2008 JBT Main Event Open Scratch Singles

champ Brad Miller and runner-up Nathan Panaligan

    Brad Miller, Raytown MO, came all the way from the first round of a 16-person stepladder finals to capture the $5,000 first-place scholarship as Open Scratch Singles champion of the 2008 JBT Las Vegas Main Event, presented by Ebonite International.

   Miller qualified for the finals as the #15 seed, and his 217 round one game beat three others (Eric Schacht 214; Adam Martinez 197, Cameron Weier 167) to advance.  In another simultaneous 4-man match, Nick Pahr (194) and Chris Fritsch (161) were eliminated, and it looked like Jon Sipich was as well, with an even 200 game, but after doubling in the tenth, #14 seed Cameron Smith stuck on his fill ball, getting only 3 and tying the match at 200.  Smith redeemed himself in the ensuing one-shot rolloff, winning 10-7 to advance (and exhale).

   In round two, Smith rolled 203 on the very challenging pattern, enough to advance again, over #5 Brandon Allred (160), and 2006 champ Brent Bowers (165).  In the bottom half of the bracket-ladder, Miller's 189 was just good enough, beating #8 JD Pelow (186) and #6 Charlie Hair (160).

  In round three, Smith was stopped by #4 seed and 2004 Main Event champ Nathan Panaligan, 268-155.  Miller, though, continued his roll, defeating #3 Jake Peters 231-170.  The top two seeds joined the battle in the semifinal matches, and in those games, Panaligan defeated top seed Josh McBride 211-191, while Miller did it again, upsetting #2 Andrew Koff 192-176 to climb to the title match.  (Amazingly, that's Koff's LOW finish ever in the Main Event!)

  In the title game, Brad fell behind early with a rough start that included a foul, but the mentally tough midwesterner strung strikes late, and his tenth frame mark wrapped up a 225-209 win over Panaligan for the championship.  To directly beat 8 bowlers of that caliber under Main Event pressure is an amazing accomplishment, and well deserving of the $5,000 scholarship windfall as Main Event champion.

  Big thanks to Jerry Francomano and the whole team at Texas Station for an amazing job hosting the best open-field national tournament in junior bowling.   Thanks also to all our sponsors, including our title sponsor Ebonite, for making Main Event happen.  Over $50,000 in scholarships were awarded to the field- want in on all this fun? Come on out to the 2009 Main Event, it's as simple as that!