2007 RFA Cup
On 06-02-2007
Champion is Robert “Buddy” Emmons III
There is no time trial champion for this event yet.
Emmons wins 1st title, inaugural RFA Cup
Posted: 06-03-2007 (modified: 07-15-2007)
2007 RFA Cup Champion Buddy Emmons holds the Cup aloft while wrapping his other arm around his fiancée Molly Casey
With a Roofball-first walk-off around in the championship game,
Robert “Buddy” Emmons III won his 1st career title and became the first to hoist the RFA Cup in victory.
Emmons’s 10th-inning around capped off the greatest championship game in Roofball history, and gave Emmons a 62-53 victory over
Reuben Schug.
The title game was tied at 29 after six innings, then at 35 after both players had pings and catches in the seventh. Emmons followed Schug’s ping with an around in the eighth, and held his five-point lead after both had pings and catches in the ninth.
Schug led off the tenth with a must-have ping and catch, giving him a one-point lead going into the tournament’s final throw. Emmons’s toss hit to the left of the pole, bounced right, went behind the pole and onto the upper roof before beginning its descent.
With the around guaranteeing the win for Emmons, he didn’t even make an effort to make the catch before he began celebrating with high-fives and hugs with family and friends. Emmons capped off his celebratory antics by pulling off his shirt and running a short victory lap topless while yelling, “Yes!”
His 62 points set a new Roofball record for points in a title game, and ties Emmons for the 6th-best single-game score in Roofball history.
The victory comes in Emmons’s 14th career tournament. Schug, playing in just his 2nd, finished in the runner-up spot for the 2nd consecutive tournament. “Always the bridesmaid,” Schug said shortly after the game concluded.
2007 RFA Cup - A shirtless Buddy Emmons seconds after finishing his victory lap in celebration of his 1st career title
Schug’s score of 53 is the highest score ever to lose a championship game, and the 3rd best ever score not to win its game. Ironically, Emmons holds both better non-winning scores; a 57 in the Semifinals of the 2001 World Championships and a 54 in the Semifinals of the 2004 World Championships.
Rookie
Matthew Azar finished in 3rd Place after amazing the crowd with scores of 53, 44 and 55 in his first 3 games. His impressive run came to an end in the Cup Round, however, when a score of 11 left Azar with the 3rd place trophy.
Thomas Sera, who donated the silver RFA Cup to the tournament, was eliminated in the 2nd round of a tournament with the largest field in Roofball history. Twenty players, including six newcomers, competed in the event, smashing the previous record of 15.
Another record related to the number 15 fell during the tournament, as four players put up single-throw scores of 15. Prior to the 2007 RFA Cup, only eight 15’s had ever been recorded.
Adam Willis and
Brent Thompson teamed up for a Roofball first in the 2nd game of the 1st round, becoming the only players ever to each throw a 15 in the same game.
Angela O'Reilly won the Women’s Championship, besting five other women with her 1st-round score of 16. It’s O’Reilly’s 3rd women’s title.
Notes: There were seven games of 50 or more in the 2007 RFA Cup, a Roofball record.
Elizabeth Willis's career point total now stands at exactly 420. Emmons had nine arounds for the tournament, breaking the previous record of seven. This tournament marks the first time since the 2003 World Championships a player other than
Casey Campbell,
Daniel “Danno” O'Reilly or Adam Willis did not capture the title. O’Reilly and Willis were eliminated in the Semifinals, while Campbell was unable to attend.
