable performance.
As expected, Mike Dechaine, a well-oiled machine, mowed down competition up and down the field, giving no one player a chance to win more than 4 game beads on the string. He plowed through Miuller Jaramillo 9-0, Mark Morgan 9-4, Mike Serencko 9-1, Dan Uccello 9-1, Alvin Lam 9-2, Darren Jevons 9-0, and the finals against Ryan Cullen 9-4, crowning him Blufelt champion.
