NOVI, MICHIGAN – The regular season returned to Novi for the first time since week 1, and the players looked like they were in midseason form, making for an entertaining night of cornhole.

KP hadn’t performed well since week 4, at which point he was #2 in the Power Rankings and had a cumulative KPM of 12.0. Coming into week 8, he was fighting through a three-week slump where he dropped to #3 in the Power Rankings, his KPM tumbled from 12.0 to 11.4, and he was unimpressively 15-10 during that period.

The week 8 homecoming couldn’t have arrived at a more opportune time for KP. He looked like a completely different player, snapping out of his funk to win 4 of his 5 matches (his only loss was a 21-20 stunner in game 6), hit 69% of his throws, scored 4.1 gross points per round and posted a dominating 12.3 KPM.

KP also earned his second straight Mushroom Stamp Moment of the week honor when in game 2 he and Mike M. held a 16-9 advantage after seven rounds over Paul and Erik. In the top of the eighth KP turned it on, draining four straight cornholes to post a perfect 12-point round against Paul. Paul, overwhelmed by KP’s flurry of cornholes, missed all four of his tosses to lose the round 12-0, and the game 21-9.

In game 5, KP was inches away from another 12-point round, with his last bag hanging in the hole. He settled for a 10-point round to clinch a 21-7 win for he and Adam over Coach Mike and Erik. KP averaged a ridiculous 5 gross points per round in that game and led all scorers with 30 gross points, while the next highest player recorded 14 gross points.

It’s going to be intriguing to see if KP can maintain this momentum in the Midseason Singles Tournament.

The final match of the evening featured Justin and Coach Mike against Paul and Adam, which was so thrilling it earned the week 8 Game of the Night. Paul and Adam raced out to an 8-0 lead after the first frame thanks to Paul burying two early cornholes while posting a 7-2 advantage over Justin, and Adam chipped in 3 points after getting the best of Coach Mike, 6-3.

Over the next three frames, Justin fought to keep his team in the game. He outscored Paul 13-7 to give his team 6 points, but he looked up at the scoreboard and still found his team down 15-6 thanks to Adam controlling Coach 14-7 over the same period.

Justin and Coach chipped away at their deficit, closing it to 15-9 when Coach finally came alive in the top half of the seventh. Coach drilled two cornholes and added another scoring bag for 7 gross points, while Adam only scored 3 points. All the sudden the game was tight, 15-13.

Justin focused and tried to seize the opportunity to flip the script on his opponents. He went 4-for-4 in the bottom of the seventh, with all bags on the board for 4 gross points. Paul, however, had 100% round of his own that included two cornholes, giving him an 8-4 gross points advantage and a major answer to silent Coach and Justin’s run. Paul and Adam held a 19-13 lead and were primed to close the night with an impressive win.

Coach kept swinging, landing another point in the eighth against Adam, and Justin again went 4-for-4 with all bags on the board, while Paul managed only 2 points, making the score 19-16. In the top of the ninth, Coach knocked in two cornholes and Adam managed only 4 gross points. The score was 19-18 because Coach was putting a whippin’ on Adam from the seventh through ninth frames, outscoring him 16-9 in gross points.

Justin made it 19-19 after he drained a cornhole en route to outscoring Paul 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth. The bags turned back over to Coach and Adam, which didn’t appear to be a good thing for Adam.

Coach led things off in the tenth with a cornhole on his first throw, while Adam shakily missed his first throw. Coach couldn’t keep the pressure on, as his second throw missed the board. Meanwhile, Adam exhaled relief when his second shot found the bottom of the hole. Coach’s third toss landed on the board, and Adam seemed to find his rhythm when he swished a second straight cornhole on his third throw.

Each player had one throw remaining, Adam held a 6-4 gross points advantage, and Coach needed to score at least 1 point to extend the game. On his last throw, Coach had a little too much “tickler” on his back-handed toss and the bag wouldn’t hold the board, resulting in a 21-19 loss for him and Justin.

The win was Paul’s first of the night, helping him close on a high note after losing his previous five matches. It also helped Adam finish 6-1 overall and exercise his Coach Mike demons.

