CFOA X-Ball #1, Rock Hill, SC, 10-11 Feb 2007

Saturday morning started out cool, but 7 D2 and 20 D3 teams showed up to play in the first CFOA tournament of the 2007 season.  Paintball Central had two fields set up for this tournament – and the layout of the fields looked like the games would play fast.  During the first day – this proved to be true – although a few of the teams did have longer than normal points.  As with any tournament league having their first tournament of the season, there were a few glitches, but they were minor, and games started only a few minutes late.  Some rules had to be clarified during the tournament, which caused some delays.  Larry Motes, President of the CFOA, had the foresight to hold preregistration days at various locations where players could pick up their required CFOA ID badges before the first tournament.  This saved an immeasurable amount of time in getting the teams registered and starting the first games.

Unfortunately for the players and teams, there were no vendors present, except for Gotcha Covered Paintball & Printing.  They brought their trailer and computer equipment in order to print photos of the teams and players throughout the tournament.  Eric McCall showed up to take photos, and Ron Green stepped up to the plate in his first attempt to take paintball photos on the fields.  Gotcha Covered Paintball & Printing was also selling merchandise that had been donated to raise money for the 4^th Annual Lauren’s Hope Charity Paintball Tournament.  Support for this cause was once again astounding.

Although it was cool when the first matches started, with some teams having problems with their paintballs breaking before leaving the barrel, it quickly warmed up under the clear Carolina skies.  The matches were still going on well past the time the last matches were scheduled to have been completed in the afternoon.  All in all though, the first day of the first tournament of the season went very well and we look forward to seeing the teams again on Sunday to finish the tournament up.  In D2, 2Xtreme and Gridlock are tied at 6 points, with Shiver still close with 4 points after 3 matches.  Queen City Killaz still have a chance to make the semis as they have 2 points but also have 2 matches yet to play.  With so many teams in D3 it is still way too close to call after the first day.  Animosity, BRBoyz, Cosa Nostra, Cross Eyed PB, and Gridlock Black were all tied at 4 points, but with two more matches each on Sunday, things could change quickly.  Predictions for the teams who should win the tournament??  Predictions are something I don’t do well, and to keep from jinxing any of the teams, I won’t make any, preferring to wait till Sunday afternoon to see who continued their winning ways from Day 1.

Sunday Day 2

Where did the heat go – depending on which thermometer you looked at – it was somewhere between 20 and 24 degrees cold.  Just a couple degrees shy of what it was for the Lauren’s Hope Charity Paintball Tournament.  Had there been any moisture in the air, no doubt this would have become the 2^nd Ice Bowl following the Feb 03 CFOA tournament where it snowed and sleeted. 

The games played well all day – and went fast.  There were several matches that ended up in ties after regulation time.  The refs, although somewhat tired from the first day, stepped up and kept up their standard of officiating.  Kudos to the refs for the great job they did both days.

In D2, after the preliminaries – teams 2Xtreme, Gridlock, Mantis Factory, and Shiver went into the Semi Finals in that order.  The first two teams were tied at 8 points but 2Xtreme edged out Gridlock by 8 margin points, while Mantis and Shiver were tied at 5, but a mere 2 margin points separated them.  Queen City Killaz came finished in 5^th place with a respectable 4 points.  Dark Carnival, usually a team to be contended with, had a rough 2 day tournament, to finish in 6^th place.

In the Semis, 2Xtreme beat Shiver; while Gridlock lost a hard match to Mantis Factory.  In the finals, 2Xtreme kept up their winning ways by beating Mantis Factory.  The consolation game was no less hard fought, as Gridlock got back on track and beat Shiver to finish in 3^rd place followed by Shiver.  Congratulations to all the D2 teams for a great tournament for the spectators.

Meanwhile, D3 kept up to expectations, putting on some great matches also.  The seedings for the semi-final games were exceedingly tight, with the top 3 teams tied at 8 points, with only 7 margin points separating 1^st-3^rd place.  A single margin point separated first and second seeds in the semi finals, with Cosa Nostra edging out Animosity for first seed.  Third and fourth seeds went to Cross Eyed PB and Gridlock Black respectively.

In the semifinals, fourth seed Gridlock beat up on first seed Cosa Nostra in another exciting game to watch, while second seed Animosity handled Cross Eyed PB sending them to the consolation round.  The finals were set and Gridlock Black took first place by handing Animosity their first lost of the day.  In the consolation round, Cross Eyed PB came back from their loss in the semis to beat Cost Nostra who ended up in fourth place.

The light was diminishing rapidly as the sun had all but disappeared for the day as the teams took their podium positions to be handed their rewards for winning or nearly winning the first Xball tournament of the season.

All in All, this was once again an excellent show put on by the CFOA.  There were a few glitches, a few incidents, but nothing that would not be expected at the first tournament of the year.  Things ran smoothly, except for Mother Nature who could not see her way to provide warmer temps.

Congratulations to Larry, his staff, especially the referees, and the teams who came out to play in the cold mornings for the pleasure of the spectators.