Team Knighten Industries (Jones Jr./Lawrence) tops field with 50-9 to win third and final match of Elimination Round, six teams now set for Knockout Round
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 Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches 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.”
Link to HD Video Clip of Patriot Cup Elimination Round Match 3 Highlights
Link to Afternoon Photo Gallery: Elimination Match 3 underway on Lake Wedowee
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 SCORETRACKER® 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
Complete results from throughout the week can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
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 Berkley 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 Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches 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 Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches is hosted by the City of Oxford and 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.
The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live every day of competition from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!® is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps, RFD-TV Now, Game & Fish TV and Rumble. The final period of every day of competition of the 2025 Fishing Clash Team Series is broadcast live on RFD-TV, from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. CT.
The Patriot Cup features 12 two-man teams divided into three groups as they enter the one-day Elimination Round matches. Each of the three Elimination Round matches featured four new teams, with the top two teams from each match of the Elimination Round advancing to the Knockout Round on Days 4 & 5. Now, in the Knockout Rounds, three teams compete each day, with the top two teams from each Knockout Round match moving on to the Championship Round on Day 6. In Monday’s Day 6 Championship Round, the final four teams will compete in a one-day shootout to determine which team will win the 2025 Folds of Honor Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches.
The MLF Fishing Clash Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops features four Cup events in 2025 – the Challenge, Heritage, Patriot, and Summit Cups – with 12 two-man teams of Bass Pro Tour anglers competing for a share of $560,000 in prize money. Teams were formed through a selection process, where 48 team captains – based on Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) standings throughout the 2025 Bass Pro Tour season – selected a teammate. Teams will compete throughout the fall of 2025.
The MLF Fishing Clash Team Series Folds of Honor Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches will also air on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon starting March 28, 2026. The complete television schedule for the Fishing Clash Team Series on Outdoor Channel will be posted at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
For complete details and updated information on the MLF Fishing Clash Team Series, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.