Breckenridge Texan

By Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan

Building off a successful Scholarship Cornhole Tournament last year, the Breckenridge Lions Club held its second annual Cornhole Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 2, at the Trade Barn in the Breckenridge City Park. They will also be bringing back their scholarship basketball tournament Dec. 9-11 at Breckenridge High School.

Kevin Simmons pitches a cornhole bag — aka bean bag — during Saturday’s Lions Club Cornhole Tournament. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Each year the Lions Club normally holds a basketball tournament at the high school to raise money for their scholarship fund, but last year, because of coronavirus concerns, the UIL prohibited any basketball tournaments from being played at the schools. That’s when the local organization started the cornhole tournament.

(Click here to see the Breckenridge Texan’s Photo Gallery from the tournament.)

Last year Will Thompson said they were looking for other fundraisers to cover their scholarships after the basketball tournament was canceled and they came up with the idea for the cornhole tournament. He said that for now they plan to continue holding the Cornhole Tournament, possibly twice a year. Additionally, he said, they will continue to hold their traditional Basketball Scholarship Tournament in December at Breckenridge High School.

“We were really happy with it; it went really well,” he said about Saturday’s tournament. “We had good feedback from the people that played and had about the same number of teams (as 2020) and had a few more teams in the social level this year than last year. And a few less than the championship.”

Thompson said one of their goals is to get more people from the community to come out and play in the tournament. Next year, he said, they plan to add a “backyard league,” which will be just for community members to play against each other. He said that way local people can play against each other without having to play the more advanced players in the other divisions.

“One of our goals is to get more of the community out to play and kind of show everyone it’s a game everyone can play and have fun at,” he said.

The winners of the Battle Rounds were:

• First Responders: First Place — Tanner Griffith and Morgan Taylor; and, Second Place — Tim Gulbrauson and Darrel Brummett.
• Service Organizations: First Place — Lions Club, Rob Durham and Steve Spoon; Second Place — All His Children, Roy Russell and Will Thompson; Third Place — Elks Lodge, Carl Rosignol and Wayne Justus; and, Fourth Place — Rotary Club, Isaiah Lier and Sharon Brown.

The winners of the open/championship division were:

• First Place: Grant Upchurch and Mason Vega
• Second Place: Jon White and Isabella Surprenant
• Third Place: Jamie Garcia and Sam Flores

The First Place winners in the open/championship division Grant Upchurch and Mason Vega, center, who were presented their prize by Lions Club members Rob Durham, left, and Wade Toombs, right. (Courtesy photo)

Jon White and Isabella Surprenant, center, came in second in the open/championship division. (Courtesy photo)

The third place winners in the open/championship division were Jamie Garcia and Sam Flores. (Courtesy photo)

Cutline, top photo: Morgan Taylor, center, tosses a cornhole bag in Saturday’s tournament hosted by the Breckenridge Lions Club. Taylor and Tanner Griffith came in first place in the First Responders category of the Battle Rounds. Click here to see more pictures from the event. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

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