AKRON — Dan Higgins and Chad Roberts have been consistent doubles partners for the past 15 years.
“If I don’t bowl with my wife, I bowl with Chad,” said Higgins, a 47-year-old Lewis Center right-hander. “We travel around the country.”
“I’m always happy to be the second choice,” the 35-year-old Roberts, a Reynoldsburg right-hander, said of standing in for Higgins’ wife, Professional Women’s Bowling Association member Jennifer, a former Canton resident.
“It it’s a big doubles tournament, we’ll be there.”
So showing up for Friday’s fourth annual Akron Open Doubles at Stonehedge Family Fun Center was just another stop for Roberts and Higgins, who own a pair of United States Bowling Association eagles after capturing Regular all-events and team titles as part of the Higgy’s Aquarium team in 2016 and 2019, respectively.
And, for good measure, they just missed winning the USBC Regular doubles crown by just seven pins in 2016.
But those came on USBC patterns. Friday night, they faced a four-game qualifier on a house shot.
And they came out smoking.
Higgins opened with 300 in Game 1 en route to shooting 811 for the first three games while Roberts added 771 as the pair finished with 1,974 total pinfall to top a 92-team field by 36 pins after heading into Game 4 with a 112-pin advantage.
“It’s the first year on a house shot that we have put up these high scores this early,” Roberts said. “Usually, we are just decent scores throughout and, hopefully, the cream rises to the top late.
“But to come out firing like that really loosens up the arm swing a bit.”
Two years ago, Higgins couldn’t carry in the event. But last year, his carry improved “a little bit.”
“I drilled up a new nugget (RotoGrip Hyped Pearl) and used it last night for the first time in league just to get some games in as a sub,” Higgins said. “This place hooks early and it hooks a lot, so I decided to use weaker balls, weaker layouts, and I gave it a shot tonight.”
Roberts, who used a Storm Infinite PhysiX the first three games and part of the fourth, said he just followed Higgins’ lead.
“I used a new ball Game 4, and I probably shouldn’t have used it at all,” Roberts said. “The last game, we struggled with the friction and had to grind it out.”
In Game 4, Higgins finished with 193, Roberts had 199 and the team combined for 392.
“To shoot 390s and come out with a win,” Higgins said, “I’ll take that anytime. I expected the friction, but I didn’t expect to see 300-800.”
Joshua Jones and Chris Hankins finished second, rolling 516 the final game to finish with 1,938 (Jones had 279), while defending champions Charles Easton and Cassidy Schaub took third with 1,934, with a high game of 536 in Game 2.
Graham Fach and Kyle Mayberry, a pair of left-handers, challenged Higgins and Roberts early with 537 and 500, but fell back to 11th after 409 in Game 3 and 423 in Game 4.
Higgins admitted it was a guessing game during the four games as to what types of equipment and lines were being used.
“From Game 1 to Game 2, I made a five (board) and four move. Game 3, was a 10 and eight move, and Game 4 was another eight and five move,” Higgins said. “The friction built up every game. You just didn’t know who used what on the lanes.
“I expect the same thing (Saturday) for the singles. It just depends on who you follow and the lane play. Tonight, it played similar to last year and the year before. It just depends on who plays it and how well they do or don’t play it.”
Roberts added that house-shot events such as this requires a lot of striking to be successful.
“On flatter patterns, you are grinding and sparing more,” Roberts added. “But on this one, you need to strike quicker so you have to get a read of the lanes quicker.”
And Higgins reiterated he expects more of the same type of friction for the Akron Open singles event, which has two 132-player shifts set for 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. today.
“Last year I struggled a lot during qualifying because of lot of urethane was being thrown,” Higgins said. “But I still made the cut and the next day, I bowled really well. I went from being just inside the cut to the top seven. I expect that same type of good showing.”
Roberts expects to stay with the same Storm ball to start.
“The key is to get into a ball that makes each lane play the same. That eliminated a lot of the variables,” Roberts said. “It’s just figuring out where the friction is and making adjustments.”
And after 15 years together, Higgins and Roberts know where — and when — those adjustments should come.
NOTEBOOK: There were two other 300 games in Game 1 in addition to Higgins by Fach and Daniel Bright. Dell Ray Jr. added another in Game 2. … There were 12 500 doubles games rolled in Game 1 and 13 in Game 2. But, over the final two games, there was a total of eight, including just three in Game 4. … Primary doubles sponsor Pirtek added $1,000 to the prize fund, with Higgins and Roberts winning $2,000. … Roberts and Higgins had the high doubles game of 556 in Game 1. … Tom Graham and Adam Barta earned the final cash spot with 1,840, three pins ahead of Ron Holliday and Tyler Saubaugh and four ahead of 2001 Akron Open singles champ Darrel Ratliff and Dave Caplinger. … Halves of two past Akron Open doubles champions — Brandon Curtis (2019) and Jean Perez (2020) — combined to finish 15th with 1,847. … Past Akron Open singles champions entered in the event include defending champion Dillon Dingus, Jones (2019) and Mayberry (2020) in addition to Ratliff.
AKRON OPEN DOUBLES
(With four-game qualifying scores)
1, Roberts-Higgins 1,974 total pinfall, $2,000 earnings; 2, Jones-Hankins 1,938, $1,200; 3, Easton-Schaub 1,934, $1,000; 4, Mote-Cox 1,920, $1,000; 5, Waite-Hawkins 1,900, $800; 6, Hornes-Dixson 1,890, $800; 7, Rainey-Fleming 1,888, $800; 8, Sparks Jr.-Gonzales 1,886, $800; 9, Eckenrode-Bertolette 1,873, $600; 10, Bell-Bright 1,869, $600; 11, Mayberry-Fach 1,869, $600; 12, Sisson-Mossbarger 1,849, $600; 13, McKinney-Ashby 1,848, $300; 14, Schooler-Bigelow 1,847, $300; 15, Curtis-Perez 1,847, $300; 16, Kocher-Scott 1,843, $300; 17, Wright-Marner 1,841, $300; 18, Graham-Barta 1,840, $300.
Here are the complete final results:
