By BILL SNIER
AKRON — When Boardman High School coach Justine Cullen completed Game 2 of Monday’s title round against Nordonia, she had a feeling about Game 3.
“I had a feeling about it,” Cullen said. “After the second game, I thought whoever was going to end up on our pair in Game 3 was going to win it.
“The pairs were just playing so differently.”
Her intuition proved to be correct as the Spartans rolled to a 379-299 win in Game 3 to capture the best-of-three Baker System title match during the 18th annual MLK Invitational at Spins Bowl Akron.
The tournament, which was bowled on the 2024 OHSAA sectional-district pattern released just last week, featured a different type of format for teams.
The boys and girls teams in the 16-team field bowled together — one team per pair — and their scores were combined into one number during both the qualifying and match-play rounds. Qualifying consisted of three regular games and six Baker System games before the field was cut to the top eight for best-of-three Baker System match play rounds by seed.
“I’ve always been a fan of this format because it’s different,” Cullen said. “I like that both of your teams have to come together and it represents your program as a whole rather than one or the other.
“It shows that you are really a team in those moments.”
Nordonia was in the qualifying lead from start to finish, with the Knights finishing the three regular games with 5,754 total pinfall, 436 pins ahead of second-place Boardman (5,318). Then, the Knights added 1,901 in the Baker portion to finish the day with 7,655, 76 pins ahead of the Spartans.
“I just love this format … it’s a tournament I look forward to because it brings the boys and girls together. No one is better than the other and they all root for each other,” Nordonia coach Ty Lachowski said.
“We struggled a little bit during our Bakers in qualifying because I was experimenting with some different kids and different lineups. It’s been a pretty busy week for us.”
Nordonia and Boardman both swept through their first-round matches against Tallmadge and Cuyahoga Falls, respectively, before then also earning 2-0 semifinal wins. The Knights stopped Stow-Monroe Falls, while the Spartans defeated defending champion Lake.
During the match-play rounds, both the boys and girls teams from each school bowled on the same pair again for Bakers, with the two opposing teams then switching pairs for Game 2, and returning to their original pair for Game 3, if necessary. Different pairs were used for each round.
Lachowski knew his team faced a challenge in the title match with Lanes 39 and 40.
“That was a tough pair. We actually hit that pair during qualifying and neither the girls or boys bowled well on it,” Lachowski said. “It is what it is.”
In Game 1, Nordonia finished with just 340 as the girls shot 197 to the boys 143 on that pair. Boardman, bowling on Lanes 41-42, shot 391 as the Spartan girls had 218, including a four-strike string.
But when the two teams switched pairs, so did the scores as the Knights’ girls shot 219 and the team finished with 410 to Boardman’s 317. The Spartans had four splits and eight missed spares as a team in that game.
But switching back to their original pairs in Game 3, Boardman again got the advantage as the Spartans had just one split and one missed spare for 379 (191 boys, 188 girls). Nordonia had nine open frames, with the girls missing five spares and the boys with four between splits and missed spares, en route to 299.
“Could we have made those spares? Yes,” Lachowski said. “But you have to tip your hat to Boardman. They bowled well.
“We will see them again. They are a good team and well coached. It’s always fun to bowl against them.”
Cullen said the middle game provided a lot of problems for the Spartans.
“For some reason, and I don’t know why, that pair seemed to burn out quicker than the other. Everyone had a real tough time keeping the ball on the right side of the head pin,” Cullen said.
“We were moving our kids five boards left, and the balls were still overhooking.”
Nordonia’s Aiden Bulonda had the high game (284) and high series of the tournament (693) to lead the Knights, while Kyan Freyhauf added 664 and Josh Ware had 661 as the only team with three players about 600.
Kolbey Lewin led the girls with 556, Kaitlyn McNutt had 540, Grace Bedafka 533 and Abby Toronski 525 as the Knights were the lone team to post four 500 series.
The Knights also welcomed back Brooke Barnes, who had missed time due to a broken foot. She finished with 478.
“We’ve had some illness going on, but it seems to be improving. And I got my one girl (Barnes) back, so we’re happy about that also,” Lachowski said.
During qualifying, the Spartans boys were led by freshman two-hander Ben Hildebrand with 570 and Caden Wilcox with 527. Kaitlyn Greenaway led the girls, and the girls division, with 620, along with a high game of 227, and Marissa Funk added 601 along with 534 from Emily Leonard. The Spartans were without junior Donny Bagdassarian, who is out for the season due to a leg injury.
“Honestly, I couldn’t be prouder of either side. On the girls end, we are just hitting our stride, and really, the spare conversions are the key,” Cullen said. “The boys are also coming into their own with some of the younger kids stepping up with one of our good bowlers out due to injury.”
And on this day, in this event, team was the key to victory.
NOTEBOOK: The cut to the top eight for match play came at 6,417, with Tallmadge earning the final spot by just seven pins over Copley. The Blue Devils shot 366 during the final qualifying Baker game to just 288 for the Indians. … Nordonia was the only team to post two 1,900 games (1,959 and 1,949) during qualifying. … Boardman started off the Baker round of qualifying with 427 and 403 — the only 400 Baker games shot until Nordonia had 419 in its opening match-play game against Tallmadge. … Defending champion Lake, the lone Stark Conference team participating, was led by Zac Abbott’s 619 and 600 from Brady Tompot. Lindsey Gotham led the girls with 536. … Stow-Munroe Falls was led by Dillon Lazer’s 636 and Ace Ades’ 541 for the girls. … The field had 14 varsity and two junior varsity teams overall.
MLK INVITATIONAL
(Monday, at Spins Bowl, Akron)
Match-play finals
Round of eight
(Best-of-three Baker System)
Nordonia (419-367) d. Tallmadge (346-338) 2-0; Boardman (377-373) d. Cyahoga Falls (317-322) 2-0; Lake (321-369-288) d. Norton (343-361-286) 2-1; Stow-Munroe Falls 372-335-305) d. Akron Hoban (360-375-295) 2-1
Round of four
Nordonia (336-393) d. Stow-Munroe Falls (315-297) 2-0; Boardman (386-378) d. Lake (333-363) 2-0.
Championship
Boardman (391-317-379) d. Nordonia (340-410-299) 2-1
