Harvey Heath and Lukas Fracasso-Verner
The Split Bracket format is becoming the ‘norm’ these days. By allowing lower-ranked competitors to compete on their own separate bracket, while the higher-ranked competitors do the same in their separate bracket has been drawing players in record numbers. Just before Christmas, Jersey Girl Billiards drew 163 competitors to a Main event, 16 to a Women’s event (some crossover), 39 to a Friday night ‘warm up’ and 16 to a Second Chance event. This past weekend (Dec. 28-29), the Maryland-based On The Hill Productions (OTH) added a sensible new ‘twist’ to the main idea of separate brackets, by putting the competitors from High and Low Side brackets at different locations.
For its season finale, OTH mounted a $5,000-added, Split Bracket event and on Saturday, sent 87 entrants in a High Bracket to Brews & Cues on the Boulevard in Glen Burnie, MD, while 113 entrants in a Low Bracket played at The Bank Shot Bar & Grill in Laurel, MD. They’re about 15 miles apart, traveling due West from Brews & Cues, to Bank Shot. On Sunday, 48 of the original 200, all of them ‘in the money’ at that point, came to Brews & Cues on the Boulevard to finish it out, completing each of the separate brackets and combining an overall Final Four into a mini-bracket determining the top four prizes.
The High Side Bracket accommodated competitors with FargoRates that ranged from 749 down to 575. The Low Side hosted rates from 0 to 574. The ‘beauty’ of the Split Bracket, primarily from the Low Side players’ point of view, is that no one in that Low Side Bracket played anyone from the High Side bracket until both fields had whittled down to two each; essentially, the hot seat and semifinal winners from both of the brackets. The Final Four put the hot seat occupant of the High Side Bracket (Lukas Fracasso-Verner) against the hot seat occupant of the Low Side bracket (Harvey Heath), while the winner of the High Side semifinal (Brett Stottlemyer) faced the winner of the Low Side semifinal (Lai Li).
In the end, it was Lukas Fracasso-Verner (the top ‘acknowledged favorite’ in the field) who survived the entire two-site ordeal by going undefeated through seven opponents during High Side Bracket play and one more opponent, twice (Harvey Heath) in the Final Four hot seat and opening set of a true double-elimination final.
Fracasso-Verner, who, with a FargoRate of 748, was racing to 11 throughout the tournament, got through his first seven opponents without having to face any of the other 10 competitors in the High Side Bracket with FargoRates above 700, including the next four ‘acknowledged favorites’ to win; Brandon Shuff (745), Thomas Haas (716), Brett Stottlemyer (722), and Shaun Wilkie, the only player rated higher than Fracasso-Verner at 750. Fracasso-Verner got himself into the Final Four by winning 75%, or three out of every four games he played to get there; an aggregate score of 77-26.
His opponent in the Final Four hot seat match, Harvey Heath, with a FargoRate of 571, and racing to different numbers dependent on who he was playing (‘5’ five times, 4 and 6, once each), faced seven opponents with an average FargoRate of 479. His game-winning average before moving among the Final Four, was at just under 75% (74.4), with less than half the number of total games-played by his opponent, Fracasso-Verner (103-47).
Semifinalist Lai Li, the top Low Side Bracket’s ‘acknowledged favorite’ to win, had what could only be called ‘one hell of a run’ through the Low Side Bracket to earn her spot among the Final Four. With a FargoRate of 554, she faced eight opponents (one of them, twice) with an average FargoRate of just over 524, so at her ‘level’ almost all of the time. Until she ran into Moe Mozzanar (571) in a winners’ side quarterfinal. She battled him to double hill and won, advancing to meet up with Keith Curtis (572) in a winners’ side semifinal, who sent her to the loss side 5-1. On the loss side, she ran into Jawan Walker (560), whom she defeated 5-3 to face Chris Deitrich (572) in the Low Side Bracket quarterfinal. She downed him 5-3, as well and drew a rematch against Keith Curtis (572), who’d sent her to the loss side two matches ago. This time, she had the satisfaction of not only defeating him, double hill, but having the victory put her among the final four, facing Brett Stottlemyer (722) in the Final Four’s quarterfinals. She defeated him, double hill, as well.
Lai Li
Stottlemyer , who would earn the ‘unofficial’ most-matches-played award (11, one more than two of the competitors competing in the Low Side Bracket), won two High Side Bracket, winners’ side matches, including a double-hill win over Henry Hernandez (10-5) before being sent to the loss side by Matt Haines 4-8. Stottlemyer set out on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak in which he won just over 71% of the games he played (72-29). He found himself with a bit of a fight on his hands when he played the first of the final three matches necessary to advance him to the Final Four. The challenge came from Junior competitor, D’Angelo Spain (generally known as “Jaws”), who battled him to double hill before Stottlemyer dropped the last 9-ball, advancing to a rematch against the competitor who’d made his day much longer than he’d have liked, Matt Haines. He downed Haines in the High Side Bracket quarterfinal 10-2 and then eliminated Joao Sias 10-7.
And so it was. . . Fracasso-Verner claimed the overall event hot seat, defeating Harvey Heath 11-1. On the loss side, Lai Li, who was awarded five ‘beads on the wire’ in a race to 10 against Stottlemyer, didn’t use any of them as she performed her double-hill dance around him. Heath arrived from his hot seat loss and eliminated Li 5-2, earning himself a second, possibly third shot against Fracasso-Verner.
It didn’t take that long. Fracasso-Verner wasn’t as stingy with his points-against as he’d been in the hot seat battle against Heath. But close enough. Instead of allowing him just one rack, Fracasso-Verner gave up two to Heath on his way to the On the Hill Production’s Season Finale title.
Loye Bolyard, wearing his On the Hill Production’s hat, thanked Tony and Stephanie Manning from Brews & Cues on the Boulevard, as well as Bob and Cindy Barrow from The Bank Shot Bar & Grill for their hospitality. He also thanked the ‘team’ of tour directors and assistants who contributed to the dual-location event – Beverlee Longstreet-Dillow (“The Amazing TD”), Joe & April Norton, Brian Kilgore and Lai Li, Sarah Ivins & David Mason.
Bolyard also thanked sponsors Simonis Cloth, Aramith Billiards, CBPA Brands, Moori Tips, Universal Cues, Turning Point Chalk and Gino Ferrari Cases.
The next event in the On the Hill Production’s calendar is an 8-ball Doubles event, for partners with an 1150 or Under combined Fargo Rate. Scheduled for this weekend (Jan. 4-5), it will be hosted by Brews & Cues on the Boulevard in Glen Burnie, MD.
0 comments