Redneck Grillers take top spot in Jaycees' BBQ Cook-off

The Kennett team of Redneck Grillers received first place awards for shoulders and ribs, and received the Grand Champion award for their ribs at the Kennett Jaycee's BBQ Cook-off on Saturday. From left, Miguel Nunnery, Gerry Dunkin, Kevin Nevill, Jeff Rhew, Jimmy McGee, and Jeremy Yates. Not pictured was team member Robert Moore.

Staff photos by Joshua Payne

Jeff Rhew, team member of the Redneck Grillers, said that the team has been competing together in cook-offs for 3 years.

"This is our 9th competition already this year," Rhew said. "We won the Grand Championship at an event hosted in Illinois about a month ago and now we will not only get to go to Memphis in May, but also go to the American Royal in Kansas City, Mo."

Party Q team members work on cooking shoulders for competition.

"We are tickled to death," Rhew said. "This is something that we can be proud of as a group of buddies that have known each other forever."

The Redneck Grillers consists of team members, Jeff Rhew, Miguel Nunnery, Jeremy Yates, Jimmy McGee, Kevin Nevill, Gerry Duncan, and Robert Moore.

Planet Barbeque Inc., works on stripping BBQ meat off of a previously cooked hole hog entered into competition.

Allen Williams, of the Kennett Jaycees, noted that the cook-off went well this year with only 10 teams competing.

"We normally have around 16 teams, but had some teams drop out due to the heat," Williams said.

The teams began cooking around 11 a.m., on Friday, and finished up around 11:15 a.m., on Saturday, according to Williams.

The whole hogs were turned in for competition at 11 a.m., the shoulders at 12:30 p.m., and the ribs at 1:30 p.m., Williams noted.

He added that 33 judges worked on scoring the different teams, while three judges made the final decisions. The three final judges drove to the event from as far as six hours away from Kennett, according to Williams.

"We made sure that we had judges that didn't recognize the teams," Williams said. "It was hard to judge this year, because all the teams were good."

In the whole hog category, Holy Smokers Too received third place, Planet BBQ received second place, and Party Q received first place. In the category of shoulders, Nitro Smokers received fourth place, Planet BBQ received third place, Party Q received second place, and Redneck Grillers received first place. In the rib category, Killer Hog received fifth place, Holy Smokers Too received fourth place, Party Q received third place, Pork-Que received second place, and Redneck Grillers received first place.

Williams also noted that the carnival did well throughout the week, and the fights that were hosted on Saturday night drew the average attendance when compared to the previous years.

"The fights ended with five upsets in the six title matches," Williams said.

The event hosted a total of 15 fights beginning at 7 p.m., for the crowd in attendance.