Showdown in Motown Champions
Hargett Booster Club Claims Title on Banes Fifth Go Around
The official story from the DA

By Tim Tassa
Sports Writer
In an exciting championship round in which West Virginia University men's basketball players Darris Nichols and Rob Summers asked the final set of questions, the Johnathan Hargett Booster Club defeated Ruth and Cobb to become the winners of the fifth annual Domino's Pizza Showdown in Mo'town, hosted by DA Sports.

Held at the WVU Student Recreation Center, the tournament, a contest for scholars of sports trivia, coincided with the NFL draft shown simultaneously in the Rec Center's free area. The Johnathan Hargett Booster Club, featuring teammates Nicholas Tolomeo and Tom Bane, rolled through the 26-team, single-elimination tournament and finalized their first championship, winning the final best of seven series.

"It was a tough road. There are a lot of great sports minds at this University," Tolomeo said."I would like to thank the DA, Drew Rubenstein, Brian Welch and everyone else involved for once again putting on a first-class event. My biggest thing about winning it all is sending my teammate Tommy Bane out as a champion. He has endured for five years without a championship and suffered through four heart breaking losses."

Unlike years before, the quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals of the tournament were decided using a "Stump-the-Schwab" format where teams answered questions ranging from "the last 20 Heisman Trophy winners" to "the top 25 money winners on the PGA tour."

For winning the event, the Hargett Booster Club received two tickets to a future Pittsburgh Pirates game. Domino's Pizza and DA Sports partnered in providing pizza for all participants, which was included in the $5 entry fee. The top teams in this year's tournament included runners-up Ruth and Cobb (Christopher Riggi and Travis Hurt), the Wayne Wankstaz (Mike Taylor and Tim DeMuth) and Team PE (Johnny Sciarappa and Joe Scaglione), who made their fourth straight final-four appearance.

-n