The penultimate Signature event before the World Championships has come and gone. Utica, New York had some hot weather, but even hotter cornhole action inside the Nexus Center. Another awesome weekend is in the books; time to break down what happened.
Singles on Friday started like most others have all season long: Top seeds playing well. Jamie Graham, Tony Smith and Austin Waskow won their first game and made it to the winner’s bracket final. The only 1-seed who did not was Sammy Soto, who went 1-2, falling to Bobby Hunt and Ryan Smith.
While the other three one seeds made the winner’s final, all three of them lost in the winners final. It was very strange. The four players sitting in the king seat, needing to be double-dipped were Gage Landis, Richard Nyberg, Mason Traiteur, and Mark Richards. Obviously Mark was the only non-surprise out of the four.
When bracket final time came around, three of the brackets had rematches, and only one saw a different match. In the A bracket, Gge Landis was able to hold off the #1-ranked player in the World, Jamie Graham, and won his first career Pro Singles bracket. In the B bracket, Richard Nyberg was double-dipped by the man he beat originally, Tony Smith. Chris Roybal came out of the C bracket and double-dipped Mason Traiteur, and Mark Richards held off a hot Jordan Power to come away with another bracket win.
The final four was set. #3 player in the World Tony Smith vs #47 Chris Roybal. #5 Mark Richards vs #28 Gage Landis. Two favorites, two surprise underdogs. I knew it was going to be intense.
The next day was Saturday doubles early in the morning. Once again, as has been the norm for most of the season, the top seeds dominated. All four #1 seeds breezed by and made it to the winners final; however not all of them won. The co-number-one# team in the world, Jamie Graham and Jacob Trzcienski, lost to #2 seed of the bracket, AJ Sims and Brayden Wilson, while Sammy Soto and Gavin Cano fell to Ryan Smith and Ryan Weidenfeld in the winner’s final of the C bracket. Mark and Tony, as well as Justin Burton Jr. and Logan Chamberlain, played well and won their brackets with no problems.
In the A bracket final, Trzcienski and Graham survived a close match in the third place game against Colby Shearer and Matt Wilson, and would have a rematch against Brayden and AJ. In an incredible game, Sims missed six bags while Wilson only missed seven and were able to take down one of the best teams in cornhole to punch their ticket to the TV broadcast.
In the C bracket, Devon Harbaugh and Jeremiah Ellis came out of the loser bracket to face Smith and Weidenfeld, and these two teams proceeded to play two of the best games of the entire season –back and forth, crazy shot after crazy shot – which led the entertaining team of Ellis and Harbaugh to complete the double dip and win their way to TV.
Another top-heavy broadcast was set, as all four teams sit inside the top 10 in Pro Doubles standings. #1 Mark Richards and Tony Smith would face off against #8 AJ Sims and Brayden Wilson. On the other side, #4 Justin Burton Jr. and Logan Chamberlain would face off against #6 Devon Harbaugh and Jeremiah Ellis. A truly star-studded event that would for sure produce some great games.
As Sunday neared, the main talk was one thing: board conditions. Since the venue was ice skating rinks, which meant cooler temperatures, boards had been slightly faster than usual. Since broadcast boards are usually always faster, we anticipated that would remain the same. However as broadcast time approached, every single player seemed to be okay with the speeds, saying they feel just about the same as they’ve been playing all weekend.
The lights came down, the music began to play, and the show got underway, starting with Singles. In the first semi-final, Mark Richards proved to be too much for Landis who was playing on a broadcast for the first time in his career for singles, and while Landis played well, Richards played slightly better, and took it down 21-8.
The second semi-final proved to be just about the same, as Tony Smith took on Chris Roybal. You could tell from the start Tony was feeling good as he was smiling celebrating after every good shot, something Smith doesn’t do normally. After a big five spot to go up 14-2 going into the media timeout, it didn’t seem like there was much Roybal could do, and that ended up being the case as Chris never saw the scoreboard after round three and fell 22-2.
The final was set. Partner vs partner. We all knew it was going to be a good one, and it did not disappoint. Tony started out of the gate hot as Mark had to adjust to a different set of bags. But then, out of nowhere, back to back four spots propelled Richards into an 11-10 lead heading to the media timeout.
Out of the timeout it was once again all Tony Smith as he rattled off nine straight points and took a 19-10 lead. He was just two points away from his first singles title since 2023. But the one thing you cannot do is put Mark Richards’ back against the wall. The score stayed 19-11 for a couple of rounds, until a huge 8-spot from Mark made it 19-18 just like that. By that point the momentum had completely shifted and there was nothing Tony could do. Mark stayed hot, scored the last three points and took down his third singles title of the year. What a season.
After Pro singles was Pro doubles. The first game of the broadcast saw AJ Sims and Brayden Wilson take Mark Richards and Tony Smith to the LIMIT. They started off hot, going up 9-2 and then 13-10. After four straight washes out of the media timeout, Mark and Tony went scorched earth and went on an 11-1 run to take down Sims and Wilson. Mark and Tony were yet again in a Pro Doubles final.
The other semi-final between Justin Burton Jr. and Logan Chamberlain vs. Jeremiah Ellis and Devon Harbaugh was… disappointing? The entire crowd was hyped for Ellis and Harbaugh, and there was hardly anybody in the corner for Logan and JBJ. Apparently that did not matter for the Texas boys, as they made quick work winning their game, 21-10. Devon and Jeremiah scored the first four points, and were outscored 23-6 the remainder of the game.
Mark Richards and Tony Smith vs Logan Chamberlain and Justin Burton Jr. One team trying to prove that they’re the best team in Texas. The other is trying to prove that they’re the best team of all time.
Mark and Tony scored first and shot up to an early 6-2 lead. Early signs showed they were well on their way to a sixth doubles title of the season. However Logan and Justin had other ideas. Logan and JBJ took a 10-7 lead which skyrocketed to 15-7 in one round, and they were just six points away going into the media timeout. After the timeout, not much changed. Logan and JBJ dominated the entire time and held Mark and Tony to just 13 points.
For the first time since 2023, Logan Chamberlain and Justin Burton Jr. are Pro Doubles Champions. In a finals where they both averaged well over a 10 PPR, these two were destined to win from the beginning. No fans, no support, just straight gas as they mowed down anybody that stood in their way.
The sixth and final Signature is 4th of July weekend in Richmond, Virginia. Who will have the hot hand going into the 2025 ACL World Championships? Only one way to find out: tune in.
