By BILL SNIER
NORTH CANTON — Team captain Brett McCourry had a simple reason for his team’s success during the Stark County High School Bowling Conference’s annual Alumni Tournament.
“They certainly were not easy,” McCourry said of the lanes, “but we carried and they didn’t … that’s what it came down to.”
The McKinley High School alumni team of McCourry, his brother Alex McCourry, Jason Corrin, Joe Stauffer and Marcus Marcelli swept to victory in the best-of-five title match during Sunday’s event at Park Centre Lanes.
The Bulldogs defeated a combined Jackson-Lake team 225-193, 183-179 and 199-187 to claim the title.
It marked the first win in the event for Brett McCourry, while Stauffer had a win in the inaugural event in 2011 and Alex McCourry and Corrin were part of the 2017 champions.
“Finally, I got one of these. We ran the same five out here last year and finished about 12th,” Brett McCourry said. “We thought we might as well run it back and see what happens.”
The McKinley team dominated the competition, finishing with 2,592 total pinfall during the 12-game Baker System qualifying round. It was the only squad in the 18-team field to average 200 (216 overall).
“We had a couple of guys who don’t really hook it and a couple of solid lefties and we were able to spread it out,” McCourry said. “And it helped that I had a good look, which was very good.”
The McKinley team roared into the No. 1 seed for a first-round bye in match play by shooting a tourney-high 289 their final game. The Bulldogs topped two of the three four-game blocks with 805 the first four games and 911 the final four.
HEADING TO TITLE MATCH
While the McKinley team had a bye during the opening round along with the Perry team led by captain Adam Kutz, the combined Jackson-Lake team had to win a pair of best-of-five matches to reach the title match.
The Jackson-Lake team, which included Blue Streaks head coach Jeff Mowls as team captain along with three Polar Bears coaches — Gary Liber, Bill Dunn and Ryan Suter — and Eric Long, was third following qualifying with 2,307 (192 average).
“This was really last minute. Bill Dunn called me at 9:30 last night and asked if I wanted to bowl,” said Mowls, who is entering his first year as Lake head coach. “I said no, not really. But he talked me into it. Then I had to talk to Eric and coax him into it, so here we are.”
The Lake-Jackson team had to go five games to top a Green alumni team 3-2 in its opening match, sweeping the final two games 237-142 and 234-190 after dropping the first two. It came after the Lake-Jackson squad shot 851 over its final four games to vault from the cut line up to third.
“There were a lot of good bowlers out here and we had some of those good players,” Mowls said. “I knew we were going to be all right and should make the cut.”
Lake-Jackson then took on the Perry team of Kutz, T.J. Owens, Alex Lincoln, Adam Webb and Don Sprout in the semifinals, earning a 3-1 win and shooting 220 its final game.
MOVING ON
McCourry admitted sitting and waiting for the opening matches was difficult.
“I’m tired,” McCourry said. “You bowl those 12 to start then you have to sit and wait for the first round after that many Bakers.”
When the McKinley team did take the lanes in match play, it stopped North Canton Hoover 3-1, with three games being 198 or higher as the Vikings struggled with games of 135 and 132 during the middle two games.
Hoover’s team was led by conference commissioner J.C. Heighway, along with conference awards, affairs and functions manager Jim Heighway, Jack Reed, Sean Dockery and C.J. Diehl. The Vikings were the No. 5 seed.
TITLE MATCH
In a word, carry was the key in the title match between McKinley and Jackson-Lake.
Both teams featured a pair of lefties, with Liber and Mowls for Jackson-Lake and Corrin and Alex McCourry for McKinley.
The opening game was settled early as Corrin and the two McCourrys put a run of three strikes together into the fifth. Then, the McCourry brothers finished the game with four strikes in a row, with Brett serving as anchor en route to a 225-193 win.
Jackson-Lake had just five strikes in the game, including a pair of doubles.
The next two games both went to the 10th frame — and that was the carry issue for Jackson-Lake.
In Game 2, Jackson-Lake was carrying a three-strike run heading into the 10th from Dunn, Suter ad Long. But Mowls left a solid 7-pin on his opening shot and struck on his second ball. Brett followed Alex’s strike in the ninth with a 7-pin spare and strike to finish off a 183-179 win.
The same scenario occurred in Game 3.
McKinley started the game with three strikes, but had just four the rest of the way. After a double early, Jackson-Lake again put together a three-strike run in the seventh through ninth with the same three players as Game 2.
This time, Mowls left a 10-pin on his first shot in the 10th while Brett McCourry put up a spare and strike for the 199-187 win after the former missed the spare.
“The damn corner pins. They killed us and it cost us two games or we would still be bowling,” Mowls said. “I’m not real happy about that.”
McCourry knew his team got some help late in the two games.
“They gifted us a couple of 10th frames, and I feel bad about that,” McCourry said. “But when it’s your day, it’s your day.”
And it was McKinley’s day — the entire tournament.
NOTEBOOK: The event drew an 18-team field and was bowled on the 2023 OHSAA State Bowling Championships oil pattern. There was no re-oiling following qualifying. … The top six teams advanced to match play. … McKinley finished 231 pins ahead of Perry after qualifying. … Green earned the final match-play spot with 2,205 (184 average), just five pins ahead of a second North Canton Hoover team, captained by Chuck Spencer. The Bulldogs shot 667 over games 9 through 11 to jump back into the cut. … A Marlington team captured the second-chance event during the tournament. Teams not making the cut were given the opportunity to bowl this secondary event of four more Baker games. The Dukes finished with 780 to win by 50 pins over GlenOak 2. It was worth $100. … First place in the overall tournament paid $706. … The event raised more than $700 for the SCHSBC, which will open its season with its annual Early Bird Tournament at 9 a.m. Nov. 16 at Park Centre Lanes. .. A total of 13 high schools were represented in the event.
SCHSBC ALUMNI TOURNAMENT
(Sunday, at Park Centre Lanes, North Canton)
Quarterfinals
(Best-of-five match play)
No. 5 North Canton Hoover (J.C. Heighway, Jim Heighway, Jack Reed, Sean Dockery, C.J. Diehl) d. No. 4 Massillon 2 (Jesse Gonzales, Cooper Smith, Frank Testa, Zach McCutchan, Dean Vargo) 3-2 (248-259, 202-146, 171-245, 226-214, 187-179)
No. 3 Jackson-Lake (Jeff Mowls, Eric Long, Bill Dunn, Ryan Suter, Gary Liber) d. Green (Alex Snowberger, Nick Arlegueeuw, Marissa Perrine, Jordan Norris, Matt Frock) 3-2 (169-199, 170-203, 159-148, 237-142, 234-190)
Semifinals
No. 1 McKinley (Brett McCourry, Alex McCourry, Marcus Marcelli, Jason Corrin, Joe Stauffer) d. North Canton Hoover 3-1 (160-186, 203-135, 213-132, 198-187)
Jackson-Lake d. No. 2 Perry (Adam Kutz, Adam Webb, T.J. Owens, Alex Lincoln, Don Sprout) 3-1 (202-181, 166-180, 237-181, 220-156)
Championship
McKinley d. Jackson-Lake 3-0 (225-193, 183-179, 199-187)
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