Good morning Candy Crushers and welcome to the Round of 32! You must be saying to yourself, “Oh good, less games this round. That must mean shorter write-ups.” LOL…you must not know me.
Friday night was action-packed pandemonium with some of the tournament heavy weights facing off for eternal supremacy. With bracket selections just about split evenly in the Chocolate West Region it would be glory for some and delicious disappointment for others. Let’s get this thing rollin’!
Coming off a lackluster performance Tuesday night, it would take a much better paired outing for the Twix twins to beat out the beloved M&Ms squad. Pelting the twins early, M&Ms threw every candy-coated chocolate combination at Twix they could think of; even attempting to get newcomer Carmel M&M into the fray to confuse and put Twix off their game. Knowing their tournament lives were at stake, both Left & Right Twix stepped up in the biggest moments using their height to overpower the smaller but faster chocolate treats. In the end, 1-seed Twix was just too powerful with their chocolatey carmel crunch and punched their ticket to the Sweet 16, beating M&Ms 9-7.
Just down the way it was a battle of Mars goodness with two of the most popular chocolate candy bars facing off once again. One of the oldest rivalries in the candy universe, Snickers has often won over the taste buds of millions. It is not only the top-selling candy bar in the U.S., but recently took over duty free favorite Toblerone for the best selling candy bar in the world. The Satisfier would have its work cut out for it though as the peanut-less rival began the grudge match with an aggressive and silky smooth style of play. Not weighed down by a peanut crunch, Milky Way moved in and out of Snickers otherwise impenetrable defense and took an early lead. But you don’t become #1 by not learning to fight your way back. Seeing that peanuts were not getting the job done, Snickers rolled out Almond, Peanut Butter and even Fun Size to try and climb their way back in. With a sizable lead, Milky Way subbed out an exhausted Milk Chocolate bar for big bad Dark Chocolate. With fresh legs and a much higher percentage of Cacao, Milky Way shocked the Candy World and sent Snickers packing with a 9-7 win. Snickers will have a lot to think about getting bounced so early in this year’s tournament. Milky Way moves on to the Sweet 16 for a date with Twix on Monday night.
At the bottom of the Chocolate West, our matches would not be nearly as close. Once a product of the proud Nestle Conference, 100 Grand was lured to the expanding Ferrara Conference in 2018 and they have building their program ever since. With their aggressive recruiting campaign, Halloween baskets around the country were filled with the chocolatey-chewy candy in 2019 and it most certainly showed against a cult-ish favorite Whatchamacalit. 100 Grand showed no mercy and stomped out their chocolate foe with a convincing 13-3 win. Equally as dominating was the the performance of the Reese’s family who picked off the peanut covered tasty (although not chocolatey) treat Payday. Clearly out of their league in this one, Payday just couldn’t satisfy and fell to the orange, brown and yellow pieces of Reese’s in a 12-4 rout.
Across the way was our Seasonal Region looking to the lift the spirits of fans everywhere. First up was a no-contest match against a dominating Cadbury team that just smashed the edible-ink covered Valentine’s Hearts 15-1. Cadbury becomes only the second candy in tournament history to only give up 1 point in each of their first two match-ups, and the first since 1932 when young upstart Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup beat out Black Licorice Twists and Abba-Zaba bars 12-1 and 14-1 respectively. Neither ever recovered from their humiliating losses.
Then things got interesting. 12-seeded Robins Eggs faced off against the cool minty goodness of the Peppermint Patties from Yorkton. And in the first major upset of the day, it was the Easter combo of hard candy coating and milk chocolate that would prevail, narrowly moving past the Peppermint Patties 9-7. Yet another lower seeded contestant, #11 Peanut Butter M&M Eggs took the court against kid-favorite Fun Dip in what looked to be an easy match for the candy dust. Maligned by parents across the country, Fun Dip had little to contribute in this match. I don’t know if Easter candies are benefiting from the timing of the tournament, but it was Peanut Butter M&M Eggs that would come out on top in this one with an 11-5 victory over Fun Dip.
Looking for an Easter rout, Jelly Beans came in strong against a Chocolate Bark squad that surprised some with their dominating performance over Candy Corns on Tuesday night. Secret weapon Starburst Jelly Beans would be the difference in this one using it’s overpowering sweetness to melt the Barkies 11-5 and move onto the Sweet 16 for a date with PB M&M Eggs.
What a day! More action coming at you tomorrow morning with a recap of tonight’s match-ups in the Non-Chocolate and Chocolate East Regions. It will be one to tune into for sure.
For those keeping track at home, the Master Bracket is attached. It’s been a pleasure to have this distraction during our lockdown, and I hope you find it a fun way to connect with family and friends. Talk to you tomorrow!
~ The Commish