The first event of the season is over. Hundreds of cornhole players flocked to Rock Hill, South Carolina for the final time until the 2026 World Championships. The offseason felt long, but the talent did not diminish in the slightest. There were thousands upon thousands of bags thrown across the three days, so let's talk about it.
After September’s “offseason,”, the ACL and its players were back in full force, and it all started on Friday with Women's, Junior, and Senior Singles.
For the Women, the question this season is “who is going to be the new dominant woman in the ACL?” and so far, it is a two-headed monster between Samantha Finley and Caitlyn Allshouse. Allshouse won Women’s Singles and Doubles at the 2025 World Championships, and Finley is coming off an Open Singles and Doubles win at the ACL Europe Open. Both ladies came into this weekend firing on all cylinders, and it showed as they met in the overall finals. Allshouse was able to win game one of the double dip, but Finley shut the door in game two, winning Women’s singles at the first event of the season.
Senior Singles was run by one single man: Donald Cupp. The Don ran through the bracket, not giving up more than six points in a single game. He outscored his opponents 136-20, including both a 21-0 and 21-4 wins over Frank Modlin. Cupp faced Jerry Armstrong in the overall final, which was a much closer game, but Cupp was still able to pull it out. Does Steve Schroeder have some company at the top of the Senior division?
I’ll tell you right now, this Junior Singles division is going to be incredible to watch all season. The talent is so deep that there may be 10 different kids who could win on any given day. On this specific day, it was Gabriel Clauson. This kid has a big chip on his shoulder after not making the Top 100 Pro division, and he is using it to his advantage. Clauson breezed through his side of the bracket, including a 21-5 win over Cash Chamness, and made it to the winner’s final against Zack Aiken. This time however, Aiken got the edge on Gabriel and made it to the finals. Clauson made it back to the final after a 21-11 win over Jackson Gore, and outscored Aiken 42-13 across the two games to complete the double dip. I can’t make any predictions on the Junior division because the talent is so top-heavy. Good grief.
Women’s Doubles was won by Caitlyn Allshouse and Rilee Schoff, winning in Rock Hill just like they did at the World Championships. This team is scary as hell, and I don’t even think they’ve reached their full potential. I do really like the team of Sam Finley and Gina Ramirez, and I think Sarah Cassidy and Elizabeth Tennyson will be the three-headed monsters of the Women’s Doubles division.
Steve Schroeder and Donald Cupp won Senior Doubles. That's it. Not much to say about that. If these two play every event together, they will win every event. Far and away the two best seniors in Cornhole, and them playing together is not fair.
A lot of upsets made the Junior Singles bracket go crazy and saw Brayden Barry and Asher Plummer take it down. I will say this, remember the name Brayden Barry. This kid is out of Pennsylvania and is very very very good. We will be seeing him a lot if he continues to travel to these events. Disappointing performances from Ethan Farias and Gabriel Clauson, I expect more from them. Same for Chase White and Zayne Crots. These are brackets they should be performing well in, but they didn’t. I’ll give them a break because it's the first event, but I expect better from them.
After an exciting Friday, Saturday brought doubles, which means we are back to regular Open Doubles: all Pros playing with all amateurs, six rounds of rounders which seed you into brackets, as God intended.
After rounders, there were five undefeated teams: Jackson Gore and Zack Aiken, Logan Chamberlain and Gavin Cano, Jamie Graham and Ethan Walker, Justin Burton Jr. and Cash Chamness and Bo Graff and Lucas Piper. Three of the five teams are new Pro Doubles partners, which is a very good sign that the new teams feel good with each other.
The A bracket saw Jackson Gore and Zack Aiken take on JBJ and Cash in the winner’s final, where the two Texas boys took down the new Cornhole Scenario team 21-8. Gore and Aiken dropped down to the third place game and handled business against another new pro team Colin Hodet and Gage Landis to get back to the final. Unfortunately for them, JBJ and Cash were still cooking and won 21-7 to win the bracket.
