Shane Slays the Competition
The Seminole Pro Tour continued its 2010 season with a stop at the Marietta Billiard Club in Marietta Georgia for the Gem City Classic July 9th through 11th. All of this year’s Tour winners, Johnny Archer (Mr. Cues II); Stevie Moore (Bankshots); Rodney Morris (Hollywood Billiards); and Donny Mills (Capone’s), tried to be the first repeat champion of the 2010 Tour. The past winners would have to get past a very loaded field of 64 players to try and stake their claim on the $20,000 guaranteed prize fund. The field included the regular Tour players such as Mike Davis, James Roberts, Hunter Lombardo, Charlie Williams, Corey Deuel, Tony Crosby and Tommy Kennedy as well as some new players to this year’s Tour, Nick Varner, Alex Smith, Shaun Wilkie, Allison Fisher, Mike Dechaine and Shane Van Boening.
All of the first round matches of the tournament began Friday evening. One past tour winner, Rodney “The Rocket” Morris, did not survive the first round. Morris was defeated on a thrilling hill-hill match against Atlanta local John Visotsky. Visotsky made the first huge splash of the weekend. On day two he would face another Atlanta local favorite, Paul Song. Song sent Visotsky to the left side of the bracket with a 9-5 score. Visotsky continued his run by defeating Darin Brewer 9-4 and Tommy Najar 9-6 before finally being beaten by Sylver Ochoa 9-2 and falling just short of the money matches.
Rodney Morris, now on the left side of the bracket, did not fair well on his second match either. Morris lost 9-7 to Mike Davis and would be the first of the past winners sent home. Stevie “The Blade” Moore began the tournament with a strong win against Ronny Park 9-1. Moore started day two with another win against Helena Thornfeldt 9-2. Moore then faced off against another past winner in Donny “Let’s Make a Deal” Mills. Moore started the match with an early lead, but Mills came from behind to shoot his way to a 9-7 victory. Moore then faced and beat Neil Fujiwara 9-7. Cliff Joyner would be next up against Moore at the start of day three. This match saw both players on the hill and Moore came away with a tough fought victory. Moore’s drama filled day did not end there. Up next was Shaun Wilkie, fresh from a defeat against Adam Smith 9-6. Wilkie and Moore exchanged matches back and forth. In the end it was Wilkie that moved on and Stevie Moore finished in 9th/10th place.
Before his match with Stevie Moore, Donny Mills defeated Eddie Little and Jeff Crawford both by a count of 9-2. After his hard fought win against Moore, Mills ran into a buzz saw in Shane Van Boening. Mills had limited opportunities and was unable to capitalize against the few openings that Van Boening left. Mills lost 9-2 and moved onto the losers side of the bracket to face Tony Crosby. Crosby and Mills exchanged racks back and forth until both were on the hill. Mills ended Cosby’s tournament run and advanced to play “The Prince of Pool” Corey Deuel. Deuel and Mills have not faced each other very much throughout their careers, but each time they do, it is always a match to be remembered and this one would be no different. Both players went on some runs, but at the end it was Deuel who advanced by a score of 9-5 and Mills was left in 7th/8th place.
With all of the previous winners eliminated from the brackets, only one remained alive to try to repeat as multiple 2010 Tour winners, Johnny Archer. Archer would have an advantage in this tournament since he is the room owner and plays these tables on a daily basis. Archer started the tournament off against Jerry Grooms with a 9-5 victory. A match up against Rocky McElroy was next and Archer cruised to a 9-0 victory. Archer’s next opponent was John Brumback. Archer had his game on point, as he shot his way to a 9-2 victory. The road would get a little bumpy for Archer on his next match against Mike Dechaine. Dechaine came off a hill-hill victory against Rod Rentz, but showed no signs of fatigue as he beat Archer 9-6. Archer was sent left where Tommy Kennedy was waiting for him. Kennedy was cutting some sharp angles and made some superb shots, but Archer would not be denied and advanced with a 9-7 score. Archer went back to the table to play Shaun Wilkie. Wilkie and Archer battled it out with each player making some shots sending the crowd in an uproar. The room owner and tournament favorite fell to Wilkie hill-hill and finished in 7th/8th place.
With all of the past winners eliminated, this left the door open for a new winner to be crowed. The field was matched very close as there were amazing 26 hill-hill matches in the three day event. One player who was mowing his competition down with relative ease was Shane Van Boening. “The South Dakota Kid” had his signature breaks firing on all cylinders this weekend. Van Boening made up to 4 balls on some of his breaks, leaving his opponents with no other options but to watch him run the table. Van Boening would face Darin Brewer in the first round and win 9-6. Mark Gregory was next up and next down by a count of 9-3. James Roberts was the next to fall victim to Van Boening by a final of 9-1. Donny Mills fell next 9-2, followed by Charlie Williams by the same score of 9-2. The king of the hill match would be Van Boening versus Mike Dechaine. Despite Dechaine’s best efforts, Van Boening could not be stopped and won the match 9-4.
This set up the championship match, Shane Van Boening versus Charlie “The Dragon” Williams, who defeated Mike Dechaine in a hill-hill to win the left bracket. Van Boening would come out of the gates firing his big guns. Van Boening made short work of Williams and slew “The Dragon” for the second time in the weekend, this time by a score of 11-3. Van Boening won the top prize of $5,000 and add another name to this year’s list of champions for the Seminole Pro Tour.
The Seminole Pro Tour would like to thank Johnny and Melanie Archer and the entire staff at the Marietta Billiard Club for hosting this auctioned packed weekend of 10-ball by some of the best players in the country. We look forward to our next Tour stop August 14-15 at Diamond Billiards in Cape Coral Florida.
