Fillman wins cornhole state championship

PENGILLY—Normally associated with a fun time in the backyard or a game to play during a football tailgate, a competitive side to the game of cornhole has been growing in recent years and one Iron Range man has found some major success in that realm.

Jason Fillman of Pengilly recently took home top honors in the open division at the Minnesota American Cornhole League State Tournament in St. Cloud. Competing in the tournament’s top level bracket, 32 of the best cornhole players in Minnesota competed in the double elimination format competed for the title, most of them coming from the metro part of the state.

“Being from up north, cornhole isn’t as big as it is in other parts of the country or even the state,” Fillman said. “I’ve been playing competitively for about four years now and I traveled a bit outside the state to compete. Winning tournaments gets you ranking points. I managed to qualify for the top division and got to compete with the best group of players.”

The American Cornhole League (ACL) governs the biggest cornhole events in the country but Fillman hadn’t competed in an ACL event for a number of years, meaning he had less ranking points and got paired up with the second-ranked player in the tournament in the first round.

Starting the tournament off with one of the best players in the bracket, Fillman said it was nerve racking and tough to deal with in a mental game like cornhole.

“That was tough. I’ve played a lot of sports in my day. Cornhole is kind of mentally taxing. You could compare it to golf. You have a lot of time to think between shots so it’s not really a reactionary sport. It is mentally grinding.”

Securing a win against the pro, Fillman made his way through the rest of the tournament and came away with the state title, the biggest tournament win of his competitive career.

While the competitive side of the sport is bigger in the southern portion of the state, Fillman said he didn’t have much of a reputation heading into the tournament with the Iron Range and other parts of Northern Minnesota having a smaller competitive scene.

“That was the neat thing. Being from up here, not a lot of people knew about me. The community down there is bigger. It’s starting to grow around here. We’ve got Iron Range Cornhole in Eveleth. It’s slowly growing up around Deer River, the headwaters, Grand Rapids, Bemidji. It’s not a fast growth yet but it’s growing.”

With the tournament win, Fillman says he’s been fielding calls on playing in potential tournaments in other states outside of Minnesota. For only getting started with the sport four years ago, that’s a pretty big leap.

“I started during Covid. I got laid off from the mines and there wasn’t a whole lot going on. People were playing virtual tournaments online. You go on a website, throw 10 rounds and record your scores. Once we were able to have in person tournaments, I was able to get better at it and the interest just kind of grew from there.”

While it’s easy to see cornhole as the leisurely activity it originated as, those who are more serious about it need to put in the time to practice, just like any other sport.

“I have a board down in the basement and I can go down there and practice for about an hour or two a day maybe four times a week. It’s not going to be physically demanding like some other sports but there’s still a lot to think about and work on, especially on the mental side.”

And now even Fillman’s family is getting into it. His 14-year-old son Aiden took second at the state tournament in the competitive division, the second level from the top.

“That was pretty neat to see. He’s a busy kid with baseball and hockey but it’s nice that we have this together too. When we have some free time we enter local tournaments. We’ve won a few and done pretty well together when we team up.”

Fillman doesn’t know where cornhole will take him next but he’s pretty happy with what he’s done so far. For anyone thinking they might have some skill when it comes to the game, he encourages them to think about taking it a step further.

“It’s a cool sport to get into. It was just for fun four years ago and that changed pretty quickly for me. It would be cool for it to grow even more around here.”