Day 2 is complete at the 3rd ever Crappie Masters Bracket Showdown! It has been an exciting and very eventful 2 days of head to head matchups in order to qualify to day 3. We have 16 teams that qualified to Day 3 and we are going to look at their journey through the first 2 days of the tournament on Lake Erling. We are blessed to host the weigh in at the beautiful Southern Arkansas University Story Arena and have this event Hosted by the Magnolia A & P Commission!
There are 4 teams that were able to sneak their way into the final day through being the top 4 weights of the loser bracket. After day 1, all of the losing teams from the 16 matchups went into the loser bracket, which put 16 teams fighting for the top 4 spots in their bracket to qualify for day 3. Let’s take a look at these 4 team’s journeys through the past two days!
Father and son team, RJ and Zack Hargett were matched up against Aaron Knight for the first day of competition. Team Hargett weighed in at an incredible 9.28 lbs but came up just 0.2lbs short behind Knight. Definitely a heartbreaker since they had such a high weight that would have won many other matchups. But they were able to rebound with an even better bag weigh – in at 10.14lbs, being the biggest bag of the losers bracket.
Jared Fyock fishing by himself had to face team Travis Decker and Micheal Culberson on day one. Fyock only lost by 0.4 lbs with a total weight of 9.05lbs on day 1. Then on day number two he was able to move up the scales and weighed in a great bag at 9.90lbs.Â
Team Brian Young and Diesel Byrd were matched up to face father and son team Ryan and Lincoln Duley. On day 1 Brian and Diesel brought in a bag weighing in at 7.13 lbs. But on day number 2 they were able to make over a two pound jump and have a weight of 9.44lbs. Brian and Diesel are a prime example of how zeroing weights after day 1 can be such a benefit to a team and allow them to continue into championship Saturday!
Final team that was able to qualify for day 3 from the losers bracket was team Amos and John Livingston. They were matched up with team Les and Jamie Standstipher, but team Livingston came up short weighing in a bag at 7.15lbs. They were able to make over a pound upgrade on day 2 and weighed in a bag at 8.89lbs.Â
Then we have 12 teams coming from the winner’s bracket heading into championship Saturday. After day one a winning team was put against another winning team. So, there were 8 matches happening in the winners bracket. The 8 teams that won their matchup on day 2 automatically went onto the third day of the tournament. Then of the losers from the winner’s bracket the top 4 weights were able to move onto day 3.
Team Mike Vallentine and Matt Beckman were paired up with Don Goines on day 1 of the tournament and were able to bring in a bag of 9.82lbs that allowed them to defeat Don. They were then paired up to go against team Zack Minnix and Bill Hunt on the second day of competition. Vallentine and Beckman were able to defeat Minnix and Hunt by upgrading their bag to come in at 10.34lbs on day 2.
Team Travis Decker and Micheal Culberson were drawn to be matched up against Jared Fyock. Decker and Culberson were only able to survive on day one with a weight of 9.45lbs, only beating Fyock by a few tenths of an ounce. Then on the second day of the tournament they faced the father and son team, Ryan and Lincoln Duley. They made an incredible jump up to 10.22lbs on day 2 that was able to eliminate the Duleys from the tournament.
Aaron Knight was matched up with RJ and Zack Hargett on day number one. Knight was able to defeat the father and son team by only two tenths of an ounce weighing in a bag of 9.48lbs. After this win he was paired against Team Jason Musgrave and Caleb Baker and was able to move up the scales. On day 2 Knight made a over half a pound upgrade bringing in a weight of 10.08lbs and was able to join the few teams of reaching that 10 pound mark!
Another single angler Tony Hughes was able to push his way through both days with 2 victories. On day number one he faced Team Brannon Shelby and Nathan Pugh but had an incredible day one with the second biggest bag of the day weighing in at 10.51lbs. Then on day two he faced husband and wife team Les and Jamie Standstipher. He had a little harder day weighing in at 8.43lbs but was able to beat the Standstiphers by only a few tenths of an ounce.
Current Anglers of the Year team Clay Gann and Todd Froebe were put against Kevin Dinkins and Justin Rich but Gann and Froebe were able to pull out the win on day one with a weight og 9.22 lbs. So on day number two they had to face Bryce and Jeff Acreman, who had the biggest bag of day number one. But Gann and Froebe were able to join the 10 pound club and bring in a bag at 10.44lbs.
Gage Reep and Rick Reep were able to clench the win on day number with a weight of 9.63lbs. They were able to defeat Team John Hudnall and Tyke Davis and then were forced to face the Team of Charlie Bunting and Brandon Fulgham. Team Reep was able to join the few teams in the 10 pound club with a day 2 weight of 10.46lbs.
Team Chris Fuller and David Morgan started off with a bang on day one bringing in a bag with the weight of 10.16lbs, allowing them to defeat Team William Whetstone and Ronald Parker. Then on day number two they faced Steve Adams, but Fuller and Morgan were able to stay consistent with their weight of 10.20lbs. They were the only team that was able to stay in the 10 pound range on both days!
JoJo Baker and Phillip and Wilson were matched up with team Ronnie Bleas and Maurice Gregory on day number one of the tournament. Baker and Wilson were able to pull out the victory with a weight of 8.43lbs which allowed them to move onto the winners bracket and face LB Taylor on day 2. Baker and Wilson were able to make over a pound upgrade allowing them to have a weight of 9.64lbs.
Zack Minnix and Bill Hunt were able to advance to the winners bracket by defeating Alex Cochran and Kenny Ray with a weight of 9.15lbs. On day 2 Minnix and Hunt weighed in a bag with the weight of 9.92lbs but were unfortunately defeated by Team Mike Vallentine and Matt Beckman. Even though Minnix and Hunt lost their second day matchup they were able to qualify for day three because they had the highest score of the losers from the winner’s bracket.
Bryce and Jeff Acreman had a great start in the tournament weighing in a bag at 10.52lbs on day one, which was the biggest bag of both day one and two which allowed them to beat Luke Gorman and Shawn Rauls. On day 2 the Acremans had to face Clay Gann and Todd Froebe where they unfortunately fell short with a weight of 9.66lbs. But, they were able to qualify for day three because they had the second highest score of the losers from the winner’s bracket.
Charlie Bunting and Brandon Fulgham were able to survive day one against Chad Turner with a weight of 8.38lbs. Bunting and Fulgham were able to upgrade their weight on day two bringing a bag weighing in at 9.39lbs but it was not enough to beat Team Gage and Rick Reep. Even though Bunting and Fulgham lost their second day matchup they were able to qualify for day three because they had the third highest score of the losers from the winner’s bracket.
Husband and wife team, Les and Jamie Standstipher were matched up against Team Amos and John Livingston. Standstiphers were able to pull out the win with a bag weighing in at 8.90lbs. This forced them to face Tony Hughes on day two of the tournament. The Standstiphers had a harder day and was only able to bring 8.43lbs to the scale and lost by a few tenths of an ounce to Hughes. But, they were able to qualify for day three because they had the fourth highest score of the losers from the winner’s bracket.
On day 3 of the tournament all of the weights will reset and zero out again. So, it all comes down to the final day to see who will become the third ever champion of the Crappie Masters Bracket Showdown. Thank you again to the Magnolia A & P Commission for hosting this incredibly fun event!!
