This weekend’s event was at AMF Union Hills and we had a nice turnout considering all the other events going on all over the Valley. This is the first time that we have been back to Union Hills since right before the Covid-19 pandemic started. So, it was good to be back in the area and we would draw 86 total entries (54 qualifying and 32 economy parlays), had 25 prize winners, a 1 in 3.44 cash ratio and paid out over $3,900.00 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a 44ft London oil pattern that played a lot tighter on the fresh, but once the pattern broke down, scoring sky rocketed. The key to this pattern was to get your ball into a roll and play a little straighter along the track. Those that could do that were able to take advantage of the pattern.
We had Riley Dempsey as our SFT Coach available for the day. So Riley is a resource that is open to all bowlers that are bowling the event. If you had any questions regarding how to attack the pattern or which equipment would be good to use, then it would’ve been beneficial to get some advice from him. The only time that bowlers would have to pay for the Coach is if they were going to agree to get a quick lesson to work on any physical game or see how their ball reaction was on the actual pattern. Going forward we hope to have either Riley or Cedric Bell available to coach at future events. We would see result from those that took advantage of the coaching, with Jeremy Brown and Roy Ruth, Sr., both making major improvements at this event and hope that more bowlers are able to take advantage of this resource in the upcoming events.
We want to welcome some new bowlers to the SFT AHT Family from this weekend. Justin Lewis, Estell Gushwa, Christopher Fallon, Corey Turrentine, Alan Grobmeier, Brandon Loss, Michael Barrett, William Demuth, Ken Nelson, Sean Reichley, John Rozell and Don Stone all bowled in their first tournament this weekend! It’s amazing that even after all these years we’re still seeing new bowlers come out and give our tournament club a try. Christopher Fallon, Ken Nelson and Justin Lewis even made it to the quarterfinals on their first try! We hope you all enjoyed yourself, and we hope to see you again soon!
We had a couple of parlay power players this weekend in Justin Phillips, Christopher Fallon and Justin Golden. They were all able to turn $25 into a quarterfinal check and a chance at the $700.00 first place prize. We also want to congratulate everyone who made it to their first quarterfinals or their first quarter finals in quite a while. Congrats to Ken Nelson, Justin Golden, Vincent Colbert, Jr., Christopher Fallon, Jeremy Brown and Justin Lewis! Also congrats to John Rozell for winning the Momma’s Mystery Pot, with a 161 game, for $120.00! The winner of the free plastic bowling ball, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance ball for $85.00, was Justin Lewis.
The quarterfinals were bowled on the fresh oil pattern and the cut scores were a lot lower than qualifying. The fresh oil took away the free hook that some of the players had on the burn and forced bowlers to try and leave makeable spares. Those that could keep themselves out of trouble were able to advance to the Semi-Final round.
In the A Division the #1 seed would be Ron Gonzales (+16) and he would have to wait as we would have a three-way tie for the #2 seed. Justin Phillips, Vincent Colbert, Jr. and Jeff Bell would all finish the quarterfinals round at -3. They would all have to take part in a 9th/10th frame roll off to determine who Ron would have to face. The Roll Off would start with Justin Phillips going first and his ball would go a bit late into the pocket leaving a 6-pin. Justin would miss his spare attempt giving a chance for the other to take advantage. Vincent would be next and his first shot would crush the pocket throwing all the ten back and putting pressure on Jeff to do the same. Jeff would get up for his ninth frame and his shot would look good off his hand, but would snap late going through the head pin and leave him the “Big 4” split (4-6-7-10). He wasn’t able to convert and would drop back into third place going into the tenth. Vincent would double in the tenth to seal up the match and finish with a score of 48.41 to get himself into the Semi-Finals. Jeff would go 8-spare and 7 on his fill to finish in 4th place in his Division at 26.83. Justin would finish the match with an 8-spare and strike to finish at 30 and 3rd place in the Division.
The B Division #1 seed would be Dan Marks (+41) and he would be facing off with Quinten Bell (+14). The C Division #1 seed was Jeremy Brown (+46) versus Roy Ruth, Sr. (+37). The advantage of each #1 seed player is that they are able to pick the pair of lanes that they want their match to take place. Also another advantage is that they get to choose the order of which player would start first.
The A Division semi-final match would see Vincent Colbert, Jr. remain on fire from his 9th/10th frame roll off as he would defeat #1 seed Ron Gonzales, 231 to 183. The B Division semi-final match would go back and forth with both bowlers struggling to strike. Quentin Bell was able close out the match with a few timely spares to get by Dan Marks, 200 to 159. The C Division semi-final match would see Jeremy Brown come out firing as he would start off with a 4-bagger to jump out to a huge lead and defeat Roy Ruth, Sr., 252 to 201.
Going into the Final match we would see Quentin Bell looking for his 2nd SFTAHT title while both Vincent and Jeremy were looking for their first title in their first title match.
The Final match would see Quinten and Vincent would start off trying to get lined up as quickly as possible with Jeremy getting an early double to jump out in the lead. Jeremy would stay clean through the first six frames, but a 4-7-10 split in the seventh would give the others a chance to catch up. Vincent would get a couple of timely strikes, but would split in the ninth and tenth frames to finish at 178. Quinten would finish out the match with some good spare and get by Vincent with a score of 186. Jeremy would get a double to seal his win the ninth and tenth frames and finish the match at 232 for his first AHT SFT title and $350.00. Unfortunately, Jeremy was not in the Progressive Pot, but I’m sure he made a few new friends from the others that were in it. The Progressive Pot is paid out 100% to everyone that is in the Progressive Pot, so everyone that was in the Pro Pot saw their checks increase a bit. Congrats to Quinten Bell on 2nd place and Vincent Colbert, Jr. on 3rd place.
On a final note, Jeremy went -60 in the economy parlay and immediately signed up for coaching once the 1st squad ended. So, it was good to see the results from a $10.00 coaching lesson help him get lined up and bring him home a title. Thanks to everyone for coming out this weekend to support the event. We look forward to seeing you all next Sunday at Bowlero Mesa! Hope you all have a great week!
FINALS - Vincent Colbert, Jr. vs. Quentin Bell vs. Jeremy Brown
