Dart champs put in overtime to win title

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Playing darts at 2 o’clock in the morning is for losers.

Or rather that’s the schedule you have to keep when you get sent down to the losers’ bracket.

“We got put down after our fourth match,” Nick Sears said of the altered path his “Mad Hatters” team had to trek in the Team 501 division at the State Darts Championships held at Waterloo’s Sullivan Center, Feb. 11-14.

“That meant we had to play all night long to battle back,” Brad Sido said. “It took a lot of work, a lot of games …”

“And a lot of drinking,” Sears said.

With a lot of extra effort, The Mad Hatters got it done as Sido, Sears, Matt Dearduff and Bryant Esland won the Team 501 title after twice beating the team that sent them to the losers’ bracket.

“It’s not just playing a lot more games, there’s that waiting in between the extra games you have to deal with,” Sido said. “Our last game was at 2 o’clock in the morning.”

The Mad Hatters are part of the Charles City Dart League. Though the state tournament wasn’t the team members’ first rodeo as they’ve had success there before, “it was the first title we won with this lineup,” Sido said.

Members of the Charles City Dart League had their awards banquet, March 12 at City Tap, where the league plays many of its matches while utilizing the tavern’s state-of-the-art electronic “flip” dart boards.

Other state champions from the league included Dan Aurea, who took first place in Singles Cricket; and teamed up with Kelly Miller to win Doubles Cricket

The City Tap team of Shaun Martin, Kake Kummer III, Dean Lair and Lee Voyna placed second in Team 501 and seventh-eighth (final bracket slot) in Team Cricket.

Also representing the CC Dart League were Pub on the Cedar, consisting of Aurea, Miller, Danielle Joyner and J.D. Blue, which placed fourth in Team Cricket and fifth-sixth in Team 501; Throwbacks, consisting of Rod Usher, Kim Usher, Ken Walker and Eddie Lewis, which place fifth-sixth in Team 501; DeRailed, consisting of Leroy White, Robin Schmidt, Gil Graeser and Matt Easterly, which placed seventh-eighth in Team Cricket; Shooting the Bull, consisting of Denna Graeser, Justin McIntire, Kim McIntire, and Dan Novak, which finished in the fifth-sixth-place slot in Team 501 and in the 9th-12th-place slot for Team Cricket; and the aforementioned Mad Hatters, which placed in 13th-16th in Team Cricket.

In doubles action, Sears and Esland (Happiness Hotel) placed third in Doubles 501; Graeser and Justin McIntire (Lucky Darts) placed fourth in both Doubles 501 and Doubles Cricket; Danielle Joyner and J.D. Blue (Pub on the Cedar) placed fourth in Doubles Cricket; Aurea and White (Smilie Pies) placed fifth-sixth in Doubles 501; and Dean Lair and Jake Kummer III (BJ Services) placed seventh-eighth in Doubles 501.

Other CC Dart League players who placed in Singles Cricket were Leroy White (second), Eddie Lewis (third), and Kake Kummer III and Shaun Martin (both 13th-16th).

At the banquet, participants were honored for both their league and state tournament play.

“Charles City didn’t have the most dart players down at state, but we had the most per population,” said Voyna, who handed out league and state awards, as well as prize money. “Darts are pretty big around here. We have a lot of good players.”