COSHOCTON — Carrollton boys coach Dave Davis knew what his team was up against heading into Thursday’s East District Division II tournament at Legacy Lanes.
“We talked to a lot of people and everyone thought this was Conotton Valley’s tourney to lose and the fight was for second place,” Davis said. “But you didn’t have to be first to get out.”
After holding just a five-pin lead on the Warriors after Game 1, the Rockets flexed their muscles in Game 2 with a 924 and followed with a high tourney game of 956 in Game 3 to capture their first district title and earn the first state berth in the program’s four-year history.
Conotton Valley, which also shot 1,043 during the six-game Baker System round, finished with 3,809 to finish 191 pins ahead of Carrollton (3,618), as the Warriors earned their second straight state trip.
The top two teams and top two individuals who were not members of qualifying teams earned trips to the Division II state tournament, set for 10:30 a.m. March 4 at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl in Columbus.
ROCKETS MOVE ON
Conotton Valley boys coach Dennis Gordon admitted the day “started out a little rough” as the Rockets shot just 886 in Game 1.
“But the pattern kind of smoothed out for us after that and we got better,” Gordon said. “The first game, they were a little hooky, then they got a little long for us and then went back to hooking again.
“We just tried to keep everyone within the boundaries without swinging the ball too much.”
Junior Bobby Brennan led the Rockets with a 602 series, good for second overall individually. Freshman Nathan Downing added 588, senior Robert Myer 584 and senior Nolan Caldwell 549 as Conotton Valley had four players finish in the top 10 individually.
“It’s just great for the program with these kids being seniors. Our first year, we got our butts kicked a lot because these kids had never held a bowling ball before,” Gordon said. “We told them a couple of times last year that next year would be our turn.
“They looked at me like I was stupid. But they worked very hard, put in a lot of hours, threw a lot of bowling balls and it’s paying off now.”
Gordon saw a few struggles during the Baker round which gives the Rockets something to work on heading to Columbus next week.
“They’ve really been working on cross-lane spares. But we struggled a little bit with that with certain guys and we have to get that handled before going to Wayne Webb’s,” Gordon added.
WARRIORS STRUGGLE IN GAME 2
Davis said the Warriors also felt his team could have improved after missing a couple of spares in Game 1.
“We still felt pretty good being close to Conotton Valley. But the first half of the second game, I think we had three marks as a team and we couldn’t do anything,” said Davis after the Warriors shot 813 in Game 2.
“The second half of that game things started going right and we figured it out with a couple of doubles and three in a row. The third game also didn’t start well, but we righted the ship and held on.”
Davis called the tighter oil condition tough, but “it’s not supposed to be easy at this level.”
“They fought through the Bakers and I don’t think we missed a spare that wasn’t a split,” said Davis, whose team shot a tourney-high 1,077 during the Baker round. “We wanted to average 180 in the Bakers and we did that so we’re pretty happy.”
Senior Kobe Green, one of three returnees from the Warriors’ 2022 state qualifier, led Carrollton with a 565 series. Sophomore Bryce Taylor added 523 and senior Brant George had 519.
“After Game 2 we had a little talk. We told them they are better than that,” Davis said after the Warriors were just 13 pins out of the cut behind East Liverpool. “Just trust how good your are. As bad as we were bowling we were still in good shape.
“It was just keep your heads up and bowl like you can bowl. The Bakers took care of it.”
A year ago, the Warriors had to go down to the final Baker game to edge Minerva for the final qualifying spot.
“It makes a difference getting two out instead of one. We want to see where we can go,” Davis said after the Warriors finished 14th last season in their first state appearance since 2018. “We’d like to get in the top eight this time.”
INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS
East Liverpool senior Nathan Kelly was the individual champion and earned one of the two qualifying spots with a 635 series. The other qualifier was Indian Valley junior Daniel Grewell, who shot 594 to edge sophomore teammate Colton Long by eight pins for the spot.
Minerva senior Michael May, who advanced to district as an individual, shot 544 and finished 10th.
NOTEBOOK: Kelly had the high game overall of 248 in Game 2 and finished with 172. … There were only two 200 games shot during the Baker round, with the Warriors having the high of 211 in Game 6. …Unlike last season, the district tournament was contested only on the high side of the wall at Legacy Lanes (lanes 15 to 30). … Boys and girls teams move one pair to the right after each of the three games, but stayed on the same lane for all six Baker games. Individual qualifiers remained on the same lane for all three games. … There were two teams on each pair of lanes, with three pairs being used in the team events. … There were 281 tickets issued for the event, with 260 attending. … For ticket information for the state tournament, go to:
Ticket prices are $15.
