Canal Cornhole Cartel

Drew Hoskin

Growing up in the city of York, I had no idea what cornhole was. We spent a lot of time at the parks playing basketball and football. I played baseball for William Penn High School (York High) and eventually transitioned to slow pitch softball after high school. 

While traveling for tournaments, we were introduced to a game where players threw a bag at board with a hole in it. To make it even better, we were allowed to drink beer while doing it. All of us young city guys were hooked. Between every game we were at the boards trying to get a few games in. In the summer of 2020, I moved my family to Dover, on a 1.5-acre property. My father and I decided we were going to make a set of cornhole boards for ourselves. They were homemade cookout boards. Nice and sturdy but not tournament grade. 

This completely changed the game for us moving forward. Now

we weren’t waiting on softball tournaments for cornhole, we were playing at every event we could host. We played almost every weekend. This was perfect, as my friends and I we're getting older and looking for something we could do for years to come that wouldn’t beat our bodies up. We made a decision that we were going to start playing cornhole as a hobby. During the summer of 2023, a few of the guys I run Canal Cornhole Cartel with (Jimmy, Murray and Mercado) took a chance on a tournament in Glen Rock. Long story short, we get down to the tournament and waited for about 45 minutes for the tournament to never happen. It frustrated us so we left and decided we would just go back to my house and play. On my way home I made some calls and before I even got to my house there were already 15 people there. In the end we had over 20 players. This got my team to thinking…. should we just start hosting our own? We took a chance and posted a tournament on Scoreholio and Canal Cornhole was born!

Canal Cornhole Cartel  

Our first tournament we had 24 people, the following tournament had 36, and the number just kept climbing. People loved the environment we provided. 

With how popular the events were getting, we decided to get serious with it. It was a lot of work being put into turning my yard into a cornhole mecca, but it was all worth it. Setting up 8 canopies, tons of chairs, tables, tablets, tvs, purchasing an inflatable screen for football and turning the tiki bar into a hang out spot. It felt more like a get together and I feel like that made us standout. I always said, if you come hang out with my friends and family, you’re going to have a great time! 

It really hit home when we had over 50 people for the first time and we didn’t even know most of them. Word of mouth had our name blowing up and we were doing our best to keep up with it. There have been numerous people who never played in cornhole tournaments that are now regulars at tournaments around the county. I love seeing those names going to participate in other tournaments. We really tapped into a new market for cornhole. This game wasn’t a normal activity in the city, but we are trying to change that! 

Considering we are the new club in the area, we were overwhelmed with support and positive feedback. I’m so grateful for my guys who helped get this thing started. Jim Henney, Rob Henney, Manny Feliciano, Andrew Rodriguez, AJ Giles, Greg Murray and Andrew Mercado. The most important person in this process has definitely been my wife Renny Rivas-Hoskin. Being a director is very time consuming. She has been such a huge help between setting up, tearing down, and even making food for some tournaments. I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me and I’m so excited to be a part of the King of Clubs Cornhole League!

The Smitshow

Dillsburg, PA