NEW RIVER BOYS

NEW RIVER BOYS is a competition barbecue team with 9 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2019 and 2022. Their best overall finish is 5th of 15 at the Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q-Rufus Teague (2021). They are ranked #3056 of 6,491 teams in the KCBS power rankings.

⚔ Compare with another team

At a glance (the record in numbers)

Power ranking

#3,056

of 6,491 rated · rankings

Rating

1504

peak 1516 · rated over 8 contests1 invitational or side-series contest not counted

Contests

in the data

First seen

Oct 25, 2019

latest Nov 12, 2022 · 3 years on the trail

Grand champs

0 reserve

Category wins

1 podium

Overall top-10s

33% of 9 contests

Avg finish

top 66%

overall standings

Best overall

500.4456 / 540

Backyard · Zom-B-Q

Perfect 180s

Walk rate

67%

contests with a top-10 call

Best single call

177.1544

Pork Ribs · Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q-Rufus Teague

Consistency

±16.56

spread of their Backyard (3-meat) overall scores (lower = steadier)

Strongest meat

Chicken

avg 162.01 · weakest Pork (159.03)

Road miles

756

across 9 mapped stops · furthest 390 mi

Schedule strength

83%

of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1609)

Purse competed for

$25K

listed at 8 contests — purses, not winnings

State championships

0 🏅

won from 6 state-championship entries

Backyard avg

323.77 / 360

4 Backyard contests · 0 GCs

Backyard (3-meat) avg

480.58 / 540

5 Backyard (3-meat) contests · 0 GCs

These overall scores sit on different scales (Backyard out of 360, Backyard (3-meat) out of 540), so they're kept separate — averaging them together would be misleading.

This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.

Storylines (8 found in their record)

Each card leads with the number behind the story, straight from their results.

They almost always walk

67% of contests with a top-10 call

A call in 6 of 9 contests

A top-10 category call in 67% of their 9 contests — they get to the stage more often than not.

High-water mark

500.4456 career-best overall

92.7% of a perfect 540

Their best day on record: 500.4456 at Zom-B-Q — 92.7% of a perfect 540.

Backyard
Oct 30, 2020

Their season

2020 their best year

2020 was the year it came together: 3 contests, 0 Grand Championships and 0 category wins, at an average finish in the top 43%.

3 contests
1 overall top-10
0 category wins
average top 43%

A tough matchup

7–1 behind in the head-to-head

LEM'S MEAT VARNISH ahead in 88% of their meetings

LEM'S MEAT VARNISH has come out ahead in 7 of their 8 shared contests.

A strong matchup

4–0 ahead in the head-to-head

Ahead in 100% of their meetings

They've finished ahead of SmoKing Aces BBQ - NC in 4 of their 4 shared contests.

Chicken nemesis

8 of 9 shared chicken entries lost

Gold-N-Blue Barbecue ahead 89% of the time

Even in their strongest meat, Gold-N-Blue Barbecue has out-cooked them in 8 of 9 shared chicken entries.

They cook the hard rooms

1609 average field rating faced

A tougher draw than 83% of rated fields

The fields they enter average a 1609 power rating — a tougher draw than 83% of every rated contest in the data.

8 rated contests

Show 1 more storyline

An October team

Top 52% average finish in October

Something about October: average finish in the top 52% across 5 contests, versus top 66% the rest of the year.

5 October contests
top 66% the rest of the year

Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)

Year	Series	Overall	Chicken	Ribs	Pork	Brisket
2023 ↗	Backyard	—	#333 (60 pts)	#344 (60 pts)	—	—
2021 ↗	Backyard	—	#92 (355 pts)	#62 (545 pts)	—	—

Teams like this (closest power rating)

The teams rated closest to NEW RIVER BOYS, each with one reason worth a look.

111 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.

