April 5-6, 2025
Schwoegler’s Entertainment Center, Madison
34 Bowlers | Cut: +176

Derek Eoff defeated Ryan Zagar 196-174 to capture his third straight MAST Year End Invitational title Sunday.

This gives Eoff nineteen overall titles and four Year End titles, tying the record held by Jeff Richgels and Gail Myers for most Year End titles in our tour’s thirty-six seasons.

After leading Saturday’s qualifying session at 2,064, Eoff went 8-3-1 in match play, averaging just under 240 and including one of the day’s three honor counts with 816 (269-268-279) over his last three matches to secure the top seed in the stepladder finals.

Zagar entered match play as the number two seed at 1,969. He averaged just under 230 during match play while going 6-6, but three of those six wins came in his final three matches to lock up the third seed in the stepladder. Zagar advanced to the title match with victories over Jim Ring 228-222 and Mike Hoffman 289-227.

Hoffman was the big mover Sunday. After qualifying eleventh at 1,798, he went 10-1-1 while averaging over 244 including 848 (269-300-279) in his final three matches to climb to the number two seed in the stepladder.

Ring entered match play as the number five seed at 1,887. He climbed as high as second after three matches before falling back to the middle of the pack, but shot 256 in winning his position round match to jump from sixth to claim the fourth & final spot in the stepladder.

Eoff earned $1,000 for the win, with Zagar taking home $800 for second. Hoffman received $650 for third and Ring $525 for fourth. The other match play payouts Sunday were $405 to Devon Boeck for fifth (4,676), $370 to Chad Maas for sixth (4,641), $340 to Cody Ramsden for seventh (4,620), $315 to Chris Gibbons for eighth (4,599), $295 to Chris Pounders for ninth (4,550), $280 to Dylon Wilde for tenth (4,545), $270 to Nick Peterson for eleventh (4,496), and $265 to Joe Johnson for twelfth (4,227). MAST also paid one additional cash spot Saturday, with $125 going to Shaun Taliaferro for thirteenth (1,776).

=====

After eight games of qualifying Saturday, Shaun Taliaferro and Cody Ramsden finished tied at 1,776 for the final qualifying spot in Sunday’s twelve-person round-robin match play, forcing a one-game roll-off to determine who would advance. Ramsden got out to an early lead and held off a late charge from Taliaferro to win the roll-off 232-207 and claim the last spot.

Thirty-four of the sixty-one eligible bowlers competed on the 41-foot 2023 PBA McEwan oil pattern. Two-time defending year end champion Derek Eoff led from game four on, finishing at 2,064 including two of the day’s three honor counts with 802 (300-244-258) and a near miss with a 299 game earlier in the block. Ryan Zagar was in the top four from game three on, finishing second at 1,969. Dylon Wilde opened qualifying with the day’s third honor count with 812 (277-268-267) on the way to claiming the three seed at 1,938.

The other qualifiers for Sunday’s round-robin match play session are Devon Boeck 4th (1,915), Jim Ring 5th (1,887), Chris Pounders 6th (1,861), Chris Gibbons 7th (1,843), Nick Peterson 8th (1,832), Joe Johnson 9th (1,814), Chad Maas 10th (1,812), and Mike Hoffman 11th (1,798).

MAST also recognized the top ten bowlers in this season’s M & J Truck and Auto Points Race Saturday. TJ Dunn’s three titles this season helped secure the points title at 1,546 points, earning him $500. Chris Gibbons finished second with 1,520 points, receiving $350. The other points payouts went to Chris Pounders (1,465 points – $250), Gabe Roderick (1,416 points – $205), Brent Ritchie (1,326 points – $175), Dylon Wilde (1,325 points – $150), Rick Erce (1,282 points – $130), Matt Pursell (1,206 points – $115), Jon Schalow (1,196 points – $105), and Mike Hoffman (1,160 points – $100). Congratulations to everyone on a terrific season.