Good evening candy lovers from around the world (well, mostly the Midwest). Please excuse my tardiness today on the recap. Quite frankly, it took me this long to get over the stunning upsets that we witnessed last night. 16 teams squared off Saturday night, but only 8 would punch their ticket to the Sweet 16. Let’s get this candy bus on the road…
Early action saw #1 overall seed Starburst and league MVP Pink taking on the kids from the Sour Patch. And boy those kids were scrappy. It was an incredible evening for Pink who showed the world why she deserved top honors in this year’s Candy Games. Slashing through the stingy and sour defense of Sour Patch. But it was the overpowering combination of sour then sweet that had an answer nearly every time Starburst would take the lead. With mere seconds remaining and up by one, a double-teamed Pink passed it off to Yellow who bobbled the pass and Sour Patch hit a half-court prayer to send it to overtime. From there it was all Sour Patch, who commanded the floor and rocked brackets across the country. Starburst falls to Sour Patch in OT 9-8 and our first #1 seed bows out of the tournament.
Shortly after the deafening blow that dealt to the region’s top seed, the crowd favorite Gummy Bears faced off against a surprising Nerds squad that inched past Sweet Tarts in the first round. From the get-go, it was chewy time with the Gummy Bears of Haribo County dominating both ends of the court. Little squishy red and his band of rainbow-colored teammates easily put down Nerds 13-3.
Just down the way, Laffy Taffy looked to come out strong after their overtime win against Life Savers. The Lemonheads squad were as sour as ever, denying Laffy Taffy from stretching the floor as they had the previous round. Resilient as ever, Laffy Taffy called on the big man known as Ropes to shut down their lip-smacking opponent. And it was as effective as ever. Laffy Taffy cruised late to a big win and the second upset of the night, beating Lemonheads 10-6.
In a surprising twist late in the evening, Twizzlers was without first round superstar Pull & Peel for the first half of the game, allowing Skittles to go up early in the match. But with a triumphant return in the second half, Pull & Peel came out guns blazing. Twizzlers wrapped themselves around the Skittles team who didn’t seem to have their A-game. In a separate attempt to regain control, Skittles coach threw in the Sour Skittles bench…and it was exactly what Rainbow Nation needed. Holding onto their slim lead, Sour Skittles was just enough for the Skittles team to overcome a late run by Twizzlers, sending the sweet licorice candy packing with a 9-7 victory.
As for the Chocolate East, it would be mostly chalk…but delicious, smooth chocolatey chalk. Krackle had absolutely no chance against top-seeded Kit Kat who blew past the often overlooked crunchy chocolate squad 14-2. And tournament favorite Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup once again used it’s perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter to wipe out second chance Butterfinger 12-4.
In the late games, it was all chocolate chalk, no extras needed. The smooth style of Dove Chocolates was once again too much as Heath went down 11-5, and Rolo was just overmatched in the end falling to 2-seed Hershey’s 9-7.
And we are down to 16 teams…the Sweet Sweet Delicious 16. The brackets are filled with top-seeded favorites and scrappy underdogs that look to raise the Candy Madness Trophy in this year’s challenge. It is truly anyone’s tournament at this stage of the game.
Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Master Bracket attached for those that are keeping score at home. Have a lovely evening, and we’ll catch up with you on Tuesday after the first half of the Sweet 16!
~ The Commish