Bailey Acres BBQ

#3,059 of the rated field

1504 power rating

Contests: 8
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 13%
Peak: 1526

Careers of much the same size, 8 contests to 9, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.

rated over 8 contests
last seen Aug 29, 2025

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STEVO'S BBQ

#3,047 of the rated field

1504 power rating

Contests: 8
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 25%
Peak: 1504

This is the highest they've ever been rated, 8 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.

rated over 8 contests
last seen Aug 14, 2020

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GOVERNORS BBQ

#3,063 of the rated field

1504 power rating

Contests: 8
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 13%
Peak: 1514

Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 4 years before NEW RIVER BOYS's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.

rated over 8 contests

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KREWE DU QUE

#3,058 of the rated field

1504 power rating

Contests: 9
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 11%
Peak: 1510

Level with NEW RIVER BOYS on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.

rated over 9 contests
last seen Apr 23, 2021

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SMOKE DOG BBQ

#3,065 of the rated field

1504 power rating

Contests: 9
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 11%
Peak: 1515

They were already cooking in 2013, 6 years before NEW RIVER BOYS's first contest.

rated over 9 contests
last seen May 31, 2019

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FIRE-N-SMOKE BBQ

#3,045 of the rated field

1504 power rating

Contests: 9
GCs: 0
Top-10s: 11%
Peak: 1514

Their last contest in the data was back in 2015, 7 years before NEW RIVER BOYS's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.

rated over 9 contests

⚔ Compare careers

Familiar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)

Opponent	Meetings	Ahead	Behind	Win rate
Uncle Dubby's Backyard BBQ	9	4	5	44%	⚔ compare
Gold-N-Blue Barbecue	9	3	6	33%	⚔ compare
Bowmans Butt & BBQ	8	2	6	25%	⚔ compare
LEM'S MEAT VARNISH	8	1	7	13%	⚔ compare
ELITE BBQ SMOKERS	6	3	3	50%	⚔ compare
D’Qued Barbeque	6	1	5	17%	⚔ compare
Smack That Butt BBQ	5	3	2	60%	⚔ compare
Still Workin' On It	5	2	2	40%	⚔ compare
POOR BOYS BBQ	5	1	4	20%	⚔ compare
Under the Radar	5	0	5	0%	⚔ compare
PUCKDADDY'S KILLER Q	5	0	5	0%	⚔ compare
The Fat is Where It's At	5	0	5	0%	⚔ compare

By meat

Category	Entries	Calls	Wins	Podiums	Best	Worst	Average	Avg finish
Chicken	9	4	0	0	170.2628	152.5716	162.01	top 69%
Pork Ribs	9	3	1	1	177.1544	144.4572	160.53	top 61%
Pork	5	3	0	0	167.3828	145.6684	159.03	top 49%

“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.

By field size and state

By contest size

Field	Contests	Avg finish
Small (<20 teams)	5	top 80%
Medium (20–39)	3	top 33%
Large (40+)	1	top 90%

By state / province (where the contests were held)

Where	Contests	GCs	Avg finish
VA	8	0	top 62%
AL	1	0	top 90%

More numbers

Busiest season 2021 4 contests

Contests a season 2.3 across 4 seasons in the data

Most contests held in VA 8 of 9 contests · 2 states in all

Contests visited 9 a different one every time

Opponents faced 142 finished ahead 126 times, behind 187

Longest layoff 1.1 yrs Oct 16, 2021 → Nov 12, 2022

Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)

20221 milestone

Nov 12 Most recent contest 4th Annual KCBS World Invitational - BACKYARD SERIES INVITATIONAL

20212 milestones

Oct 15 First category win (Pork Ribs) Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q-Rufus Teague
Oct 15 Career-best single call (Pork Ribs)177.1544 Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q-Rufus Teague

20203 milestones

Oct 30 First overall past 90% of a perfect score500.4456 Zom-B-Q
Oct 30 Career-best overall score500.4456 Zom-B-Q
Oct 30 Peak power rating (1516) Zom-B-Q

20193 milestones

Oct 25 First tracked contest Zom-B-Q (BBQ Wythe US)
Oct 25 First call Zom-B-Q (BBQ Wythe US)
Oct 25 First overall top-10 Zom-B-Q (BBQ Wythe US)

Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)

📈 Biggest rating jumps

Swing	Contest	Date
+13.4	Zom-B-Q	Oct 30, 2020
+11.9	Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q-Rufus Teague	Oct 15, 2021
+8.7	The Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q	Oct 29, 2020

