Schoenen Keeps Title In the Family

After dropping to 30 players last year, we returned to our usual number of 38 this year. Five players emerged unbeaten from the initial Swiss rounds – former champions Bruce Young and Rob Schoenen, Kevin Emery and Andrew Doughan (sons of former champions), and newcomer Brady Detwiler. Tiebreakers were used to add Michael Sosa, Dennis Nicholson, and Daniel Berger to the final 8 for the playoff rounds.

Quarterfinals:
Rob Schoenen and Kevin Emery played Scenario D Falklands, with Rob taking the Argentinesto face Kevin's British. Rob managed to get his reinforcement sub into the battle and quickly sank Kevin's Swiftsure on his first shot.

Bruce Young and Michael Sosa chose to play Scenario B Search and Destroy, with Bruce taking the Soviet subs against Michael's NATO ASW group. Michael's ships and helicopters emerged victorious.

Andrew Doughan and Daniel Berger played Scenario A Sub Duel. Andrew took the British Swiftsure and Valiant, the tournament substitutes them for Los Angeles and Baltimore for play balance, to face Daniel's Ivan Rogov and Skvortsov. Skvortsov got off the first shots against Valiant but missed. The Valiant did not miss its shot against Skvortsov, leaving the Ivan Rogov to face the two British subs alone. While Daniel put up a good fight, Andrew used a deadly combination of Battle Stations, Close Range and Weapon Lockon to sink the Rogov for the win.

Dennis Nicholson and Brady Detwiler chose Scenario E Rebel Without a Cause. Dennis was the Renegade Oppokov trying to escape Brady's Soviet surface force. Brady got his reinforcement ship into play and his 3 ships and helicopters quickly determined Oppokov's position. Brady sank the Oppokov on his first shot at a level 1 contact! This was incredible because hitting at level 1 contact is very difficult and the Oppokov is a huge sub that usually requires several hits to sink it.

Semifinals:
In the first semifinal, Michael Sosa's Soviet subs would take on Rob Schoenen's British in Scenario A Sub Duel. Rob had to deal with sonar malfunctions on both of his subs. But Michael wasn't able to take advantage. Swiftsure drew first blood, sinking the Ivan Rogov. Soon after, Swiftsure also sank the Skvortsov, giving Rob the win.

The other semifinal had Brady Detwiler once again taking the Soviet surface force against Andrew Doughan's Oppokov in Scenario E Rebel Without a Cause. Things were a bit more difficult for Brady this time since he had to deal with sonar malfunctions on two of his ships. After repairing his sonars, he managed to get off a contact level 3 fire strength 4 attack on Oppokov which missed! Andrew began to reduce the contact level on Oppokov and it started to look like he would escape. But once again Brady sinks the Oppokov with a contact level 1 fire strength 1 attack! That is two games in a row that he sank the Oppokov with one shot!

Final:
So Rob Schoenen would face off against Brady Detwiler in the final. An interesting twist, Rob is the father of last year's champion, Trevor, so he was trying to keep the championship in the family, but Brady also lives on the same street as the Schoenen's! So this would be for bragging rights on the street as well as in the family. Having heard about Brady's incredible luck with Scenario E, Rob chose to return to the waters of the Falklands in which he was successful in his quarterfinal game.

Once again Rob would have the Argentines to face Brady's British Swiftsure. Rob got his San Luis reinforcement into the battle on his second attempt. San Luis fired the first salvo of the battle, but missed. Then Brady got off a shot at San Luis. Would his incredible streak of one shot, one kill continue? NO, his shot misses. Rob would also miss his second shot at Swiftsure, but after a bit more cat and mouse, he managed to sink Swiftsure with his third attack for the win.

So the Attack Sub championship stays in the Schoenen family and they still have bragging rights on their street.