Daulton Captures the Mid-Carolina Classic
Mid-Carolina Classic / Rock Hill, SC
by Rick Davis
Taking place at Breakers Billiards in Rock Hill, SC, the Mid-Carolina Classic drew in a talented 45-player field to compete over the April 14-15 weekend, and it was tournament director Shannon Daulton who kept control to win the event undefeated.
After the bulk of the field had been eliminated, the winners’ side top eight chipped through a pair of rounds to reach the hot seat match and populate the one-loss side. The spotlight match early on was Daulton and Gabe “The Babe” Owen, where Daulton edged out Owen. In that same round, Tony Watson defeated JR Farias, Josh Roberts bested Ed Marriott, and Brian Capps sent Ian Hull west. Then, in the next round, Daulton kept in gear, defeating Watson, while Roberts did the same by besting Capps. Daulton and Roberts were now set to meet in the hot seat match.
Once the first round on the winners’ side completed, action resumed on the one-loss side as well. Marriott faced Brian White, while Farias faced Larry “The Truth” Nevel, but the players on the one-loss side held their ground. In the other two matches, the incoming Hull and Owen eliminated their opponents, Brady and Cooper, respectively. From there half the one-loss side board continued to change ownership as Hull knocked out White, then the incoming Watson eliminated Hull. On the other half, Nevel was unrelenting as he eliminated Owen, Capps, and then Watson in the quarterfinal round.
This brought the event to the top three, and after Daulton claimed the hot seat match, Roberts faced Nevel to see who would return to the finals. After taking four one-loss side wins Sunday, Nevel proved too strong and eliminated Roberts in the semifinals. With his momentum continuing, Nevel took the first set from Daulton in the true double-elimination finals to set up one final set for all the chips. Things started close, but Daulton was apparently ready to finish up and quickly sprinted to the 7-4 win to snatch the title away from Nevel, completing the event undefeated.
Results:
1st Shannon Daulton
2nd Larry Nevel
3rd Josh Roberts
4th Tony Watson
5th Ian Hull
Brian Capps
7th Gabe Owen
Brian White
Leave a Reply