Stilwell, KS -- Greg Clouse rolled through the Stilwell Open with relative ease in the early going. Clouse took 32-9 and 32-8 wins in block play to take the number one overall seed in the Pro Division Playoff. In the semi-finals, he knocked out Paul Miller 29-12. In the championship game he survived a late attack by Dylan Goodwin to claim the Stilwell Open title with an 18-16 win. Goodwin as the three seed, had advanced with a tight 18-16 win over two-seed Ron Millican on his side of the bracket. Clouse, Goodwin and Millican were all 2-0 in block play.
PHOTO GALLERY | OFFICIAL SCORESHEET
The final between Goodwin and Clouse came down to last turns. Goodwin was first ball with red and cleared 11PW to pull within two wickets of Clouse. He failed to gain a foward rush on black and then made a key mistake in trying to roll black toward 13PW while taking red toward blue near 14PW. He ended up wired and tried to jump the 15PW for the roquet on blue but missed by a foot.
The easier solution would have been to leave black and go set yellow (dead on red) in front of its wicket (six). Yellow could have then wired black from blue.
In the Gold Division, playoff Debbie Millican started as the number one seed after coming up on the short end of the gross points tiebreaker among the 1-1 block players. Debbie beat newcomer Bill Berg 14-12 in the semi-finals for a berth in the championship game. As the three seed, Jason Johnson caught fire in the semi-final and took a 32-12 win over Carl Distefano who is also brand new to the sport. In the final, Johnson took the win over Debbie with a 23-12.
First and second place in both divisions received white baseball caps with the host Kansas City Croquet Club logo.
Standings in the MCA Nine-Wicket Points Series are being tabulated and will be posted when they are available.
FINAL ORDER
Pro Division
1. Greg Clouse
2. Dylan Goodwin
3. Ron Millican
4. Paul Miller
5. Robert Fournier
Gold Division
1. Jason Johnson
2. Debbie Millican
3. Carl Distefano
4. Bill Berg
BLOCK GAME RESULTS
A Block
Greg Clouse 32-9 over Debbie Millican
Debbie Millican 23-14 over Jason Johnson
Greg Clouse 32-8 over Jason Johnson
B Block
Dylan Goodwin 23-7 over Bill Berg
Robert Fournier 20-7 over Bill Berg
Dylan Goodwin 18-13 over Robert Fournier
C Block
Paul Miller 26-19 over Carl Distefano
Ron Millican 23-14 over Carl Distefano
Ron Millican 20-16 over Paul Miller
PRO DIVISION PLAYOFFS
Wildcard
#4 Paul Miller 23-21 over Robert Fournier
Semi-finals
#1 Greg Clouse 29-12 over #4 Paul Miller
#3 Dylan Goodwin 18-16 over #2 Ron Millican
Finals
#1 Greg Clouse 18-16 over #3 Dylan Goodwin
GOLD DIVISION PLAYOFFS
Semi-finals
#1 Debbie Millican 14-12 over #4 Bill Berg
#3 Jason Johnson 32-12 over #2 Carl Distefano
Finals
#2 Jason Johnson 23-13 over #1 Debbie Millican