Elimination Round Match 3 Results at Folds of Honor Patriot Cup

OXFORD, Ala. (Oct. 24, 2025) – Team Knighten Industries’ Jake Lawrence and Alton Jones Jr. lived up to their billing as one of the most dialed-in duos in the game Friday, combining to catch 32 scorable bass weighing 50 pounds, 9 ounces to win Elimination Match 3 at the Folds of Honor Patriot Cup on Lake Wedowee.

The Tennessee-Texas tandem, both known for their prowess with forward-facing sonar, relied almost exclusively on a shad-imitating minnow presentation to stay ahead of the field from start to finish.

“It’s been a fun, fun day,” Lawrence said. “The main player for me was the little 3.5-inch Yamamoto Hinge Minnow. It’s a brand-new bait that’s about to hit the market. It’s a little deeper, girthier minnow, kind of meaty but compact, and that hinge tail gives it a ton of action even on a heavy head. It made a big, big difference today.”

Jones Jr. credited his teammate’s bait design and their synergy for the team’s success.

“I was throwing the Geecrack Bellows Vibe behind Jake,” Jones said. “Once he started catching them on that new bait, I started digging through my bag for something similar and rigged it up. It was just one of those days where everything lined up. 

“I’ve been a great co-angler today,” he added with a laugh. “Jake may have caught over 10 pounds more than I have, but I was the cleanup guy.”

The pair relied on forward-facing sonar to chase schools of spotted bass roaming deep in the backs of pockets, capitalizing on short feeding flurries that produced multiple doubles throughout the day.

“In this format, it’s all about efficiency,” Lawrence said. “If I can save one cast or five casts through a period, that’s one extra bite – and that can mean everything. These fish are grouped up tight. When you find 50 of them, you just need to catch four or five, and it’s game over.”

Jones Jr. agreed, noting how much fun the team dynamic has been.

“I’m excited to fish another day with Jake,” he said. “We’ve seen schools of more than 50 fish today that looked like something out of National Geographic. To be able to locate those wolf packs and pick them apart together – that’s what makes this format so exciting.”

While Team Knighten Industries cruised to a comfortable win, the battle for the final Knockout Round spot came down to the wire. Team Ferguson’s Dean Rojas and Takahiro Omori surged from fourth to second in the final period, catching more bass in the last frame than in the first two periods combined to narrowly edge out Team Smokey Mountain (Brandon Coulter and John Hunter) by just 7 ounces.

Omori and Rojas defied the prevailing pattern of the week, opting for a more “old-school” approach. Aside from a few fish Rojas caught on a Neko rig, the duo stuck with vibrating jigs and shallow crankbaits along windy, rocky banks near the dam – and were the only tandem not using forward-facing sonar. 

The finale came down to the last few seconds, with Omori catching a 1-13 with under a minute to go that pushed Team Ferguson through to the Knockout Round. Coulter and Hunter both caught fish in the final seconds, but they fell heartbreakingly short despite landing the biggest fish of the week so far – a 5-pound, 10-ounce largemouth – and ended the day in third.

Team YETI’s Bryan Thrift and Colby Miller moved up and down the rankings throughout the day, climbing up to second on the leaderboard at one point before dropping below the cutline. Despite a strong six-fish rally in the final period, the slowdown midway through the day proved costly, dropping them to fourth place as time expired. 

The top two teams from Elimination Round Match 3 at the Folds of Honor Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches that now advance to the Knockout Round are:

1st:     Team Knighten, 32 bass, 50-9
           Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., 20 bass, 31-4
           Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, 12 bass, 19-5
2nd:   Team Ferguson, 21 bass, 32-14
          Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan, 10 bass, 17-1
          Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 11 bass, 15-13

Eliminated from competition are:

3rd:    Team Smokey Mountain, 19 bass, 32-7
           Brandon Coulter, Knoxville, Tenn., 11 bass, 16-13
           John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., eight bass, 15-10
4th:    Team YETI, 21 bass, 28-2
           Colby Miller, Elmer, La., 14 bass, 19-2
           Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., seven bass, 9-0

Overall, there were 93 bass weighing 144 pounds even caught by the four teams in Elimination Match 3 on Lake Wedowee. Team Smokey Mountain pro John Hunter caught the Big Bass of the day – a 5-pound, 10-ounce largemouth bass.  

The three teams that will compete Saturday in Knockout Round Match 1 at the Folds of Honor Patriot Cup are:

Team O’Reilly Auto Parts: 
Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn.
Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala.

Team Lucas Oil: 
Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn.
Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash. 

Team Ferguson:
Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan
Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

The Folds of Honor Patriot Cup takes place over six days in Oxford, Alabama. The competition water for each day is top secret and is only revealed to the anglers when they arrive at the boat ramp each morning. Anglers are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials. Competition begins on the water at 9:15 a.m.