The American Cornhole League brought the fireworks to Richmond this Fourth of July weekend, as the final ACL Signature of the season took place at the Henrico Sports and Events Center. The final round-limited tournament of the season saw a lot of surprises, and a lot of familiar faces. Let’s talk about it.
When singles started Friday afternoon, you could tell almost immediately that things were going to be crazy. When #2 player in the world, Tony Smith, got smoked in his second game to Elite player Ethan Farias, 24-3, #7 player in the world Gavin Cano lost his very first game to Dean Norton, and #1 player in the world Jamie Graham lost his third game to Colin Hodet, we knew it was going to a wild finish.
Jay Rubin was the only 1 seed to make it to the winner’s final, and even he lost to Jordan Power, 10-6. For the first time all season, nobody inside the top 15 in Pro Singles standings was in the king-seat.
In the A bracket, Colin Hodet (33rd in Pro Singles) held off a ferocious comeback attempt by Jakob Gore (79) to make it to the bracket final. In bracket B, Derek Holland (16) destroyed Collin Powers (43). Ethan Walker (20) made quick work of Sammy Soto (6) in bracket C, and Jordan Power (29) held off Jay Rubin (4) to hold the edge in bracket D.
The bracket finals were pure chaos. Three out of the four brackets went to game two. The only one that did not was the A bracket, which saw Hodet take down Jakob Gore, who beat Hunter Thorson to make it back to the finals. This was the first-ever bracket win in the young career of Colin Hodet, who was in my opinion far and away the best player in the building on Friday.
Richard Nyberg made it back to the B bracket final to take on Derek Holland, which was insane. Nyberg forced a game 2 after missing four bags in game one and winning 7-0. Game two was nuts. Holland had the lead for the whole game, and at one point was up 11-2. Holland would not score again. Nyberg made an incredible comeback, and found himself down three going into the final round. Holland already had one miss off to the left, and Derek’s third bag was a back block behind one of Nyberg’s bags in front of the hole. Richard threw his fourth and final bag with a lot of speed, and was able to not only knock both of his bags in, but “halfway” bar-of-soap Derek’s bag to the side of the hole. So now, with Derek holding the final bag, he had to put both the bag in his hand and the bag on the board in the hole or Nyberg wins. Holland threw his patented line-drive airmail that just barely clipped his bag hanging, and was enough to drag it into the hole for the win. An incredible finish to an incredible game, and Holland was onto the final four as well.
The C bracket also went to game 2, but was not nearly as close, as Logan Chamberlain (20) was able to come up out of the losers bracket and double-dip Ethan Walker. Logan won by 11 in game one, and defeated Walker by eight in game two.
Bracket D was a little more intense as Alex Rawls (20) came up out of the loser’s bracket and defeated Jordan Power in game one. However Power was able to lock in on the back of some clutch airmails and survive the Alex Rawls attack. Neither player averaged over a 9.5 in either game, as someone laid a block almost every round.
The final four was set. Logan Chamberlain vs. Jordan Power, and Colin Hodet vs. Derek Holland. Nobody predicted this at all, which made it even more entertaining.
The next morning, Pro Doubles kicked off. Once again, the top heavy hitters came to play. This was the exact opposite of what happened in Pro Singles, as three out of the four #1 seeds breezed their way to the finals. Between Mark Richards and Tony Smith, Jamie Graham and Jacob Trzcienski, and Justin Burton Jr. and Logan Chamberlain, they outscored their opponents 217-76. Only once did a team get to double digits. Absolute insanity.
The only 1 seed that did not make it was Sammy Soto and Gavin Cano. They lost a heartbreaker to Erick Davis and Spencer Fabionar, 8-7. Sammy and Gavin would then lose their next game to Ryan Traiteur and Jay Rubin, putting them fourth in the D bracket.
Mark and Tony won bracket A easily after beating Jordan Camba and Eric Zocklein, 16-8, in the finals. Jamie and Jacob won bracket B even more convincingly as they got revenge on Brayden Wilson and AJ Sims, beating them 22-1.
Jordan Power and Cheyenne Bubenheim were able to avenge a loss in the winner’s final to Erick Davis and Spencer Fabionar and double-dip them. Neither game was close, as Jordan and Cheyenne were both able to clinch double TV time. Jordan won his pro singles bracket, and Cheyenne won her Women’s Singles bracket.
