Dechaine Outlasts Them All on Joss Tour

Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour / Waterville, ME

by Rick Davis
The Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour held their second billiard stop of the season over the September 29-30 weekend at T.J’s Classic Billiards in Waterville, ME, where a strong 32-player field came out to do battle. After the carnage had cleared, past champions, tour regulars, and other favorites all fell to Mike Dechaine, who went undefeated after offering up two days of solid play.
On the winners’ side Dechaine made short work of the chart, clearing it up in the hot seat match where he defeated Bucky Souvanthong 9-6. Then, on the one-loss side, the rest of the top eight were clawing and reaching to advance further.
Top national player and multi-time tour winner Dennis “The Hatchet Man” Hatch was slowly making a comeback from an early loss in day one. Hatch ousted Walter Szydlowski 9-2 then shut out Pete Bowman 9-0 to reach the quarterfinals. Nearby, the winner of the season’s first stop, Marc Vidal, eliminated Bruce Carroll 9-5 to catch up with Hatch in the quarterfinals. Hatch wasted little time and knocked out Vidal 9-3 and then kept up his streak by eliminating Souvanthong 9-5 in the semifinals.
With the finals on hand and the true double-elimination format in effect, a great match unfolded. Hatch took the opening set with a 9-7 squeaker, but in the second set the players hit the brakes and the score kept close. After a 7-all score Dechaine pulled away one rack to get on the hill and then inched over the line, taking the final rack to earn the event win after the 9-7 final set victory.

Open Results:

1st
Mike Dechaine

2nd
Dennis Hatch

3rd
Bucky Souvanthong

4th
Marc Vidal

5-6th
Bruce Carroll

Pete Bowman

7-8th
Chance Chin

Walter Szydlowski