The 2020 IATC

In the IATF there is no bigger tournament than the IATC. Axe Throwing has a new face this year as a new Champion has been crowned. Congratulations to Rander Marquez! An amazing display of talent and a well deserved victory. In the finals he faced a very new thrower, Jonathan Morgan who will no longer be an unknown thrower. Having only thrown for less than a year, “Fancy Lad” Jonathan Morgan moved onto the finals by taking out a fellow home venue thrower, “Bishop”, leaving him in 3rd place. Congratulations fellas!

The 8 Throwers From Choppers At The IATC All-Star Weekend

We had amazing representation this year. The qualifying field was insane to make it to round 2, which is the IATC bracket. Round 1 is played at the home venue to determine who moves on to Toronto, where Choppers was awarded 8 spots into Round 2. The main stage. The tournament everyone in the community strives to be in all year. These throwers made the cut, in this qualifying order. Keith “KAK” Allen Kelly, Curtis “Warner” Baptist, Mike “Grill” Grill, John Bradley, Joe “Joey The Hat” Nessler, Mike “Rupert” Moore, Jeff “Cheese” Schick and last but not least, Joe “roosteR” Perry.

Every player did a great job. Not a single Choppers Thrower went 0-2 which is an awesome accomplishment in and of itself. You are playing the best of the best from all the venues in the world! The level of competition is above anything any can possibly be used to. Choppers is very proud to have all of these players in this tournament. They all did an amazing job at the IATC this year!

The Top 32 Throwers – Day 2

The IATC field started at 256 throwers and was played down to the last 32 players, leaving the top 16 of the A-Bracket and the Top 16 of the B-Bracket. IATC if following suit of starting to pay deeper into the brackets and all of those making the cut do day 2 were in the money.

Choppers had 4 players still in the competition at this point. A pretty awesome accomplishment. The top qualifier “KAK” and the light sleeper, “Cheese” were still in the A-Bracket, meaning they had not lost a match all of day 1. In the B-Bracket, meaning they had lost once on day one, we still had John Bradley and “Warner”.

This point of the competition is no joke. These are the killers. The throwers that are not to be taken lightly. Many of the well known heavy hitters were already out of it. Taken out by players who have risen to their level and beyond in some cases. This is the best of the best in the IATC.

IATC Day 2 Results

John Bradley, seeded 62nd overall in the tournament started his day in the B-Bracket needing a win to stay alive in a match against 6th seeded Canadian Stefan “Cappuccino” Cavacciuti. Unfortunately John was only able to win 2 out of the 3 games in his match leaving him tied for 25th place overall.

Curtis “Warner” Baptist, seeded 19th in the IATC was playing 94th seed Scott Brown in his first match. Warner was able to send Scott home, matching him next with 9th seeded Canadian Matthew “SheepToast” Colavecchia. Warner was not as fortunate in this match only winning 1 to SheepToast’s 3 wins. This was still a great showing placing him tied for 17th in his first IATC.

Jeff “Cheese” Schick was the 109th seed overall. In his first match of the day in the A-Bracket he was playing against Colton “Coltron” Lawson, the 68th seed. Unfortunately Coltron took this match 3-1. In the B-Bracket now, Cheese was facing the 63rd seed Matt “Haz-Matt” Muti from North Carolina. Even though Cheese had one of the best nights of sleep in his life, he wasn’t able to take Haz-Matt down which left him tied for 17th place. Still an amazing showing for his first IATC.

Keith “KAK” Allen Kelly, the 18th seed was facing Rander Marquez the number 2 seed and ended up the IATC champion. Although KAK was fighting hard, he ended up 1-3 to Rander, landing himself in the B Bracket to face 13th seeded Nick Kolomyja. Unfortunately KAK ended his IATC run here with another 1-3 loss. KAK was also a first timer to the IATC and had an amazing run. He also tied for 17th place in this 256 player field.

Congratulations

I want to congratulate all of the players in the IATC. Those that qualified for Round 1 as well as those who moved onto to Round 2 in Toronto. You all have come so far in such a short amount of time. The dedication you have to progress is admirable. I look forward to another year of fun with friends and axe throwing leagues as well as tournaments scattered throughout the year.

Special shout out to Rander Marquez for taking the 2020 IATC Crown. A well deserved win. Enjoy the year as the undisputed champion!

Keith Gibbons

Co-Owner of Choppers Hatchet House