Unstoppable Nevel Wins Again

by Rick Davis

The final day of play brought back the top 16 players, where Jared McGee bested Richard West then Donnie Seagraves, both 9-6, to reach the hot seat match. On the other end of the chart Nevel drilled Marty Opyd and Christy Norris 9-1 then breezed through McGee 9-3.

On the one-loss side Phillip Britt was coming back from an early loss, and after eliminating David Crocker 9-4 and Seagraves 9-7, who had dealt him his early defeat,  Britt found himself in the quarterfinals. John Stallings was also creeping forward and ousted Dave Cook and Norris to face off with Britt. With the end of the line in sight Britt wasted no time and bolted through the next two matches, eliminating Stallings in the quarterfinals and McGee in the semifinals, both matches going 9-5.

Nevel then got off his throne to play the incoming Britt, who shocked everyone by opening with a 7-pack. Although Nevel played hard, he could not come back and left Britt to take then set 9-5. In the final set Nevel gave Britt more attention and played several phenomenal safeties and came with a handful of amazing shots. While Britt managed to chalk up three games for himself, Nevel kept a lead the whole time with a trio and break and runs plus a 9 on the snap, which helped propel him to his 9-3 win to claim the match.

Results:
1st Larry Nevel
2nd Phillip Britt
3rd Jared McGee
4th John Stallings
5th Christy Norris
Donnie Seagraves
7th Dave Cook
David Crocker