NORTH CANTON — After a four-year hiatus, the Stark County High School Bowling Conference resumed its Alumni Tournament on Sunday at Park Centre Lanes.
And for the 21 teams who tested the PBA Aulby39 oil pattern — the same one used during the PBA50-PBA60 Central Region Doubles held in September at the center — it was no walk in the park.
“Of the five of us who bowled all day, none of us were good,” said Mike Emerick, captain of the tourney-winning Timken team that stopped Green No. 2 3-2 in the best-of-five Baker System finals. “I think Shane (Heckman) probably had the best look all day, and it wasn’t by much.”
Four of the five Timken players who won the title in 2013 returned for this run, with Chance Mattern taking the former spot of Bobby Kinser. Other team members were Don Lightfoot and Rob Weary.
“We had 1997, ’98, ’99, 2005 and 2013 represented on this team,” Emerick said. “I think this is the toughest shot they’ve had out here. In the past, they’ve had games in the 240s and as high as 300 one year. Not this time.”
The Perry No. 1 team, captained by Adam Kutz, led qualifying with 2,260 total pinfall — an average of 188 over 12 Baker System games. They finished just 15 pins ahead of Triway, captained by Vince Yoder (2,245). The two teams that met in the finals — Green (2,184) and Timken (2,175) — were third and fourth, respectively.
Teams bowled 12 Baker System games over three pairs of lanes before the field was cut to the top eight for best-of-five match-play rounds leading to the two remaining teams.
“I liked the pattern because it was challenging,” Green No. 2 captain Phil Krumlauf, also the Bulldogs’ head boys bowling coach, said. “It this would have been a house shot, it would have been a waste of time. It was challenging and different and a good pattern and format to have.”
Emerick said proof of the pattern’s difficulty came in Game 5, when the Trojan alumni shot just 116.
“I think we had seven opens that game. One guy would come back and say, ‘my bad,’ but every single one of us messed up at one time or another all day,” Emerick said. “We came back with 160 the next game and then kind of took off.”
Indeed. The Trojans averaged 203.8 over the final six games, with a low game of 190.
PUTTING GREEN TEAMS TOGETHER
Green had a pair of teams in the field — one Krumlauf called “younger” and then his “older guys” team. His team included last year’s Federal League and conference player of the year Marissa Perrine, her father, Dave, Matt Frock and Green junior varsity coach Nick Arlequeeuw, who bowled at Wright State University.
“I thought it would be nice to mix in some of the older guys,” Krumlauf said. “Matt had put together a team in the past and I wanted to get him involved and Dave also bowled in it before. We had a good mix for both teams.
“It was a lot of games to bowl for us older guys, but I love the format.”
In its opening match, Green had to go to five games to stop Massillon, captained by Bill Reese with his three children on the team. The Bulldogs won Game 5 153-139.
In the semifinals against Perry No. 3, captained by Perry head coach Joe Altimore III, the Bulldogs shot 211 and 209 the final two games to stop the Panthers 3-1 to reach the finals.
“We were on (lanes) 33 and 34 during the semifinals and they broke down really fast,” Krumlauf said. “(Lanes) 35 and 36 had one less match on them so they didn’t break down as quickly. It made it more challenging because they were still in transition at the end.”
TITLE MATCH
Green chose to start on Lane 36 as the higher seed, and with a string of four strikes and Frock striking out in the 10th frame, it took Game 1 204-169 as the Trojans had a pair of open frames with a split.
But changing lanes in Game 2 got Timken going, as the Trojans started with three straight strikes. Both teams didn’t have an open frame, but Timken earned a 209-206 win which featured Dave Perrine covering the 1-2-4-6-10 in the second frame.
Game 3 was all Timken as the Trojans ran off three strikes in the fourth through sixth frames and added a double in the eighth and ninth en route to a 210-179 win. Green opened with a pair of splits and couldn’t recover.
Green recovered in Game 4, with three straight strikes following another 1-2-4-6-10 split en route to a 187-148 win as Timken had three splits and two missed spares.
“The first two matches, we had the lane choice at the start and lost both games, but won the next three. Then they get the lane choice in the title match and we lose Game 1,” Emerick said. “But then we win the next two and we were a bit confident until we threw it away in Game 4. I was nervous that whole last game.”
Timken stopped GlenOak, captained by Perry assistant coach Mark Boron, 3-1 in its opening match and the gained another 3-1 win over North Canton Hoover, captained by conference commissioner J.C. Heighway, in the semifinals.
Krumlauf had lane choice for Game 5 and chose to use lane 35 after Timken’s struggles the previous game on Lane 36. He also made a lineup change with Frock returning to the anchor spot for Arlequeeuw.
