By BILL SNIER
AKRON — Tim Wiant admittedly was nervous before the start of Friday’s Northeast District Division I boys Tri-County sectional.
“I don’t know why … I figured we were going to be all right,” the veteran Cuyahoga Falls coach said. “But I always get that way when we get in these competitions.”
Those nerves disappeared when the Black Tigers shot 1,029 during Game 1 at Spins Bowl-Akron, returned a little when they struggled to 885 in Game 2, but then disappeared for good with a tourney-high 1,040 in Game 3 en route to claiming the sectional title.
The format was three regular games followed by six Baker System games.
The Black Tigers finished with 4,117 total pinfall to top the 16-team field, finishing 118 pins ahead of runner-up Copley (4,099) to lead advancing teams to district play. Also qualifying were Buckeye (4,047) and Medina (3,872), which finished 80 pins ahead of Norton for the final spot.
The top four teams and top four individuals who were not members of those teams move on to the Northeast Division I District, set for 10 a.m. Feb. 25 at Rebman Recreation in Lorain.
Individuals making the trip to Lorain include Akron Hoban junior William Juvan, who finished third overall with a 651 series; Akron Ellet senior Cleveland Mancino 597; and Medina Highland junior Gabe Kasper and Norton junior Nicholas Phelps, both finishing with 586, just one pin ahead of Brunswick senior Trevor Norman (585).
FALLS’ RUN
Cuyahoga Falls had four players finish in the top 11 individuals as the Tigers continued their run of district appearances. Junior Adam Walters led the way with 609, followed by freshman Jonathan Rasch (601), junior Lucas Hummel (596) and sophomore Justin Wagner (592).
“The boys have been kicking butt lately. Sunday, we won the Super Bowl Bash (also at Spins-Akron) and they’ve been bowling really, really well,” Wiant said.
The Tigers’ problems came on the end pair of lanes, where they had both their worst team game and their two worst Baker games (158-169).
“I don’t know if it was being on the wall or what plus we had teams in front of us throwing a lot of plastic and pushing the oil down,” Wiant said. “That’s not an excuse because they knew what was coming. But they did really well.”
Getting beyond the district to the state level as been the problem.
“Spares are the thing. We missed seven single-pin spares, and you know that spares are always the thing,” Wiant said. “The kids have to get busy. We also have to work on their mental game and confidence. They lost that a little of that the last two Baker game and we had to pump them up again a bit.
“But it’s spares that are going to get us in.”
MAKING THE RIGHT SHOTS
Spares also are the keys for the other three district participants heading to Lorain.
“The only thing really for us today was right-side spares. That’s the funny thing; you would think with an oil pattern like this left-side spares would be the problem,” Copley coach Kaleb Shovestull said. “But for some reason, the guys decided to turn on their spare balls and miss them left.”
But Shovestull could find little wrong otherwise as Indians senior two-handed righty Eric Luster finished as the top individual with 708 and was the lone player with three 200 games.
“He has been struggling the past two weeks. He seemed to be out of timing and just wasn’t rolling the ball like he had been all season,” Shovestull said. “He just had a fantastic season and broke every Copley record. Once he gets on a roll, he’s hard to beat.”
Senior Charles Fanchetti also had 627 for Copley and senior Shane Arp added 564.
“Our shotmaking was great out there today. I think there are still things we didn’t execute, but we struck a lot and had a lot of carry out there,” Shovestull said. “You hope to carry when you make good shots, but there’s still room for improvement.”
The Indians shot 990 in Game 2 to take the lead, but fell to second in Game 3 and remained there for most of the event. Games of 171 and 169 in Bakers halted a shot at catching Cuyahoga Falls and dropped them to second behind Buckeye. But Copley shot 237 in Game 6 to move back up.
“We ran into some struggles there. We actually threw good shots, but we didn’t strike, and our bad shots were worse,” Shovestull said.
“But we’re not going to change the game plan. We will rely on Chaz and Eric to continue to lead,” said Shovestull, whose team is making its second straight district appearance. “I can’t complain at all about our shotmaking.”
TRIP NO. 2 FOR BUCKEYE
The Bucks will be making only their second district appearance in Nancy’s Tinney’s 15 years as coach, the last coming in 2012.
Baker games of 236 and 277 in Games 3 and 4 clinched the spot for Buckeye, which actually moved into second place after that big set before ending up third.
“They started out slow on the pair where we shot those two big Bakers,” Tinney said of the team’s 816 in Game 1. “But then they picked it up. The ball adjustments they were making were crucial for a lot of them.
“The seven boys know when to pick up the slack for each other. I was very pleased with the consistency they were showing throwing the ball. They were really encouraging each other, and no one was getting down. They just kept picking each other up.”
The Bucks shot 1,036 in Game 2 to make the jump from seventh to third.
Buckeye senior right-handed two-halter Edwin Ortiz led the Bucks with 659, good for second overall, and seniors Michael Baeppler and Wesley Wyatt Kunz added 596 and 559, respectively. Ortiz was the only one not to strike in the 277 Baker game.
“When he came out for practice here the the last two weeks, he picked out four balls out of his 12 that were working here,” Tinney said of Ortiz. “He has been working every night at Medina on his game and has just been phenomenal.”
Tinney says her five seniors set this Bucks team apart, adding “they have accepted our freshman and sophomore and invited these younger boys to practice with them.”
“They just work together so well,” Tinney said.
‘KEEP IT CLEAN’
Medina coach Jarrod Rodriguez had a message for his Bees before the tourney.
“I told them going in we have to make spares, keep it clean and have fun,” Rodriguez said. “When we have fun, we usually do pretty well.”
Medina moved up from fifth to fourth after Game 2, shooting 969, and remained there the remainder of the tourney. They did get to within 25 pins of Buckeye after shooting 211 and 238 during their first two Bakers, but finished 75 pins behind the Bucks.
“Those two Baker games early were huge for us,” Rodriguez said. “We weren’t scoreboard watching. We were just trying to keep them focused. We don’t want to tell them the score until we’re done and we don’t want the parents to do it either.”
Senior Aidin Neubauer led the Bees with 644 and juniors Kyle Steffes and Kaden Rodriguez added 568 and 560, respectively.
“We knew it was close and we knew we had to keep on it and do our thing,” said Rodriguez, whose team made its last district trip two years ago. “We kind of hit a rough patch (two 163 Bakers in Games 4 and 5), but then we picked it up again.
“We have to stay focused, keep on it and keep everyone healthy.”
But all four coaches emphasized one point for the next level: spares.
“We have to work on everything, but it all boils down to spares,” Rodriguez said.
And whoever makes the most, will be heading to Columbus in March.
NOTEBOOK: There were three 1,000 games shot on the OHSAA sectional-district oil pattern, two by Cuyahoga Falls and the other by Buckeye. … Buckeye also turned in the high Baker series of 1,202, 16 pins ahead of Copley (1,186). The Bucks had the high game of 277. … Juvan had the high individual game of 265 in Game 1, followed by Ortiz’s 255 in Game 2. … there were six 600 series along with Luster’s 700. … Thirteen of the top 19 individual series came off of team qualifiers. … The Division I Tri-County girls sectional is set for 9 a.m. Monday, also at Spins Bowl-Akron. The Stark County Division I sectional is set for 10 a.m. Saturday (boys) and Sunday (girls) at Eastbury Bowling Center in Canton. Tickets for these sectionals and the district tournament are available online only at $8 for adults and $5 for students. They can be purchased at www.ohsaa.org/tickets
