Lucas Punkari
Brad Jacobs captured his second-straight crown after rallying to a stunning 7-6 win over Joe Scharf of the host Fort William Curling Club yesterday in the final of the provincial men’s curling championship.
Trailing 6-2 after eight ends, Jacobs scored a deuce in the ninth end and then had three rocks in the house in the 10th as Scharf prepared to make his final shot.
Needing only the eight-foot to assure his first-ever Brier appearance as a skip, Scharf’s draw ended up sailing right through the rings—leaving him and the rest of his team in stunned disbelief while the Jacobs’ Sault Ste. Marie crew went ballistic.
Jacobs, who became the first skip to win back-to-back provincial titles since Al Hackner turned the trick in 1988 and 1989, now will represent Northern Ontario at the Tim Hortons Brier next month in London, Ont.
Stratton’s Tim Nordin had been looking to play the role of spoiler during the final day of round-robin play on Friday, but instead he found himself tasting the bitter sting of defeat once again.
Nordin closed out his stint at the provincials with two losses—a 9-2 decision to Mike Pozihun (Port Arthur Curling Club) and an 8-1 setback in five ends to Mike Jakubo (Copper Cliff).
That left the Nordin rink, which also included third Mitch Sequin, second Adam Bolen, and lead Travis Showalter, with a 3-8 record for the week—good for 10th place in the 12-team field.
Meanwhile, John Salo’s foursome from Geraldton, which included Devlin native Mike Badiuk at lead, found themselves just out of a playoff berth with a 6-5 record for the week.
Salo’s rink, also made up of third Kris Leupen, second Cory Nephin, and alternate Kurt Pristanski, did what they needed to do Friday, winning 7-4 victory over Robbie Gordon (Sudbury) in the morning draw and then stealing a single point in an extra end to edge David MacInnes (Englehart) 7-6.
Unfortunately for Salo, three teams finished with 7-4 marks, leaving him just outside the mix for a tie-breaker.
