Scharf finally drops one

The Joe Scharf foursome is no longer perfect at the Northern Ontario provincial men’s curling play-downs.

The Thunder Bay rink suffered its first loss of the week on Thursday morning, dropping a 5-4 decision to Sudbury’s Robbie Gordon (2-6), who scored one in the ninth and then orchestrated a steal of one in the 10th to capture the win.

Mike Assad improved his playoff chances with an 8-4 win over North Bay’s Tim Nordin, racing out to a 5-0 lead after two ends and never relinquishing control. The news wasn’t quite as good for fellow Thunder Bay skip Bryan Burgess, who like Scharf gave up a steal of one in the 10th to fall 9-8 at the hands of Englehart’s Dave MacInnes.

Both Burgess and Assad are 5-3, with three games left to play. Scharf is 7-1, tied with Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs, who doubled former two-time champ Mike Jakubo 8-4 in the fourth and final match on Thursday morning.