Cornhole chatter at the ACO Major in Charleston, WV.
The first ACO Major of the year is in the books! Thanks to all of the great players and people from nine states around the country who came out and made the ACO West Virginia Cornhole Cup (Major I) a great success.
Friday’s festivities were rocking right from the beginning as players made their way into the beautiful venue at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, WV. The energy and weather was great as many friends greeted each other for the first time since the ACO World Championships of Cornhole VIII. The music and pitchin’ began quickly, and 26 Luck of the Draw tournaments later, players still couldn’t get enough. The crowd pleasing moment of the evening came when ACO King of Cornhole VI, Eric Zocklein, stepped up to the 8-Bag Airmail Challenge with 4 minutes left on the clock and proceeded to drain all 8 bags for a perfect score of 36! Not bad, King…
As feared, Saturday started off rainy, but players made the best of the delay by congregating at the host hotel, Best Western, to try on their new ACO Jerseys, play mini Cornhole, and share war stories. Once the clouds parted, it shaped up to be a great evening of competition.
When the Singles tourney got underway, anticipation ran high as every player hoped to advance from 1st Round Mini-Bracket into the final bracket. There were some hearts broken along the way, but at the end, there were many new faces who joined the top players to fill out the final field of 60 players.
Two long time top players rose to the top of the bracket to face off in the Singles finals. KOC V Runner-Up, Gary Lewis, mowed through the field with an onslaught of Airmails, while 3-time ACO Major Runner-Up Cody Henderson did much of the same, but it took one last beautiful Airmail for Cody to eek out a win over his Doubles partner, Adam Hissner, in an earlier round.
At the end of the hard battle, Cody Henderson was no longer a runner-up: He became an ACO Major Champion! Great job, Cody! A special call-out goes to some great ACO players who have paid their dues and taken their games to the next level with Top Ten finishes for the first time: Nate Butler, Josh Lunsford, Bob Vonch, and Frank Modlin.
The Doubles tourney got off too a late start, but teams were pumped and ready to go. Once again, 1st Round Mini-Bracket play was fierce as teams fought to be included in the final bracket.
After amazing play by many teams in the final bracket, the team of Keith Blair and Eric Zocklein surged to the final match to face off against none other than CodyHenderson and Adam Hissner. When the dust settled, Cody Henderson’s day ended as it should have: A champion in Singles and Doubles. It could have easily been his Doubles partner, Adam Hissner, who pulled off the feat, but this was Cody’s day.
Appalachian Power Park in Charleston,WV
Great job Cody and Adam. Wow, if you guys keep this up, we’re going to see many more Doubles Championships for the two of you and many more great battles between you for Singles titles!
Thanks again to Charleston WV CVB, Appalachian Power Park and everyone who came out. We’ll see you at the next ACO Major in South Carolina on November 1st and 2nd , 2013.
Be sure to visit the event photo album on our facebook page.