📉 Toughest weekends

Swing	Contest	Date
-13.2	Rufus Teague BBQ Throwdown at Americamps - Day 1 (BACKYARD ONLY)	Sep 24, 2021
-9.7	Zom-B-Q-Rufus Teague	Oct 16, 2021
-5.9	BBQ WYTHE US DAY 1	Aug 7, 2020
-0.9	Rufus Teague BBQ Throwdown at Americamps - Day 2 (BACKYARD ONLY)	Sep 25, 2021
-0.3	Zom-B-Q (BBQ Wythe US)	Oct 25, 2019

Scores over time (% of a perfect score — tap a meat to add it)

Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)

Where they finish (overall)

Best vs average (by meat)

How entries end (by meat)

Season by season

Season	Contests	Top-10s	Category wins	Walk rate	Avg finish	Best overall (% of perfect)	Avg overall (% of perfect)
2022	1	0	0	0%	top 90%	89.5%	89.5%
2021	4	1	1	50%	top 82%	94.6%	90.3%
2020	3	1	0	100%	top 43%	92.7%	89.5%
2019	1	1	0	100%	top 45%	85.5%	85.5%

Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)

Date	Event	Overall	Chicken	Ribs	Pork	Brisket
Nov 12, 2022	4th Annual KCBS World Invitational - BACKYARD SERIES INVITATIONAL unrated Gadsden, AL	44 / 49 (322.1828)	42 (162.8000)	44 (159.3828)	—	—
Oct 16, 2021	Zom-B-Q-Rufus Teague 🏅 Galax, VA	19 / 15 (322.1712)	19 (155.9428)	15 (166.2284)	—	—
Oct 15, 2021	Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q-Rufus Teague 🏅 Galax, VA	5 / 15 (340.5372)	17 (163.3828)	1 (177.1544)	—	—
Sep 25, 2021	Rufus Teague BBQ Throwdown at Americamps - Day 2 (BACKYARD ONLY) Ashland, VA	12 / 18 (495.3948)	10 (168.5944)	12 (166.2860)	15 (160.5144)	—
Sep 24, 2021	Rufus Teague BBQ Throwdown at Americamps - Day 1 (BACKYARD ONLY) Ashland, VA	19 / 19 (460.9828)	18 (152.5716)	19 (146.7772)	14 (161.6340)	—
Oct 30, 2020	Zom-B-Q 🏅 Wytheville, VA	7 / 33 (500.4456)	5 (170.2628)	13 (162.8000)	6 (167.3828)	—
Oct 29, 2020	The Nightmare Before Zom-B-Q 🏅 Wytheville, VA	11 / 33 (484.4344)	17 (155.3600)	6 (169.1200)	9 (159.9544)	—
Aug 7, 2020	BBQ WYTHE US DAY 1 🏅 Wythe, VA	14 / 19 (310.1944)	8 (165.7372)	15 (144.4572)	—	—
Oct 25, 2019	Zom-B-Q (BBQ Wythe US) 🏅 Wytheville, VA	9 / 20 (461.6340)	7 (163.4056)	9 (152.5600)	9 (145.6684)	—

An unrated contest — an invitational, or a Competitor or Kosher Series board — is in the record but doesn’t move the power rating.

NEW RIVER BOYS

At a glance (the record in numbers)

Power ranking

Rating

Contests

First seen

Grand champs

Category wins

Overall top-10s

Avg finish

Best overall

Perfect 180s

Walk rate

Best single call

Consistency

Strongest meat

Road miles

Schedule strength

Purse competed for

State championships

Backyard avg

Backyard (3-meat) avg

Storylines (8 found in their record)

They almost always walk

High-water mark

Their season

A tough matchup

A strong matchup

Chicken nemesis

They cook the hard rooms

An October team

Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)

Teams like this (closest power rating)

Familiar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)

By meat

By field size and state

By contest size

By state / province (where the contests were held)

More numbers

Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)

Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)

📈 Biggest rating jumps

📉 Toughest weekends

Scores over time (% of a perfect score — tap a meat to add it)

Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)

Where they finish (overall)

Best vs average (by meat)

How entries end (by meat)

Season by season

Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)

Career map (orange GC · green top-10 · grey the rest — tap a pin)