For Chuck Schommer, it was one tough opponent after another. For Mike Shady is was steady as usual. The day started for Schommer against finals rookie Paul Marnella. Schommer shot 267 but lost to a 298. Schommer would shoot 226-224 in games 3 and 4 only to lose to games of 227-265. After a narrow 5th game victory, Schommer fashion a perfect game on 29-30 and his lead was 73. Shady just kept plugging along winning game after game. Even though his opponents shot 248 and 269 in the first two games of the day, Shady fired 258-289 and had 2 match victories. He then lost with a 205, his low game of the day.

In game 15 Schommer would fall again 223-236 while Shady would post a disappointing 244-178. Disappointing because a would be 279 became 244 with an open in the tenth. On the adjoining pair Lee Eighmy, Jr. continued to try to creep into the fray. He was unable to finish off Marnella in the final frame, shooting 244 but losing the all important bonus pins to Marnella's 247. This left Eighmy 90 back, just too far to be a serious factor. Shady, however cut Schommer's lead to 22 pins guaranteeing the winner of the final match would be the tournament champion. Both Shady and Schommer would strike on 6 of their first 7 shots but when Schommer lost a good hit in the 8th (a 6 pin) momentum began to shift. When he missed the single pin he left the door much too wide open for a focussed Mike Shady. Shady would strike in the ninth and then end the match with the first strike in the tenth. The final count was Shady 266, Schommer 226 but it was much closer than that. Schommer, however, finishes without his first title while Shady becomes the first person to string 3 titles together.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOURNAMENT NOTES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Schommer's 16-game actual total of 3,818 is the highest ever.
Mike Shady had the mark of 3,817 when he won the 2002 title.
The 26-game record (includes the qualifier) still belongs to
Shady, however, he amassed 6,196 pins in 2002, Schommer's
total with his 2,376 qualifying total was 6,194. Schommer's
total, however, does set the mark for a non-winner in both
of these categories. His 26-game total was more than 200 pins
more than Pat Malone's non-winning total of 5,983 in 1997 and
91 pins more than George Warren Jr's 16-game total of 3,727
from the 1996 finals which were at the same 2 houses.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 235.6 averaged by Schommer's opponents tied the record
for the second round of the finals. That is until Ryan Lariccia's
final opponent finished him off, his opponents averaged 237.6 
for the 8 games which sets a new mark for tough opponents.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday's Game 2 pitted Shady against Palombi, a rematch of 
last year's classic final. The outcome was the same, with Shady
prevailing, but the scoring a quite a bit higher. As a matter of 
fact, only 2 TN matches have had higher scores. The highest, a 
559 total, came when Marion Bartnik beat Pat Malone in 1981 
300-259 and then again in 1994 when Ken Vaughn turned the 
trick on Malone again by the same count. The Shady 289 
v. Palombi, Jr. 269 match is the 3rd highest ever.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brett Rearick's 13-3 match play record is the second 
best among those finalists that didn't take home 
the title. Tim Laughlin was13-2-1 in 1993.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This year marked the first year since 1999 that the Qualifying 
Champion did not capture the tournament. Remember the 
jinx? From 1964 through 1982 no qualifying champ was 
able to win the title until Ron Palombi, Jr. did it in 1983, 
his first of a record 5 Times-News Open titles.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The field averaged a robust 221.45 on Sunday at Eastway 
which surpassed the all-time best of 220.5 which also 
happened at Eastway (1996). Additionally, the record average
for both rounds of the finals was also in 1996 (215.7) until this
year when the 16 finalists averaged 217.2 for the 256 games.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Schommer is the first person to throw 2 perfect games 
in the same event. He shot 300 in the first game of the qualifier 
at Greengarden and the 14th game of the finals (Eastway).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
THANK YOU's to, Joe Mattis, Chuck Pora, Matt Martin,
and everyone else at the Times for providing 
us with some great publicity this year.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
THANK YOU's to all of the proprietors and their 
staffs for helping us put on a good show.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
THANK YOU to all of the members of the 
Times-News Open Tournament Committee 
Tim Nick, Dale Uplinger, Bob Montgomery, 
Paul Burger, Ray Sheridan, Elaine Hewett 
and Joe Mattis ... they all make it look 
so easy and run so smoothly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope to see you for the 42nd Annual Times-News Open
The tournament is tentatively scheduled as follows:
QUALIFIER
January 8th & 9th at North East Lanes and Eastland Bowl
FINALS
January 15th & 16th at  Rolling Meadow Lanes and ClassicLanes