Hillbilly Inn A raises to the top of the shuffleboard league

For most of the season the “A” teams of John Hoover Inn and Hillbilly Inn battled for the top position.

The matches started out with Hoover A in the number one position where they stayed for the first seven matches. Meanwhile Hillbilly A started in fourth and toggled between third and fourth for the first four matches then made the move to second Feb. 11 and stay there for the remainder of the month before moving into the top spot March 3 where they remained.

The final scores had Hillbilly Inn A with 61 wins and 39 losses for a total of 1,818 points; Hoover Inn A, 56-44, 1,767; Hoover Inn B, 52-48, 1,726; Carthage Legion B, 49-51, 1,683; Carthage Legion A, 47-53, 1,659; Hillbilly Inn B, 35-63, 1,543.

Individually, the top 10 cumulative scores where achieved by Dickie Houppert, Hillbilly Inn A, 216; Thomas “Jak” Jendrzejczak, Hillbilly Inn A, 204; Dan Bearley, Carthage Legion A, 200; Linda Simmons, Carthage Legion B, 198; Woody Wood, Carthage Legion A, 195; Kirt Olsen, Hillbilly Inn A, 191; Brittany Hall, Hillbilly Inn A, 191; Kelly Caraccilo, Hoover Inn B, 190; Brian Montgomery, Carthage Legion B, 190; Carmen Sierra, Hoover Inn B, 189; Chad Hall, Hoover Inn A, 189; Buffy Hance, Hoover Inn B, 188; and Joel Hall, Hoover Inn A, 178.

Hillbilly A had the team season high score of 219 with its player Susie Kloster achieving season high match for the women with 34 and Dale Makuch, Hoover Inn A, was the male high scorer with 35.

Those achieving a 21 or more in a single game joined the 21 and Over Club. This season, three Hillbilly Inn A players joined the club, Susie Kloster and Kyle Wood with 21 points and Dickie Houppert, with 22.

Top male and female players from each team received awards. For Hillbilly Inn A, Brittany Hall with 191 and Dickie Houppert with 216 were the team’s top players; Hillbilly Inn B, Bonnie Goutremout, 147, and Dave Peebles, 175; John Hoover Inn A, Libby Garcia, 177, and Chad Hall, 189; John Hoover Inn B, Kelly Caraccillo, 190 points, and Justin Barbarito, 140; Carthage Legion A, T.J. Wood, 171, and Dan Bearley, 200; Carthage Legion B, Linda Simmons, 198, and Brian Montgomery, 190.

The Sportsman award went to Hoover Inn A.

The Most Improved player was deemed to be Tamara Weaver, Carthage Legion B, increasing her average by 6.12%.

The Overall Female High Score went to Linda Simmons, Carthage Legion B, with a score of 198. The Overall Male High Score went to Dickie Houppert, Hillbilly Inn A, with 216 points.

For the last week of play, March 17, Mary Bierman Carthage Legion A, was the high female scorer with 30 and John Cook Sr.,Hoover Inn A, was the male high scorer with 34. Hoover A had the team high score for the week.

League president Michael A. Russell said it was a great year despite the lack of two teams to fill out the league.

“The season was very competitive with the eventual champion starting to separate at the very end,” he said. “Many of the new players improved drastically and enabled each team to be a challenge week to week. I would also like to mention that the overall attitude and professionalism shined mightily throughout the league and according to many that I talked to, fun was had by all. The banquet was splendid and all enjoyed each other immensely. The end of year tournament even had some exciting results. Thank you everyone and I look forward to next year as well as the other officers of the league. I hope that we can persuade a couple of sponsors to field a team or two to get back to our capacity.”

The league will have an organizational meeting at 1 p.m. Dec. 3 at Hillbilly Inn for the 2025 season which will run from January to March. The teams play Sundays at the host sponsor’s establishment.

For more information on joining or sponsoring a team, contact league secretary Susie Kloster at 315-681-3416.