There are tournaments and there are events.
The ACO World Championships of Cornhole isn’t only an event. It is THE event. It is the one event of the year where cornholers from around the country go to compete against the best players, have fun, meet new people, see incredible competition and be part of the experience. Everyone has their Worlds moment. Maybe it’s advancing into the Open Bracket, beating someone you lost to in a Regional or Major, winning a t-shirt in a buy-in micro tournament, watching an awesome match, making it to the 64-player King of Cornhole or winning a world title.
“If you’re not having fun playing this game, don’t be here, ” said reigning King of Cornhole Eric Zocklein. “We’re here to have a good time.”
There is no doubt the ACO World Championships of Cornhole are about fun and competition. But when someone achieves something special, emotions are displayed which transcend trophies, prestige, money or a ring. You could feel that moment when Jay Dotson and Brandon Hill forced a third game against Shane Andrews and Danny Blanks. You could see that moment after Jen Allen’s emotional Queen of Cornhole III victory over two-time champion Crystal Mann.
2012 ACO World Doubles Champions Danny Blanks and Shane Andrews
The Worlds is a place where one can earn special recognition amongst their peers; a place where a player’s season long journey culminates into achieving personal goals. It is the place a cornhole player can be crowned the Best in the World.
Teams had to win five matches to earn the ACO World Doubles championship title. There’s no better way to start your journey to the world titles than by facing the reigning champions. ACO Team of the Year Jay Dotson and Brandon Hill made a statement defeating the defending ACO World Doubles champions Eric Zocklein and Chase Lackey in round one. Three victories later, they were in the championship finals against Shane Andrews and Danny Blanks, runner-ups at Worlds VI. Andrews and Blanks took game one. Jay Dotson and Brandon Hill fought back and took game two. But the ACO Team of the Year fell to Andrews and Blanks who won their first ACO World Doubles Championship title.
“Feels great knowing we brought the title back to the Carolinas,” said Blanks.
The excitement didn’t stop there. Next up was the Queen of Cornhole between two-time reigning world champion Crystal Mann and Jennifer Allen. Allen challenged Mann. She took risks. If this was a Rocky movie, this was Rocky III. Two fighters going three rounds for the world title. Allen came out fighting like Rocky Balboa attacking Clubber Lang and took game one 21-0. Mann regained control of the match winning game two 21-12. They went back and forth in game three.
Crystal Mann (left) and Jennifer Allen battle for the Queen’s crown.
“I couldn’t really get anything going,” said Mann. “Bags weren’t going where I wanted them.”
Allen took the lead and never let it go, sealing the Queen of Cornhole title with a 21-14 win. The post match interview tells the story why Allen’s victory will go down as one of the most emotional victories ever at the ACO World Championships of Cornhole.
“That was hard. I took a lot of effort into this,” said Allen. “Six months of busting my ass. But I did it. She’s a beast. She’a a beast.”
The question many had was if Eric Zocklein (KY) and Isidro Herrera (IL) could match the epic performance of King of Cornhole VI? Their KOC VI match goes down as a top five KOC match. It would be hard to top. Some argue Zocklein and Herrera did.
Zocklein got out to an 8-0 lead in game one. Herrera not only fought back, but he built a 20-12 lead. Zocklein climbed back to 20-16 until Herrera took game one 21-16. Zocklein would start game two with a nine point lead, up 11-2 over Herrera. And again Herrera would climb back, closing the gap to 13-10. Zocklein secured game two 21-10.
Herrera took an early 5-0 lead in game three and built a nice 9-4 lead. Zocklein would battle back to 9-8 and then take the lead 10-9. With a 12-10 lead, Zocklein hit a five spot to go up 17-10. It was very similar to his performance against Matt Guy in the semifinals. Zocklein was up 6-4 when Matt Guy put up a five spot to take the lead 9-6. Three frames and five points per frame later and Zocklein won 21-9 and returned to the world title match.
ACO King of Cornhole® VII Isidro Herrera with ACO Chairman Doug Hopkins
What happened next was amazing to see. Herrera was down 20-12 to Zocklein in game three. His third bag sat on the edge of the hole. Zocklein’s bag was up against the front of the hole. The only option for Herrera was an airmail. Not only did Herrera hit the airmail, he took the other two bags with it for a wash. It energized the crowd and gave Herrera life. It gave him momentum.
“He had me down pretty good. I thought I was done,” said Herrera. “But I had to keep my head up. Keep working, working, working.”
Herrera’s perseverance paid off. He scored two more points to cut the lead 20-14. Then he cut it to 20-18. Then 20-20. Eight bags later and Isidro Herrera was crowned the new ACO World Champion King of Cornhole.
“I want to thank everybody that came out and supported me from the Illinois area. And definitely I’ll come back next year to defend the title.”
Three world championships matches were only part of the experience at the ACO World Championships of Cornhole VII. Crews also participated for the Farfsing Cup. Crew members earned points based on their performance in the Singles an Doubles. The Crew with the least amount of points walked away winners of the Farfsing Cup. The winning Crew consisted of former King of Cornhole Eric Zocklein, Chase Lackey and ACO Team of the Year Jay Dotson and Brandon Hill.
Other tournaments at the ACO World Championships of Cornhole VII were the Ranked Players Invitational (Singles and Doubles), an exclusive tournament for players/teams in the ACO World Rankings, Open Singles and Open Doubles (open tournaments with the best players/teams advancing to the King of Cornhole and the World Doubles Championship), World Games Championship and two social tournaments, King of Sling (singles) and Social Doubles Championship.
Congratulations to all the winners at the ACO World Championship of Cornhole VII:
King of Cornhole VII: Isidro Herrera
Queen of Cornhole III: Jennifer Allen
World Doubles Championship: Shane Andrews and Danny Blanks
Farfsing Cup: Jay Dotson, Brandon Hill, Chase Lackey and Eric Zocklein
World Games Championship: Dale Smith
RPI Singles: Dale Smith
RPI Doubles: Adam Hissner and Jeremiah Wilson
Open Singles: Crystal Mann
Open Doubles: Randy Atha and Dale Smith
King of Sling: Mike Lucas, Jr.
World Social Doubles Championship: Steve Ard and Austin Robillard