By BILL SNIER
Never giving up, willing to make uncomfortable moves and adapting to the situation.
Those were three key elements that led the Ashland High School boys bowling team to a national championship last week at Leisure Lanes in Lancaster, Pa.
The Arrows, making their second straight appearance at the eighth annual High School Bowling National Championship, defeated Ohio opponent Centerville 603-577 to claim the title in a field of 51 teams representing 25 states, including 11 from Ohio.
United Local, from the Stark County High School Bowling Conference, also participated, finishing 33rd overall.
Only teams that have qualified for a state championship, set a state or national record during the season or rolled a team 300 Baker System game were eligible to participate.
The event included team and singles events for both boys and girls.
Ashland will honor its national champion with a parade and celebration beginning at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the high school, preceding through town and ending at Luray Lanes. The public is invited.
ARROWS WIN IT
After finishing fourth a year ago at Beavercreek in the same event, Ashland head coach Jim Brown said experience played a major part in the Arrows’ win.
“Obviously, we had the same team back, so our preparation was easier. We knew what the lanes were going to do,” said Brown, who returned six players from the 2023 event. “We knew that we had to get left on the lanes.
“They did a very good job of staying ahead of the transition and understanding that sometimes if you want the ball to hook more, you have to move left. Last year, we tried to move back to the right and it didn’t work.”
Despite shooting just 160 and 166 its final two Baker games in qualifying (which consisted of two regular team games and six Baker games), the Arrows made the cut to the top 16 and advanced to the survivor round. The field was cut in half after three additional Baker games in each round, with pinfall carrying over from qualifying.
“These guys just did not give up. They just kept digging,” Brown said. “We did have to make some lineup changes during the survivor rounds because we had some guys who were striking and some guys who weren’t. We tried to place them accordingly.”
After shooting 599 during the opening survivor round, the Arrows, dropped to fifth. That’s when changes were made.
Brown switched juniors-to-be Max Oeken and Landon Dreibelbis, dropping the former to the anchor sport and moving the latter to No. 4. Also, junior-to-be Luke Rhine went to No. 2 and senior-to-be Brantyn Long went to No. 3. He also had to switch out junior-to-be Mikey McKinney for senior-to-be Blake Stout.
“Landon had been our anchor all day and bowled really well, but Max’s look started looking a lot better even though Landon still had a great look,” Brown said. “That’s why we switched Luke and Brantyn … because of their looks.
“Mikey was having a problem holding on to the ball and we knew something was going on. We put Blake in there and he was just awesome. It’s tough mentally and physically sitting all day, but he came in and threw three or four strikes in a row that were key.”
The Arrows shot 619 during the round of eight to finish 28 pins ahead of Dallastown Area (Pa.) to reach the final four. From there, pinfall was erased — which pleased Brown.
“First, second and third were so far out in front we couldn’t have caught them,” said Brown, who sat 185 pins behind third-place Salem Community (Ill.). “But everyone resets at that point and I like that about the tournament. It brings the competition part back.”
Centerville, as the high qualifier, got a bye while the other three teams — Ashland, Rockton Hononegah (Ill.) and Salem Community — battled for the right to meet the Elks for the title. The Arrows shot 217 in their final of three Baker games for 595 to top Salem Community (567) and Hononegah (553).
Brown admitted Baker games have been the downfall of the Arrows in the past during the OHSAA Division I state tournaments.
“It has been a weak point for us and everyone knows that. They had to push themselves to get through it,” said Brown, now in his third year as head coach and seven years with the program overall. “But experience really came into play and it helped these guys out.
“They were not going to give up and they all knew the number.”
After winning 189-186 in Game 1, the Arrows fell behind after the Elks won 219-183 in Game 2 for a 405-372 lead. Centerville had the choice of finishing lanes.
“It’s tough as a coach because we’ve seen this before. Now, let’s see. If we can dig ourselves out of that hole,” Brown said. “That’s the biggest part of bowling, digging yourselves out of that hole.
“We kind of created that with opens and when you do that, it drains some of the gas out of the tank. We knew they were going to take the lane they had just shot 219 on. But we also got to stay on the same lane and we were able to figure it out … which was good news for us.”
The Arrows won Game 3 231-172 to claim the title.
“We just got out in front and kept striking. We just told them to keep it going,” Brown said. “When someone else is striking, you tend to start watching. We just told them to focus on yourself, not matter what (Centerville) is doing. Don’t lose focus on yourselves.”
After being the leading qualifier at the Division I state tournament a year ago and falling short, Brown knows the task becomes bigger.
“This is just so awesome. It always seems like we’ve had little target on our back, but it just grew substantially, and we’re fine with that,” Brown said. “It was just unreal … I was just speechless. I’m really amped anyway as a coach and this was just such a big accomplishment.
“It was special because I watched all these kids grow up since they were 10 years old. They’re more my buddies than my kids. And they’re all good friends and that’s a big part of it – the camaraderie. It would be a nice way to top this with a state title.”
MORE IN SINGLES
In addition to their team performance, Oeken and Dreibelbis also finished fifth and seventh, respectively in the singles competition that included 361 bowlers overall before the cut to 150.
Oeken fell just 13 pins short of making the final four with 2,141, and Dreibelbis was at 2,102.
“They just struck all weekend and bowled phenomenal,” Brown said. “Landon had 21 strikes in a row at one point. They came out firing. The both just lost some carry at the end.”
Both events were bowled on a modified house oil pattern.
Rhine (1,440), McKinney (1,432) and Long (1,320) also made the cut to the first survivor round.
“It was a sport pattern, but it was scoreable,” Brown said. “But it was not a house shot.”
UNITED’S RUN
United Local took four seniors to the nationals, with defending Division II state individual champion Ethan Hively leading the way.
The Eagles finished qualifying with a surge, shooting 208 and 214. But they fell 183 pins short of advancing to the survivor rounds in their first nationals appearance
“I wanted to shoot 3,000 or very close to that, and I thought that might get us to the cut, and it would have,” United coach Gary Herold said in a Facebook message. “We were consistent with 170 Bakers until those last two. I knew if we bowled like we can, we could compete.”
In singles, senior Patrick Bryan was the top Eagles bowler with 768 during the four-game qualifier, missing the cut to the survivor round by 15 pins.
NOTEBOOK: M.P. Harlem (Ill.) defeated Team Hardin County (Tenn.) 565-522 to win the girls title. … Big Walnut’s Nick Green fell to Kai Strothers of St. Joseph (N.J.) 249-234 in the boys singles title match while Maggie Porter of Cambridge (Wis.) stopped Ariana Woodcock of Shikellamy (Pa.) 248-206 for the girls title. … The 2025 tournament will be held in Fort Wayne, Ind., while rumors about that the 2026 event may be held in Columbus.
For complete results of the tournament, go to:
https://ushsbf.org/2024hsbnationalchampionship.html
CONOTTON VALLEY SEEKS COACH
Conotton Valley, which has its own new 10-lane bowling facility located inside the Rocket Center on campus, is seeking a new boys bowling coach. Joelle Elias resigned after one season at the helm.
Brian Baxter will remain as the girls head coach.
Those interested in applying for the position should contact Athletic Director Ed Marsh via email at: edward.marsh@cvul.org