In normal times, the game of cornhole would be getting into full swing right about now. Corn hole players young and old would be dragging out their boards, dusting off their bags and getting ready for months of play with friends and family. But these are not normal times. So, the cornhole community had to get a little creative and come up with a new way to play the game they love.
Enter the virtual cornhole tournament.
This first-ever (and hopefully last-ever) virtual competition was held recently and featured 14 of the area’s finest corn hole players. The tournament kicked off in grand style with a virtual playing of the national anthem by Matt “The Sax” Beaudin. During the event, each player competed virtually against their opponent. Each player threw 40 corn bags from their own homes – the driveway, backyard, or wherever they could set up their boards. The scores were tallied, then sent to command central for entry into the master cornhole tournament brackets.
Steve “CornHole” Coty, the pride of Hancock, was a top seed. Josh “Back to Back” Smith, the southpaw from Bennington and ConVal’s boys’ soccer coach, was another favorite. And Greg “Dr. K” Kriebel, the pediatric doc from Peterborough figured to have the prescription for corn hole victory. But it was Dr. K’s son, Ben “the BK Broiler” Kriebel, who found cornhole magic and blazed his way into the final.
In the deciding match, the BK Broiler would square off against his old soccer coach, Josh “Back to Back” Smith. Corn hole and soccer would collide in this epic battle.
“With a loaded field, I knew I had to be on top of my game from the beginning,” Smith said. And on top of his game he was, ousting the young Kriebel in the championship game to take home the virtual trophy.
“Of all the championships I’ve won in the past two years, this is definitely in the top three,” said an emotional Smith. The virtual cornhole tournament organizers would like to thank the 14 outstanding participants, and all the volunteers who made the event possible.