Vilmont & Webb Capture Music City Titles

Comebacks Fall Just Short o­n Both Sides

By Steve Trinward, InsidePOOL Staff

Chad Vilmont was bewildered to say the least, as he saw his corner shot at the 8-ball "skid" and rim the cup, instead of rolling nicely into the pocket and closing out his championship match undefeated. Instead of shooting o­ne more ball to capture an 11-9 victory, he now had to watch Doug "Comeback Kid" Young clear the table for Hill-Hill, and then break and run to win 11-10.

Fortunately for Vilmont, as the o­ne-loss contender, Young had to beat him twice.  Although Young ran the first two games of the set, Vilmont then recovered the table and even closed out the match by winning the last four games for an 11-6 finish, pleasing a small but enthusiastic crowd at J.O.B. Billiards in Madison, TN. For his efforts, Vilmont pocketed $2,200, while Young settled for $1,500 as runner-up.

Young had reached this pinnacle by beating a line of tough competitors, mostly with late-match comebacks. He started Sunday the same way, spotting Jimmy Reid leads of 6-1 and 8-3 before running the next eight games to win 11-8. Then, in the semifinals, he faced the o­nly player who'd beaten him all week, 18-year-old Memphis prodigy Blake Todd, and reversed that 11-8 defeat with an impressive 11-3 drubbing of the youngster, in which Todd rarely even got to the table.

On the ladies' side, Monica Webb bested her friend Helena Thornfeldt with a series of comebacks of her own. Thornfeldt opened with a vengeance, winning five of the first six games. But Webb battled back to tie at 5-all. Thornfeldt took advantage of a ball in hand to win Game 11 and take the hill but then missed a carom shot, allowing Webb to regain the table and run home undefeated to the win 7-6. Webb took home the $700 first prize, while Thornfeldt settled for $450 for second.

In the o­ne-loss final, Thornfeldt overcame a brief mid-set rally by Emily Wilmoth after taking a 5-0 lead but then had little trouble closing her out 7-2. Wilmoth pocketed $300 for her third-place efforts. Alison Hardwick took home fourth place and $200.

One other notable event of the weekend was the Saturday Midnight Madness showdown. Limited to eight players, with a$500 entry fee and winner-takes-all conditions, this o­ne was the best ever, according to J.O.B. himself. It also was a redemption of sorts for Music City’s defending champion Jonathan "Hennessee" Pinegar, who had been ousted from this year's main tournament o­n Thursday, losing two of his three matches. In this encounter, however, he overcame Scotty Townsend 11-8, Shannon Daulton 11-7, and Dave Matlock 11-9 to capture $4,000. Others in the running were Bobby Pickle, Jamie Baraks, Brandon Ashcraft, and James Walden. But in the end it was "Hennessee" sitting o­n top of the heap.