Fury North Florida Tour Belongs to Aquino

by J.A. Barnes 
  
The Fury Amateur 9-Ball Tour's North Florida division is steadily growing in numbers, as 33 players showed up at Uncle Waldo's in Daytona, FL, o­n March 19-20.  The field included past Florida Tour winners Julio Aquino and Tim Daniel, along with many other tough competitors. 

Aquino, who leads in points in both the North and Central Florida tours, reached the hot seat match with five straight wins, including a 7-3 victory over Daniel.  His hot seat opponent was David Ross, who had also breezed through the bracket.  Both players made a stand, but Ross came out o­n top 7-5. 

Meanwhile, in the o­ne-loss side, Daniel was attempting to put together a run of his own, but Nate Hyward came out o­n top of their hill-hill battle.  Next up for Hyward was Aquino in the semifinals, and Hyward, too, was looking for a little revenge, as his o­nly defeat had come from Aquino in the opening rounds.  But, again, Aquino was too strong, sending Hyward home with a third-place finish 5-3.

Aquino and Ross' rematch in the finals was bound to be intense, and they definitely lived up to that expectation.  After Ross jumped out to a 4-1 lead, Aquino started to chip away, breaking and running the next game, followed by four more wins to take the lead at 6-4.  The comeback didn't slow Ross down, though, as he took the next three games to regain the lead.  After trading the next few games, the match reached hill-hill, with Aquino breaking and sinking two balls in the decisive rack.  With no clear shot o­n the 1 ball, he and Ross decided to trade safes, but a few shots later, Ross watched as the cue ball slowly crawled right past the 1, giving ball in hand to Aquino.  After he made the 1, Aquino lined up the 2-9 combo for the victory. 

Results:    
1st Julio Aquino
2nd Dave Ross
3rd Nate Hyward
4th Tim Daniel
5th Dave Foreman, Bryant Pinkley
7th Robert Main, Richard Abrams

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