By BILL SNIER
COSHOCTON — Before the start of the Baker System portion of Thursday’s East District Division II boys tournament, tournament director Doug Smith reminded players of one thing.
“Remember, Bakers are important, so don’t give up,” Smith said to the assembled teams.
As it turned out,, Smith was exactly right when it came to qualifying for the OHSAA State Championships.
Carrollton, which sat second following the opening three team games, rolled 994 during the six-game Baker System portion to earn the district title at Legacy Lanes and Lounge.
Joining the Warriors at state will be 2023 state semifinalist Conotton Valley, which turned in a tourney-high 1,027 Baker series to jump from third after the opening three team games.
“I told them before we started that whoever has the best Baker series was going to get out,” Carrollton coach Dave Davis said. “This is a team. The kids have bowled as a team all year, and they came out and did what they needed to get done.”
Joining the Warriors and Rockets as individual qualifiers are Harrison Central junior Kobie Hennis, who finished second overall with 583, and Sandy Valley senior AJ Meighen, who shot 578 to earn the final spot by 23 pins.
There were only six teams in the district field with the top two teams and top two individuals who were not members of those teams advancing to the state tournament, set for 10:30 p.m. March 1 at HP Lanes in Columbus.
GETTING TO THE TOP
Junior Bryce Taylor, who picked up a 4-6-19-10 “Greek Church” split during the third Baker game, led the Warriors with a 582 series to finish third individually. Senior Jaden Johnston added 517 and sophomore Jace Eckinger had 504 also for the Warriors, who were without one starter due to a violation of school policy.
“We struggled for a while like everyone did. It was a tough condition and they persevered all day,” Davis said. “These are great kids and it’s great for them to be able to bowl one more week together.”
During the three opening games, Carrollton trailed Sandy Valley by 20 pins entering Bakers for for the top spot. The Cardinals had the high team game of 903, while the Warriors had 901 — the only 900s shot by boys teams.
“Last week at St. Clair the backends were not crisp and we couldn’t get anything to hook, We kept moving right and moving right,” Davis said. “Today, we were moving left and moving left because they were overhooking. The backends were a lot cleaner.”
The Warriors had practiced at Legacy on Wednesday, and Davis said the shot was really close to what they saw Thursday.
“We had a pretty good idea what it was going to do, but with no pressure, we also made all our spares,” Davis said. “We shot 850, 950 and 1,000, but today was different.”
The Warriors had games of 147 and 139 during Bakers and, despite shooting just 804 in Game 1, were just seven pins behind leader Sandy Valley.
“In this format, you have to hit the head pin and make spares. The goal has to be to shoot 180,” Davis said. “You put five 180 games together you can go a long way in a tournament like this, instead of 190, 200 and 130 or 120 which a lot of teams did today.”
BATTLE FOR SECOND
The Rockets started Bakers with 212 to Sandy Valley’s 133 to cut into an 83-pin deficit early.
“We had a really strong Baker out of the gate that really helped us,” Conotton Valley first-year coach Joelle Elias said. “We kind of fell back a bit in the second and third games, but the boys stayed strong with the leadership of Nate (Downing) and Bobby (Brennan). We relied on them.”
Brennan, a senior, led the tournament individually with a 597 series despite just one game over 200 (227 in Game 2), and Downing, a sophomore, added 565. The next highest Rocket was sophomore Logan Slutz with 476.
“Yes, I was surprised. Halfway through the morning I just didn’t know. I knew they were capable,” Elias said. “I knew it was just a matter of coming out and getting it done.”
The Rockets shot 183 and 189 their final two Baker games to the Cardinals’ 164 and 147 to move ahead.
“We were preaching consistency all week, about cutting down on open frames,” Elias said. “We had some boys who had kind of fallen back throughout the week, but they really stepped up today and brought it.
“We kept leaving things that we normally don’t leave, like 8-, 9- and 10-pins. I’m proud of these boys for sticking in it even though things weren’t going the way we wanted them to.”
Sandy Valley coach Marc Fitzgerald said “Bakers just killed us” after the Cardinals shot 2,515 during the opening three games to take a 20-pin lead on the Warriors. But they shot a tourney-low 891 in Bakers.
“We left a lot of opens and that’s the name of the game right there. We let the kids know how important Bakers were,” Fitzgerald said. “We tried to rally them in the middle, but that’s how the balls roll. Our kids were ready for this.”
He felt bowling on the same pair with Carrollton in the Bakers also hurt his team.
“I think their positive energy ate us up a little bit,” Fitzgerald said. “Coming in, we were saying, yes, we want Carrollton. But if had been different, it possibly could have been better.”
SHOWMEN HELP
And the Warriors had the luck of their two styrofoam snowmen to aid their surge.
“We use them on the lanes on both sides of a board to help them hit their marks in practice. Sometimes, we will put them closer to each other,” Warriors assistant coach Greg Fair said. “Maybe we need to use them more with spares.”
Wednesday, when the Warriors practiced at Legacy, they were unable to use the snowmen in practice. But the Warriors wanted them there Thursday — to watch.
“Now, they want to bring them to state,” Fair said, “because we bowled so well with them watching.”
NOTEBOOK: Division II sectional and Inter-Valley Conference champion Indian Valley shot just 901 during Bakers and finished fifth, 188 pins out of the cut. … The event was again contested on the OHSAA sectional-district oil pattern. … While Brennan had the high series, Hennis had the high game with 254 in Game 3 after going 154 and 175 his first two. … Teams bowled their first three games on different pairs. But they remained on the same pair of lanes for all six Baker System games. … The boys used the high side of Legacy Lanes, lanes 15 through 22, with the individuals bowling all on the same pair. … Tickets for the Division II state tournament are available only online and priced at $15 for adults and $10 for students. Go to https://www.ohsaa.org/tickets for tickets. No cash will be accepted at the door. … The Northeast District Division II boys tournament is at 10 am. Friday at Rebman Recreation in Lorain.
