Cornhole history was made in downtown Cincinnati as Jack Stagge defeated the No. 2 seed Steve Vanderver in the final match of the ACO Monster World Cornhole Championship. Maybe the bigger news was that Jack had to get past three-year cornhole champion, No. 1 seed Matt Guy, to get into the final round.
The day started with upsets. Newcomer to the ACO series, Dave Sutton from Chicago, upset the No. 16 seed, Mark Allen, to secure his spot in the Championship Tournament.
Justin Cook from North Carolina, No. 11, made it to the final four after ousting Noel True, No. 6 and No. 3 Randy Atha. And, No. 13 seeded Damon Tucker, also from North Carolina, beat No. 4 Eric Hinerman.
Stagge and Vanderver gave the Fountain Square crowd the best pitches they had to offer with Jack finding resources he had never found before.
“There are no words to describe it when you knock off the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the world,” exclaimed Stagge. “You have to shoot beyond all your capabilities. I practiced hard for three or four weeks, five to six hours a day. That’s what it takes to knock off the big guys. Maybe the stars and the planets lined up, I don’t know what it was. Winning this was for my sister. I love you, baby. You left us all before we wanted you to. This is also for my mom. I love you.”
The day was about kicking off the tailgating season in Cincinnati and supporting Easter Seals Work Resource Center. More than 10,000 people came to this festival of fun raising over $100,000 for the Easter Seals cause.
The marquee event sponsored by Monster Drink did not disappoint the crowd. All 17 players gave it their all with Jack Stagge taking the $2,600.00 first place prize.
“This is a great day for the sport of cornhole,” said Frank Geers, president of the American Cornhole Organization. “With today’s win by Jack Stagge, it proves that this sport is open to all players. Although Matt Guy is the King of Cornhole – and still the No. 1 player in the world – Jack’s accomplishment proves that Matt is human. And, Steve Vanderver played a great final game. I’m proud of what happened here today.”
“Any given day, 40 players can beat anybody,” said a humble Vanderver. “You’ve seen it today. There are a lot of good throwers and there’s more coming in. It’s absolutely enjoyable to be here at the ground level watching this sport develop. You have to keep practicing because there are a lot of good guys out there.”
To view the action of the ACO Monster World Cornhole Championship Finals Video visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv6SmlDDqUU