As for JBJ and Logan, they had to play the juggernaut of Jeremiah Ellis and Devon Harbaugh. Ellis and Harbaugh got blanked, 18-0, by Derek Holland and Alex Rawls, but were able to come all the way back and make it to the finals, and boy did they earn it. They won game one pretty easily, but game two was anything but that.
JBJ and Logan started out in the lead 5-0, but then Jeremiah and Devon tied it 5-5.Then Jeremiah and Devon took the lead 9-5, only for the Texas boys to tie it in the next round. Devon and Jeremiah scored two more to make it 11-9, and JBJ and Logan tied it again the next round. The score would stay 11-11 for quite some time. The game went into overtime. Then double overtime. Then triple overtime. Then finally, in quadruple overtime, Jeremiah Ellis was able to put the nail in the coffin and take down the defending Doubles champs, in what could possibly be the game of the year.
When the dust settled, we were ready for the Pro Doubles final four. Mark and Tony (1) would take on the outspoken duo of Devon and Jeremiah (6), and Jamie and Jacob (2) would face off against Jordan and Cheyenne (5).
When Sunday rolled around, you could feel the excitement. The realization that this was the last broadcast until the World Championships, where the energy really picks up.
First on the broadcast was Women’s singles, and it was pretty eventful. It was the Women’s singles broadcast debut of Rilee Schoff, and man did she come to play. The 15-year-old from South Carolina gave Cheyenne Bubenheim everything she could handle. Schoff held a four point lead going into the last round, but Cheyenne did cheyenne things. She perfectly manufactured four points to force overtime, and was able to take it down in the extra frame. I promise you that is not the last time we will see Rilee. In the other semifinal, Sam Finley made quick work of Sarah Cassidy, and then did the same exact thing against Cheyenne in the finals. Sam Finley was unstoppable, and absolutely deserved that Women’s Singles title.
Afterwards was Pro Singles. Colin Hodet looked like he was struggling with the quickness of the boards, and had some unlucky bounces that worked in the favor of Derek Holland, and he was able to defeat Hodet, 15-7.
In the second semifinal, it was all Jordan Power… until the end. At one point, Power was up 11-4 and was cruising, there was not a single wash until round nine. A big six-spot for Logan made it 11-10, and the score remained the same until the very last round. All Jordan needed was a 4-bagger. Logan made his last 20 in a row to put the pressure on Power. It was down to the final bag. In the hole and you win, anything else and you lose. The bag left Power’s hand, floated in the air, landed and slid up the board… just to the left of the hole and slid right past it. Logan scored two and won the game, 12-11. Heartbreak for Jordan, elation for Logan.
Logan Chamberlain vs. Derek Holland for a Pro Singles title, just how everyone drew it up.
The game was close until the media time out. Logan was up 5-3, it was anybody’s game. However, after the break, Holland threw two bags short of the board and gave up six, and from there it was over. Derek couldn’t get anything going, and Logan was more focused than I’ve ever seen. Logan won the game 19-6 and secured his first ever Pro Singles title. What a win.
Before Pro Doubles, Gabriel Clauson won Junior Singles and truck driver Steve Schroeder won Senior Singles in fun, but largely uneventful, games.
In the first Pro Doubles semifinal, Jeremiah Ellis gave up a touchdown in the second round of the game, and he and Harbaugh were never able to come back from it. Mark and Tony hit some really nice shots and ran away with the game, winning 22-6.
In the second semifinal, Jamie and Jacob went out to an early 3-0 lead. After a 2-spot and a 4-spot, Jordan and Cheyenne took a 6-3 lead and never looked back. The game was close the entire time, and even with Jamie and Jacob making their last 16 straight, it didn’t matter. Jordan and Cheyenne held on for a 13-11 lead, upsetting the #2 team in the country and were into the final.
Cheyenne looked to become the first ever female to win a gender-neutral Pro title, while Mark and Tony were vying for their sixth doubles title of the season.
The game was close the entire time. Neither team had a lead bigger than six. A couple of lead changes kept swinging the momentum, but no swing was bigger than Mark and Tony scoring a four spot and a five spot in back-to-back rounds to take a 15-10 lead after being down 10-6. In round 11, Mark Richards laid a block and Jordan Power proceeded to hit four straight airmails to bring them within three, but Cheyenne’s blocks were no match for Tony Smith as he was able to get around and clinch the win for the best team in cornhole.
What a season it has been. Some incredible things have happened, and there is more action to come. The 2025 ACL World Championships are July 28-August 3rd. For more information visit iplaycornhole.com/2025-worlds. I will see all of you In Rock Hill, South Carolina!