News and Notes:

• Mike showed improvement during week 8, recording 0.42 cornholes per round which is consistent with a KPM in the mid-7s. The highlight of his night was a 21-9 win over Erik and Paul where he matched Erik is gross points for the game (16), recorded more cornholes than Erik and Paul (4 for Mike and 3 for the other two, respectively), and averaged an extremely solid 3 gross points per round during the game until he struggled through the final two frames. Mike’s cornhole rate is good, but he needs to increase his accuracy to compete more consistently with the rest of the league. More repetitious should help him in the coming weeks.
• Erik is comfortable at KP’s house. He’s played some of his best cornhole there, including this week where he finished 3-3 overall with a 7.1 KPM. He was especially good from the left side of the board, posting an 8.1 KPM. Erik’s accuracy was 47%, which is on the cusp of being good enough for a 9 KPM. However, his issue was lack of cornholes, where he only scored 0.27 cornholes per round. The highlight of Erik’s night was in game 3 when he closed the game against Mike by making his last two bags on the board. In game 8 he partnered with Adam, losing 21-11 to KP and Justin, but he scored 31 gross points and averaged 2.8 gross points per round. If Erik gets out of his head and just throws, he can play with anyone in the league. And at KP’s house, he is more comfortable and confident, which could make for a great recipe for success during the Midseason Singles Tournament.
• Justin was a monster this week, recording a 9.9 KPM, hitting 61% of his throws and scoring 3.3 gross points per round. He was on fire the entire evening, but picked things up after he started slow in his first two games. Throughout his last five games, Justin averaged 3.6 gross points per round, over 34 gross points per game, and 4.2 cornholes per game. Justin also recorded his first 10-point round of the season in game 3, gaining a 10-3 advantage over Coach Mike and helping lead Erik to a 21-15 win over Coach and Mike. He finished the night with a 3-4 record, but he jumped his cumulative KPM from 9.2 to 9.5 and now sits JUST behind Barker and JV in the Power Rankings (9.7 and 9.6, respectively). Justin will be a very dangerous player during the Singles Tournament.
• Coach Mike damn near mirrored Justin this week, also registering a 9.9 KPM, scoring on 62% of his throws, draining 0.44 cornholes per round and scoring 3.3 gross points per round. He played loose and confident all night long, despite only a 2-4 record. In game 9 he was truly dominant, averaging 3.9 gross points per round while partnering with KP to earn a 21-16 win over Justin and Paul. Coach has now strung together two solid weeks in a row, after his 8.9 KPM in week 7. His cumulative KPM sits at 8.9 and he seems to be finding the magic in his back-handed taint tickler as we roll into midseason. Keep an eye on Coach to keep ascending the Power Rankings.
• Paul had a strange night, going only 1-5 but he had a solid 8.3 KPM on 55% shooting, which was one of his most accurate nights ever. He was victim of a few tough 21-16 losses, but outscored Adam head-to-head in game 4, 27-17, and held his own against KP in game 9, losing 32-25 in gross points. Paul was excellent in the Game of the Night, averaging 3.6 gross points per round and essentially drawing even with Justin in gross points (lost only 34-32 head-to-head), which was key to his team’s 21-19 victory.
• Adam was in full beast mode this week, hitting 10.4 on the KPM, scoring on 58% of his throws, knocking in 0.56 cornholes per round and scoring 3.4 gross points per round, helping him to a 6-1 overall record. The highlight of Adam’s night is hard to choose, but is arguably in game 6 when he partnered with Erik to grapple with Justin and KP. Adam and Erik faced a 20-12 deficit late in the game when Adam rallied his team to a 21-20 victory by scoring 7 of the 9 points during his team’s comeback (outscoring Justin 18-11 over the last three frames), including clinching the game with a 7-3 gross points advantage over Justin when the score was previously 20-17. He was extremely impressive in all his head-to-head matchups. He outscored Justin 57-38, Coach Mike 39-35, Paul 50-49, drew even with Erik (11-11), and held firm against KP, losing the head-to-head 40-39. Adam stays at #5 in the Power Rankings this week, with an absurd 10.5 cumulative KPM. He also added four more footsnags to increase his league-leading total to 32.