Related:

• Gallery: Miller Lite World Championship of Cornhole V, Day 2

HUNTINGTON -- In their hometown of St. Anthony, Ind., Mick and Rick Hochgesang are cornhole masters.

The brothers felt they were good enough to take their bag-tossing talents to the next level, so they drove four-and-a-half hours Saturday to Huntington to compete in the two-day Miller Lite World Championship of Cornhole V at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena.

That's when reality set in. Neither made it past the second round of the Downtown Throwdown, the event's single-player tournament.

"We've won quite a few tournaments at home, but this is a whole different ballgame," Rick Hochgesang said Sunday morning while he and his brother waited to play in the doubles tournament. "It's the best of the best."

The Hochgesangs were just one of 113 doubles teams that packed the arena Sunday to compete for the World Championship, regarded as the granddaddy of the two-day event. The doubles tournament included a $5,000 cash purse paid to the top 32 teams with the winners taking home $1,200 and championship belts. Saturday's festivities included the Juniors', Women's and Tri-State championships and the Downtown Throwdown.

Altogether, more than 300 competitors, some bringing their spouses and children, came to Huntington for the tournaments, said Jack Williams, vice president of event operations for the World Championship of Cornhole.

Cornhole is a backyard game similar to horseshoes that has exploded in popularity in recent years. Two teams, each consisting of two players, take turns throwing corn-filled bags at a wooden board with a hole on one end.

Williams and Rick Mays, vice president of tournament operations, started the tournament four years ago as a youth sports fundraiser in South Webster, Ohio. It was moved to Portsmouth, Ohio, in its third year and then to Evansville, Ind., last year.

Williams said many players he talked to responded favorably to Huntington as the host city because of quality hotels and restaurants near the arena.

"From our standpoint, it made sense to have the World Championship in Huntington because it's within a five-hour driving distance for most of our competitors," he said. "The convenience of everything is an added bonus, so we would definitely like to come back next year."

The tournament's glitz and glamour, which included an awards presentation, cornhole girls who entered the arena with championship belts hoisted above their heads and a ceremonial "first toss" from Mayor Kim Wolfe, attracted players from as far as Chicago, Syracuse, N.Y., and Ontario, Canada.

"When we started this five years ago, I knew it had potential to grow, but to see everything fall into place like it has is exciting," Williams said.

The tournament is another event to add to the growing list of sports-themed events in the Huntington area, Wolfe said after throwing a bag in the hole from 33 feet away for his ceremonial first toss. The area already is getting notoriety and an economic boost from regional youth soccer and Little League baseball tournaments.

"There's no doubt this is a sports city," Wolfe said. "We hope they decide to come back and the tournament gets bigger and bigger."

Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch

The Miller Lite World Championship of Cornhole V continued into its second day of competition on Sunday, Sept. 5, 2010, at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in downtown Huntington.

Purchase this photo