The B bracket was owned by one team, a unique one: Jamie Graham and Ethan Walker. These two had never played with each other before, and was a last minute decision. They walked their way to the finals after a 21-8 win in the King seat game against Sammy Soto and Colby Shearer, and took on Spencer Fabionar and Tony Forbes in the bracket final. While Spencer and Tony were able to take game one of the double dip, Jamie and Ethan held on and took care of business in game two.
The overall final was not close as Ethan Walker threw an 11.14 PPR, and Jamie and Ethan won their first ever event together 21-4.
There were a ton of new ACL Pro teams that performed well this weekend, and I cannot wait til the first Signature.
On Wednesdays, Mean Girls wear pink. On Sundays, cornhole players play Singles. The biggest surprise of Singles came out of the A bracket, and his name was Quincy Wyche. I’d like to apologize to Quincy because I was not familiar with your game. He came out of the gate firing on all cylinders with wins over Eddie Grindeslev, Bobby Hunt, Josiah Arreguin, and Ryan Weidenfeld twice to win his bracket. A non pro from North Carolina, this is why the open format is awesome. Nobody saw him coming, but he was able to take down an open bracket stacked with talent.
The B bracket was surprise surprise won by Jamie Graham. At times it looked like he didn’t even want to be there, but then you look at his stats and realize only one person scored double digits on him the entire bracket. Sammy Soto scored 17 in the winner’s final, but not 21. Jamie faced Gavin Cano in the final and smoked him. If this dude traveled to as many opens as Mark Richards, he would be smoking everyone in the title race. The best player in the world right now in my opinion.
Zack Aiken, who had a fantastic season last year, got off to another hot start on the singles side. Cake walked to the final where he faced Ethan Walker and let him win game one because Zack is a nice kid. After that he locked in and beat Ethan 21-0 in game two. This kid is good, and if his wrist problems hold off he will be on the MVP ballot.
Finally bracket D. The thing I liked the most about this event is that I think the four correct people won brackets, because they all smoked everyone they played, including Cash. He gave up 15 points in his first game, then proceeded to smoke everyone including beating Spencer Fabionar 21-5, and then again 22-0 in the bracket final. The kid was on one all day.
Now it's time for the final four. Cash Chamness made quick work of Quincy Wyche 21-2 in eight rounds. Everything else was insane.
In the other semi, Jamie Graham scored a five spot in round 20 to take an 18-7 lead. However after that, Jamie would be held to two points for the final 18 rounds. Zack Aiken got off to a slow start, but locked in halfway through and became unstoppable. Aiken outscored Graham 14-2, and was able to squeak by in what some might call the game of the weekend… if it wasn’t for what happened after.
The stage was set. Zack Aiken is looking for his second ever Open singles title. Cash Chamness looking for his first ever. Buckle up.
After a few rounds, you could tell this game was going to take forever. The game was tied at six going into round nine, and then we saw 10 straight washes. Nobody scored again until round 19. This game was so close and so back and forth. Nobody reached double digits until round 22. The biggest lead either player had was seven points. 32 double four-baggers. 60% of the time they threw a double four-bagger. That's so stupid. It was one of the most intense games of bag running we’ve seen. Both players threw well over an 11 PPR. Cash reached 20 and was up 20-14, but for some reason it didn’t feel like it was close to being over, and I was right. Cash stalled on 20 for seven rounds. For seven rounds Zack had his back against the wall and had to make his last bag, and he did every time. All of a sudden it's round 49 and it's 20-19. The roles have reversed and Cash has his back against the wall. No way a nine year old has this much composure right? Wrong. The score would stay 20-19 for five rounds. Fast forward to round 53. Zack Aiken misses his second bag of the round a little bit to the right. Cash cuts right around it, and with Aiken needing to grab the bag, he misses the shot and throws it off the back. It's over.
A match that lasted one hour and four minutes saw the youngest player ever win an ACL Open, in the longest game in the history of the ACL. What an incredible experience. Zack Aiken has nothing to hang his head on, and I am so excited to see what else he does this season. As for Cash, this kid has all the makings of the next phenom in the sport. It is going to be awesome to see them both compete all season long.
What a weekend, what an event. Rock Hill never disappoints. Next on the agenda, ACL Open #2 from Winter Haven, Florida, October 24-26.
