As the day wore o­n, the matches still continued to go in the favor of the South team as Tommy Kennedy defeated Corey Deuel 3-1 playing 8-ball.  Then the momentum changed.  With the South's lead so large that the North was approaching mathematical extinction, Mika Immonen faced off against Johnny Archer in the Captains' Single 9-Ball.  The match went hill-hill with both players missing twice.  Immonen finally composed himself and ran out for the victory.

The next match posed yet another mathematical cliffhanger.  Buddy Hall faced Mika Immonen in the 9-ball banks match.  The interesting point about this match is that Immonen was put in a position where he had to not o­nly win, but he had to hold Hall to o­nly o­ne game or the South would take the match.  Immonen banked like his life depended o­n his making every shot as he defeated the heavy-favored Hall 3-1.

Next came the 5-on-5 Scotch doubles.  This was yet another flirtation with the mathematical gods that the North needed to say their prayers to get through.  The North had to win 4-0 to keep the South team from clinching a victory.  This match also showed that everybody can miss.  Even the pros.  Johnny Archer and Tommy Kennedy both missed crucial shots to allow the North to escape and take the victory, 4-0.

In the final faceoff of the Patriot Cup, the two best players, determined by records played a race to 4 in 9-ball.  This time there was o­nly o­ne objective for each player:  win four games.  The match, as if by script, went to a nail biting hill-hill game.  Immonen broke and came up dry.  Archer stepped to the table and pocketed a few balls before encountering trouble.  He stuck Immonen o­n the end rail with a length o­n the table tester.  Immonen speared in the shot like a hanger, causing both teams to jump to their feet.  Immonen completed the run for the set and match. 

Johnny Archer Photo courtesy Worldpool.com