“We pretty much kept the same lineup during the matches, but Nick wasn’t really confident in the fifth spot on Lane 35. If we would have been on 36, he would have stayed there,” Krumlauf said.
Both teams had a pair of open frames in the first five frames of Game 5 before Lightfoot and Mattern put together a double for Timken in frames six and seven. The Trojans didn’t have an open the rest of the way.
Green had another split in the seventh and missed a 10-pin spare in the eighth that settled the match.
“We decided to go back to 35 because we felt it hadn’t broken down as much,” Krumlauf said. “But if you got it out too much, it wouldn’t come back and it kind of hurt us with that 2-10 split (seventh frame).”
Emerick understood the strategy.
“I get why they did it because we bowled that badly on 36. I would have picked it too,” Emerick said.
But the day was not entirely a success for Emerick, who had to miss his son’s soccer game to bowl in the event.
“I’m the head coach and I was a little upset that I had to miss it. It was the first time,” Emerick said. “But they won 5-3 and then to win this … Well, maybe they won’t be mad at coach because he won.”
NOTEBOOK: Eleven of the 18 conference schools were represented in the event, with Crestwood being the lone nonmember. Perry and North Canton Hoover each had four teams. … The qualifying leaders averaged 188 over the 12 Baker System games, with the low average for a team being 130. … High game of the day belonged to Perry No. 4 with 238, with Green No. 2 shooting 237 and Hoover No. 1 with 236. … The event raised $1,200 for the Stark County Conference. … The final cut spot went to North Canton Hoover No. 1 with 2,087, including J.C. Heighway, Andrew Heighway, Preston Vukovich, Aaron Gresham and CJ Diehl. The finished just 10 pins ahead of McKinley No. 3, captained by Brett McCourry. … In addition to the regular event, there was a second-chance tourney with all the teams not making the cut bowling four additional Baker games in a winner-take-all format. First place went to North Canton Hoover No. 4, with Bill Reed, Joe Harrison, Austin Crowe, Austin M. Crowe and Justin Barth. It was worth $100. … First place overall paid $500, with all eight teams making the cut receiving payouts.
SCHSBC ALUMNI TOURNAMENT
(Sunday at Park Centre Lanes, North Canton)
QUALIFYING SCORES (following 12 Baker System games, with captain in parenthesis): 1, Perry No. 1 (Adam Kutz) 2,260; 2, Triway (Vince Yoder) 2,245; 3, Green No. 2 (Phil Krumlauf) 2,184; 4, Timken No. 1 (Mike Emerick) 2,175; 5, Massillon (Bill Reese) 2,172; 6, GlenOak No. 3 (Mark Boron) 2,160; 7, Perry No. 3 (Joe Altimore III) 2,134; 8, North Canton Hoover No. 1 (J.C. Heighway) 2,087; 9, McKinley No. 3 (Brett McCourry) 2,077; 10, Green No. 1 (Dave Mramor) 2,059; 11, McKinley No. 1 (Jim Bowen) 2,059; 12, North Canton Hoover No. 4 (Bill Reed) 2,051; 13, Jackson (Dustin Dingler) 2,046; 14, North Canton Hoover No. 2 (Charles Spencer) 2,039; 15, McKinley No. 2 (Andrew Fraleigh) 2,034; 16, Perry No. 4 (Evan Nave) 1,965; 17, GlenOak No. 1 (Branden Ball) 1,951; 18, Crestwood (Sean Dockery) 1,939; 19, Perry No. 2 (Jessica Vandegrift) 1,931; 20, Loulsville (Courtney Stallman) 1,870; 21, Marlington (Tom Dull) 1,556.
MATCH PLAY
Round of eight (best-of-five Baker System): Perry No. 3 (197-198-194) d. Triway (192-185-164) 3-0; Green No. 2 (181-159-192-206-153) d. Massillon (177-173-204-174-139) 3-2; Timken (180-178-163-211) d. GlenOak No. 3 (224-157-138-165) 3-1; North Canton Hoover No. 1 (164-193-214-234) d. Perry No. 1 (180-166-164-201) 3-1. Standings: 5, Perry $150 winnings; 6, Triway $150; 7, Massillon $100; 8, GlenOak $800.
Semifinals (best-of-five Baker System; losing teams earn $180) Green No. 1 (199-156-211-209) d. Perry No. 3 (188-196-168-179) 3-1; Timken (157-200-152-209) d. Hoover No. 1 (212-146-126-180) 3-1.
Championship (best-of-five Baker System; winner earns $500, loser earns $250) Timken (169-209-210-148-176) d. Green No. 2 (204-206-179- 187-142) 3-2.