Joshua Filler
Roughly twenty four hours after his last appearance in the Derby City Classic Winners Circle (for his Bigfoot 10-Ball win) Joshua Filler was right back in the Accu-Stats arena at the Caesers Horseshoe Casino in Elizabeth, Indiana for another tournament win in the banks pool division.
The day started with just under twenty players still in the banks division and a match between Fedor Gorst and Lee Vann Corteza. This was more of a tactical battle than some fans expected, with neither player willing to leave much for their opponent. In the end though, Gorst came out on top 3-1.
The banks action on the feature table took a short break next, for a One Pocket match between Sky Woodward and Derby veteran David Matlock. It appeared that maybe Sky was having problems adjusting to the table and that was all the opportunity that Matlock needed to control the match and a 3-1 victory over Woodward.
Getting back to banks, round 11 of the bank pool event saw Fedor Gorst back under the feature table spotlight. This time, he was facing young gun Lukas Fracasso-Verner. Gorst made pretty quick work of this match and won 3-0.
The banks division was down to just six players (with two still having buybacks), and the feature table drew a colossal match between ‘T-Rex’ Tony Chohan and ‘The South Dakota Kid’ Shane Van Boening. This one went the distance, before Chohan pocketed his final ball for a 3-2 win, sending Van Boening to the buyback booth.
With just five players left, Van Boening drew the bye, leaving Justin Hall vs Tony Chohan on an outer table, while Can Salim and Joshua Filler faced off on the feature table. Filler started finding his groove in this one and he ran away to a 3-0 win, eliminating Salim.
Down to three players, Justin Hall got the bye and an automatic spot in the finals, while Filler and Van Boening played to determine Hall’s opponent. This match was tied 1-1 when Shane scratched on a shot that would have put him ahead by 3 balls in the third rack. He had more than enough time to sit and think about that scratch, as Filler ran six balls (he was at -1 when Van Boening scratched) for the 2-1 lead and then broke and ran five more to clinch his spot in the finals.
The finals lived up to all the hype and then some. Early in game one, with Hall leading 3-0, there was a controversy over the time clock and extensions. Hall had already taken his extension and ran out of time on a shot. Tournament director Ed Liddawi ruled that it was a “loss of shot” foul on Hall, and what was a crowd that was mostly “Pro Hall” quickly became a crowd that was very vocally “Pro Hall”. After Filler made two balls, Hall ran the two he needed and the crowd erupted.
Game Two saw Hall control the table, taking the shots that were open and then ducking, on his way to a 5-1 ball count and a 2-0 lead in the match.
A dry break from Hall passed control of game three to Filler and he took advantage of it, eventually. With Filler leading the game 4-3, he was left with a long rail bank to win the game. He lagged it to the pocket and watched it hang in the jaws, Hall made the ball, leaving Filler another long shot, which he proceeded to hang in the jaws of the pocket again. Incredibly, after Hall made the ball a third time, challenging Filler with another long shot, he hung the ball in the corner a third time, much to the crowd’s delight. The game did eventually end up going to Filler 5-4.
Game four was a shootout with Filler making 1 ball after the break. Hall then ran four, leaving himself needing one shot to win the match. That would not happen though, as Filler then ran four balls for another 5-4 game and the match was tied at hill-hill.
Filler took a 1-0 lead in the final game, but Hall came back with a 2 ball run for a 2-1 lead. Filler then ran two and regained the lead at 3-2. With the pressure on, it was Filler that delivered with one for a 4-2 lead and then one more for the 5-2 win and his first Derby City Banks Title.
Play continues in the one pocket division all day today. As is always the case at Derby, a schedule of matches is not possible, but Tony Chohan and Scott Frost are scheduled for a 2:00 match on the feature table.
Pat Fleming and Accu-Stats Video Productions are covering this event with video PPV. The full event pass is $79.95, $14.95 for just one day. The PPV will include select matches from the Banks, One Pocket and 9-Ball events. More information on this PPV is available at https://onsitepool.com/accustats/
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