CANTON — There aren’t too many tournaments, big or small, where you won’t find Viktor Varner competing.
The 6-foot-6 Akron left-hander is hard to miss, competing wherever and whenever he can throughout the tri-state area.
“Big or small, a win is a win,” said the 43-year-old Penske truck driver who delivers for Starbucks. “It keeps me going.”
Varner’s road journey brought him to AMF Hall of Fame Lanes on Saturday for the College Bowl Tournaments singles event after being about “seven-eigths awake” following Friday night deliveries.
“I’ve tried to get to a few of these, but I get so tired on Friday night that it’s tough to do it,” said Varner, who had to be back on the road about two hours after the event ended for another delivery. “With all the kids and stuff that came up last month, I got to the last one, but didn’t bowl well.
“I like bowling the events Jeff (DiMarzio) runs. It’s good organization with good tournaments.”
After sitting 27th after Game 1 of the four-game qualifier, 14th after Game 2 and them moving up to ninth after Game 3, Varner went on a tear following a ball change to a Brunswick Defender.
His last four games, including three matches during the Round of 8, Varner went 280 to earn the fourth seed for match play, then 279, 278 and 279 again in the title match to roll to victory. His final win was 279-238 over Massillon right-hander Brian Ball.
“I really don’t know what happened. I just matched up well,” Varner said. “The friction was there today, so I picked up a bigger ball with a bigger core with a weaker layout and just let the ball roll and dictate how it wanted to hit the pins.
“It’s a simple game.”
Varner’s first victim in match play was Canton left-hander Alex McCourry, as the former won 279-258.
In the second match against No. 7 seed Mandi Testa, a 46-year-old Massillon righty, Varner didn’t miss until leaving an 8-pin on his first ball in the 10th frame en route to a 278-192 win. Testa had just two strikes on the right lane in the match.
And Varner was off again in the title match with Ball, stringing the first seven strikes before leaving a 7-pin in the eighth frame to end his run. The game included tripping out three messenger 7-pins.
Ball left 4-7-8 and 4-pin spares in the second and fourth frames, respectively, before running off five strikes in a row. But Varner’s early advantage was too much to overcome.
“I started off bad. I was just too quick at the start and threw it too hard,” Ball said. “When I slowed down and got it in, it worked good.
“But Viktor bowled great. He blew out racks and birddogged the 7-pin three times. I did the same thing during my first match. But I bowled good and had fun.”
Ball, the No, 6 seed, got to the title match by topping Eric Selzer 258-245 and then stopping 57-year-old North Canton right-hander Bob Eckenrode 245-203 in the semifinal. Eckenrode was unable to string strikes until making an equipment change in the ninth frame when he ran off the last four in a row.
“That side of the rail (high side) is just better. This side (low side) is just garbage. Lanes 3-4 and 5-6 may have the worst racks in Canton,” said Ball, who used the Storm Absolute in the title match after earlier using a Storm Fate and Roto Grip Exotic Gem. After starting with a pair of 270s on the high end en route to the top qualifying spot, he had games of 219 and 216 on the low end.
“Those pairs down there, the balls rolled cleaner and sharper down the lanes and the motions were better. I went from hooking it slow to, for me, throwing it hard and straight. But that new Absolute goes crazy long and hooks quick. It’s going to be a keeper in my bag.”
While Ball eagerly awaits his 50th birthday to “stop competing against these kids,” Varner was looking forward to his next event Sunday, an HDP tourney at North Woods in Macedonia.
Competing is how Varner deals with personal situations, including health problems with his children.
“That’s why I try to win every event I enter. To show my kids when they’re sick that we’re strong and we’re going to keep going,” Varner said. “We keep striving even though someone is down. We’re going to keep going up.
“That’s how I do it.”
And that road continues in 2023 for Varner.
NOTEBOOK: The event drew 44 entries, with first place paying $530 and 12 bowlers cashing. … Joe Hostetler, the No. 1 seed after qualifying with 1,044 total pinfall (a 261 average), had the event’s lone 300 in Game 2. Hostetler was beaten by Eckenrode in his opening match 236-207. … Mandi Testa shot 288 in Game 1 en route to the early lead. … Eckenrode gained the final match-play spot by just two pins over J.D. Jones 967-965, with Cameron Lantzer finishing just six pins back (961). … Jason Bogavich earned the final cash spot with 939, seven pins ahead of Frank Testa and Cooper Smith (932). … The next College Bowl Tournaments event is a 50-50 doubles event at 10 a.m. Feb. 11 at Eastbury Bowling Center. One player must be under age 50 and the other 50 or older. Entry fee is $130 per team. For other College Bowl Tournaments information, go to its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1732438633645945
COLLEGE BOWL TOURNAMENTS SINGLES
(Saturday at AMF Hall of Fame Lanes)
Quarterfinals
(All losers win $130)
Bob Eckenrode d. Joe Hostetler 236-207; Mandi Testa d. Scott Vandegrift 237-222; Brian Ball d. Eric Selzer 258-245; Viktor Varner d. Alex McCourry 279-258
Semifinals
(Losers receive $210)
Varner d. Testa 278-192; Ball d. Eckenrode 245-203
Championship
(Winner receives $530; loser receives $315)
Varner d. Ball 279-238
Other cashers
(With four-game pinfalls; each receives $70)
9, J.D. Jones 965; 10, Cameron Lantzer 961; 11, Jim Fellows 943; 12, Jason Bogavich 939
