From Todd Thompson, OBFN Youth Director,

This past Sunday, the Ohio Junior Elite Trail closed the season in dramatic fashion at Deer Creek Lake in southern Ohio. With just a two event "points" trail for the 2009 season, the door was left wide open for a tie between the junior anglers and as luck would have it, it happened. Hollywood writers could not have scripted the finish any better that what was witnessed by everyone that attended.

As weigh-in closed, Eddie Levin of Westerville, Ohio found himself with consecutive 2nd place finishes for the season. Entering the last event only one point behind Levin, Jacob Wheeler from Indianapolis, Indiana knew his only chance to catch Eddie was for a win at Deer Creek. Without any help from the tournament committee staging their positions, Wheeler stood in line at the tanks, the last angler to weigh-in. After hearing the weight of 7.52 called from Levin's 5 fish limit, Jacob knew it was going to be close but he never had an idea of just how close. Wheeler crossed the scales with a 5 fish limit weighing in at 7.93 to give him his first tournament win on the OBFN Junior Trail, putting him in a "points" tie with Levin for the 15-18 age group state champion and a spot on the 2009 OBFN State Team.

After reviewing the tie-breakers in place (number of fish & Big Bass), Levin and Wheeler still found themselves in a tie for the year. This left the OBFN Tournament Committee with only two options for these young men. Either a flip of the coin or a one hour "Shoot-out". Again things stood as a tie, Levin wanted to flip a coin, thinking that he burnt up all his good spots during the event while Wheeler wanted to put it to rest on the lake. After about 15 minutes of deliberation, both anglers decided to leave the faith of the outcome up to their angling skills. It was then Tournament Director, Rod Pullins then turned to each angler telling them they now had 15 minutes to get their stuff ready and be in the water. From the looks on their faces, I don't think either angler thought it was going to happen quite this fast!

Each angler was placed in a Ranger Z20 (same colors) powered by an Evinrude 255, MinnKota 101 trolling motors and Lowrance electronics. One member of the Board of Directors along with an observer was placed in each boat also. The two boats were placed right out side the launch area, side by side as "ready-set-go" was called out. Little did anyone know that the majority of the crowd left was going to put their boats back in so that they could follow the anglers during that last hour. It looked like an Elite event! During the one hour "shoot out", the BOD members were to report back to the weigh-in area on how things were going. After only 7 or 8 minutes, I received a text message stating that Levin had just put his first fish in the box. After another 10 minutes passed, another text arrived stating that Levin had just caught another keeper. Still nothing from the Wheeler boat! As time came to a close, it was evident that each angler was thinking along the same lines! With only 5 minutes to spare, each pulled up at the launch area "knowing that it had just had a bunch of fish released there." Levin to the right of the ramp and Wheeler to the left. Neither angler knowing what the other had in the well!

As the "Shoot out" weighin began, Levin went first weighing in 2 fish at 1.77 pounds. It was then Eddie looked to the crowd to find Wheeler and said "now go get yours." It was then that Wheeler told Eddie congratulations and shook his hand. During this show of "sportsmanship" between these two fine young men, you could have heard a pin drop! The true meaning of sportsmanship, fellowship and camaraderie was defined at this point for the entire crowd to witness. My words can't do justice to what took place during this time frame. All I can say is "BASS CLASS" to both of these fine young men!!!

Daryk Eckert of Stockport, Ohio earned a spot on the 2009 State Team in the 11-14 age group. I have to thank Daryk for not making it near as dramatic as the older age group. My heart couldn't take doing that twice in one day! Daryk won the first event of the year at Alum Creek and followed it up with a 6th place finish at Deer Creek. This is Daryk first year competing with the OBFN and I can guarantee, it won't be his last. Eckert boat captain for the day was State Team member Randy Peck. Randy approached me at the end of the day to tell me "If this young man ends up winning, it's well deserved. He's a heck of a stick!" Daryk stuck to his strength all day by keeping his flippin stick in his hand and throwing a jig.

This will be Daryk's first time as a BASS State Champion earning him the right to compete at the 2009 Northern Divisional. Levin is no stranger to advancing outside the state, this year makes his fourth time as state champion within both organizations, along with earning the Casting Kids State title another 3 times! The OBFN will be represented well by both young men!

Congrat's to everyone that competed for the year! A special "Thank's" goes out to everyone that volunteered throughout the 2009 Junior season! We couldn't have done it without you and you are all the definition of "BASS CLASS!"