AKRON — After his team’s final Baker System game, Triway High School head coach Vince Yoder was far from happy as he began packing up for the trip back to Wooster.
“I was mad … we missed four makable spares out of our last five frames in that sixth Baker game,” Yoder said. “I never even dreamed we would have a chance to get in.”
Reality set in as LaBrae shot just a 114 in its final Baker game to give Triway its fifth trip to the OHSAA Division II state tournament following its fourth-place finish Friday during the Northeast District boys bowling tournament a Stonehedge Family Fun Center.
Ravenna, which shot the lone 1,000 game (1,011) of the opening three-game set, rolled to the district title and earned the first state trip in the program’s 16-year history with 4,036 total pinfall, 235 pins ahead of second-place Lutheran West (3,801). Also advancing were Struthers (3,775) and Triway (3,728).
The top four teams and top four individuals who were not members of advancing teams qualified for the Division II boys state event, set for 10:30 a.m. March 4 at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl in Columbus.
The district format was three regular games and six Baker System games, with total pinfall determining qualifying teams and individuals.
TRIWAY’S ‘GIFT’
The Titans were second after Game 1 with 882. But after an 827 in Game 2, Triway never got above fifth place until the final Baker game. It had dropped as low as sixth.
“I just had a meeting with the team and we told them we just got gifted something for the first time all season and we have to take advantage of it,” Yoder said. “We know what we can’t do when we get down there.
“Hopefully, this is a learning experience. Somehow, we got lucky by the grace of God or Aeron’s (Meshew) birthday, we survived. We need to regroup and make better shots.”
Senior Caden Swanger led the Titans with a 556 series. Meshew added 549, Brandon Rich 538 and Owen Fiesler 537. Senior Chad Harper bowled finished just one game, shooting 152 in Game 1.
“I kind of expected what I saw here. If you got it inside it hooked more and the outside hooked less than most places we go,” Yoder said. “They just never got comfortable and when they’re not comfortable, we don’t have free arms swings.
“I’ve been there as a bowler. There’s not much you can say except make good shots and give it a chance.”
LaBrae had entered the final two Baker games 56 pins ahead of Triway in third place, and 27 ahead of fourth-place Lutheran West. The Longhorns protected themselves with 187 and 227 in their final two Baker games.
Triway had 210 in Game 5, but posted just 160 in its final game. However, LaBrae followed a 169 with 114 to come up short.
“I told them at breakfast this morning that I love to win, but just get to the top four and get to the next step,” Yoder said. “After the second game, we werevjust thinking along the lines of getting to fourth.”
“We were 69 pins out after the three games and were able to make it up in three Baker games, but then we had a pair of 160s. For some reason we just couldn’t bowl on the right lanes.”
SENIORS LEAD RAVENS
Ravenna, despite having just one 200 game, posted the high Baker set with 1,132 to earn the district title — and reach head coach Kelly Champ’s goal.
“We come in with 4,000 always as our goal even though this is a tough shot,” said Champ, who is in her third year. “We have bowled consistently on this shot for six weeks now. We know what this is going to do now.
“We’re just super excited about going to state.”
As it has been most of the season, the Ravens relied on their three seniors — Parker Addison (647 series), Jacob Champ (637) and Kevin Robbins (611) — who all finished in the top eight individually to earn all-tournament team honors.
“These three guys have been together a long time and they just took the team on their backs,” Kelly Champ said. “Game 2 was just huge for us. It’s one of those times when thou have to string them together because it’s hard here. You leave a lot of corner pins normally.”
The Ravens were tied with Wickliffe after the first team game before jumping out to a 170-pin lead after their big Game 2. In that game, Champ had 244 and sophomore Carson Schueller shot 222.
Struthers fell to sixth place after Game 2, but made a big jump to second after games 3 and 4 of the Baker round with 192 and 222, respectively, before finishing third. Senior Brennan Baber led the Wildcats with a 658, second overall. Seniors Dom Farrar and Ben Bishop added 550 and 548, respectively.
Lutheran West shot 903 and 966 during its final two regular games to jump to third and the Longhorns didn’t fall out of the top four the rest of the day. Senior JT Maslanich led the Longhorns with 604 and fellow senior Alex Rudnickas added 554.
INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS
Although it was not the day United Local head coach Gary Herold was hoping for, the Golden Eagles did have its first ever player qualify for state.
Senior Chris Combs shot 615 to earn the final individual spot by seven pins.
“It feels really good. I just moved left and kept doing it,” said the right-hander who threw three new bowling balls during the event. “I started between the second and third arrow around 12 (board) and moved to the fourth arrow by the end. I used all the new balls today.”
Herold was disappointed the team didn’t advance, but getting that first bowler to state was equally important.
“We had a rough day today … we just didn’t bowl our best,” Herold said. “But Chris is our only senior. We had a good line for him on this pattern and we’ll continue to work with him with the new equipment next week.”
Joining Combs as individual qualifiers were champion and senior Tony Throckmorton of Wickliffe with 667; LaBrae junior Christian Haught, who finished fifth overall, with 626; and McDonald sophomore Zach Bregar, who was sixth overall with 622.
Combs finished seventh overall to also make the all-tournament team.
Now, it’s on to Columbus.
“All year, our mantra has been one frame and one game at a time. I have done everything in my power to not think ahead,” Kelly Champ said. “That’s what we’ve done and it has worked for us.
“We have practiced spares for the entire time I’ve been here … that’s all we do. Nothing is going to change this week.”
Yoder hopes Triway’s defending Division II state champion girls learned something Friday from the boys.
“You can’t take anything for granted. On paper, they should be OK because they play it straighter than the two-handed guys,” Yoder said. “The straighter you are, the better off you are on this.”
The Division II girls take over today at 10 a.m. for the Northeast District also at Stonehedge with the top four teams and individuals advancing to Columbus.
NOTEBOOK: The Division II boys event had 14 teams and 14 individuals in the field. The oil pattern was the same as sectionals. … There were 11 900 games shot in addition to Ravenna’s 1,011, two each by Lutheran West, Ravenna and LaBrae. Triway never reached that level, with a high game of 897. … Triway was the lone team to shoot three 200 games during the Baker round. But the Titans also shot 168 and 160. … The high Baker game was 227 in Game 6 by the Longhorns. … Each team bowled on its own pair of lanes, adding one of the individual qualifiers in to make it six bowlers per pair. The bowlers moved one pair to the right each game and every two Baker games. … The top eight individual finishers were named to the all-tournament team, with 611 being the cutoff. … A total of 230 tickets were sold for Friday’s event, with 200 in attendance. … Tickets for the girls event Saturday are available online only at
Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for students. … Meslanich was first-team All-Ohio a year ago, finishing fifth overall at state with 635. Baber was second-team All-Ohio, finishing 10th with 612. … Triway finished 11th overall last season and Struthers was 13th as both failed to make the cut to match play at the state tournament. … United finished sixth overall with 3,623, 105 pins out of the fourth spot. Other Eagles scores included junior Michael Hoffee with 573, good for 11th overall, and junior Ethan Hively with 525…. East Canton had a pair of individuals in the field, with seniors Zach Bibbey (41st, 511 series) and Andrew Wade (53rd, 445). Lake Center Christian senior Jacob Wyder was 44th with 506.