By BILL SNIER
NORTH CANTON — After shooting just 837 in Game 1 of qualifying, Jackson High School boys coach Dustin Dingler decided to pull his seniors from the lineup.
“I just told them, ‘Guys, you’re just not there.’ But I need you to back me on this,” Dingler, entering his second season, said. “This season, if you don’t have it, it’s next man up.
“And their response to me was, ‘Coach, we trust you and we’re here to bowl as a team.’ If we have that mentality, we’re going to be fine.”
The Polar Bears, the No. 4 seed entering match play, went to five games to stop Green 3-2 in the best-of-five title match of Saturday’s Stark County High School Bowling Conference Early Bird tournament at Park Centre Lanes.
“This is just awesome … it’s just so emotional for me,” said Dingler, who is in his fifth year coaching overall. “I’ve been around a long time and it’s all about the kids. But doing this for the school and rebuilding a program back to excellence … I can’t wait to call and tell the AD (athletic director).”
In the girls title match, a familiar Federal League rivalry — Green and Perry — squared off again for the title. The Bulldogs again went to five games to stop the Panthers 3-2, with senior Madison Perrine throwing three strikes in the 10th frame to clinch the win.
Qualifying consisted of two regular games and 10 Baker System games before the respective fields were cut to the top eight for Baker-game match play by seed.
POLAR BEARS GET ON RUN
Jackson, the lone team among the top four match-play seeds to advance out of the quarterfinal round, went three games to stop No. 5 seed Triway (2-1) and then swept No. 8 seed GlenOak (2-0) to reach the title match.
Jackson was the No. 4 seed, finishing with 3,369 total pinfall, averaging just over 161 during the 10-game Baker block.
“We missed a lot of single-pin spares early in qualifying and in Bakers,” Dingler said. “We were right around second or third all day until the last two games. Only two spares really separated the top three spots above us.. We could have been second, but Lake bowled really well.
“I told the guys spares can affect everything. Every pin will determine something.”
After dropping its first two games in the title match (193-169, 186-167), No. 6 Green rallied to claim the next two as the Polar Bears shot just 151 and 138.
“In Games 3 and 4 we had some unfortunate missed spares early that were really ugly, but then we tried flipping the switch,” Dingler said. “We were literally one frame too late each of those games, but we made them show up. We just got our stuff going too late.”
But in Game 5, the Polar Bears kept it clean, going on a pair of three-strike runs for their best Baker game of the day in a 228-141 win.
“I told them it was still on them to win three in a row on us. So everyone, just throw your own game, don’t celebrate until it’s over and let’s just get this done,” Dingler said.
Individually, Alex Lovas led the Polar Bears with 431 for the two regular games,, Nick Langton added 359 and Jasper Dingler had 341.
Green, which lost four seniors to graduation, stopped No. 3 McKinley 2-1 in its opening match, winning 182-175 in Game 3, and then defeated No. 7 seed North Canton Hoover 2-0 to advance.
“Having an inexperienced team, we really didn’t know what to expect,” Green boys coach Phil Krumlauf said. “But beating McKinley and North Canton and going against Jackson, teams we are going to see all year long, I was very happy with our group.”
After rallying tor the two wins after being down 2-0 against Jackson, spare shooting cost the Bulldogs in Game 5. They missed single-pin spares three times in the first five frames.
“Spares were a problem for us all day. We started out slow with 755 our first game, but we battled all day long,” Krumlauf said. “We came back with 947 in the second game and it put us right back in it.
“After we lost the first two, I told them that the clincher is always the toughest game to win, that we had to put the pressure on them, make spares and close out games. As long as we make our spares, we are capable of doing this.”
Logan Kosmos led the Bulldogs with 380 and Anthony Bordonaro added 355.
BATTLE OF TITANS
In the girls division, Green and Perry were never out of the top two the entire day, with the Panthers finishing as the No. 1 seed with 3,274, while averaging 168.4 through 10 Baker games.
The Bulldogs finished with 3,265, just nine pins behind, and averaged 158.4 in Bakers.
But for match play, the girls and boys switched ends of the center, which forced both teams to make some major changes.
“I didn’t like having to make the switch, but those are the tournament rules,” Green girls coach Alex Snowberger said. “Those lanes were cooked down there. We had our girls all ball down to their weakest equipment.
“We had them throwing the ball real hard around 10 board and we told them not to give the pocket away. Then we had to go make our easy makeables (spares).”
Perry coach Joe Altimore III said the tourney was an indication that “urethane is going to come into a lot more play this season.”
“This was more of a test as to which girls could throw urethane when they came into the boys end and it’s blowing up,” Altimore added.
After all four of the girls quarterfinal matches were two-game sweeps — including Perry topping No. 8 seed Marlington and Green over No. 7 seed Triway — both the Panthers and Bulldogs also swept their semifinal opponents East Canton and Jackson, respectively.
The finals actually began with a tie at 199, with Perry winning a two-frame rolloff 27-24 to claim Game 1.
The Bulldogs then took the next two games (181-146, 197-192), with three-strike strings from the fourth through sixth frames in both paving the way to wins. But after the Panthers won Game 4 185-149 with Kiele Poling throwing a double in the 10th frame, the stage was set for the final showdown.
Both teams had doubles early after opens in the first frame. Perry added an open in the fourth and a 4-6-7 split in the eighth while Green had three straight missed spares from the sixth through the eighth.
Both added spares in the ninth. That’s when Perrine, who shot 394 during qualifying to lead the Bulldogs, stepped up.
The right-hander threw three straight strikes to clinch the 173-168 win.
“I was a little nervous there, but I didn’t want to get too far outside and miss the pocket,” Perrine said after carrying a heavy hit in the 10th. “I knew I had enough hand in it to at least make it there. I just took it and ran with it.”
“She’s one of the most clutch bowlers in Ohio high school bowling,” Snowberger said. “It was her time to shine, and I had no doubt she would come through.”
Brooklyn Krager also added 371 for the Bulldogs, who return three starters from last year’s Division I state qualifying team.
“They performed amazing. They were on it all day on one of the tougher patterns we are going to face all year to be honest,” Snowberger said. “We were neck-and-neck with Perry all day and I’m glad it came down to us and them.
“I liked the adversity we had to face and the fact that this wasn’t a strike fest. We had to make our spares and grind. This just feels amazing and we’re glad to be back.”
“We struggled a little bit with Bakers at the beginning, but we came together when we needed to,” Perrine said.
Altimore knew Green’s overall ball speed would be a benefit on the condition.
“They threw the ball good, but they have more ball speed than we do and they were able to go straighter through the front part of the lane,” said Altimore, whose team will be at the Division I Kickoff Classic next weekend in Columbus. “I had several girls standing 35 (board) with urethane. Most of them hated (urethane Hammer NU), but they have to understand it has a purpose. They got more confident in it and they learned.
“If we hit five (board) it was the bomb, but it you six or seven, it was going Brooklyn and it you hit three or four, it was staying right. We had to have them migrate to the right part of the lane. There was such a defined break point that we couldn’t stay out there long enough.”
Arielle Clapper led the Panthers, who had six girls who made Perry’s eighth straight trip to state last season, with 356 and Poling added 339.
This opening tournament had some teaching moments.
“We’ve only had three practices and we don’t even have team captains yet,” Dingler said. “We just had to throw it together and see what’s going on.
“But we have depth this year, which is a key. I brought eight this year and last year we only had six to work with, and I used all of them today. We are just blessed.”
And the Stark Conference is off and running for its 23rd season, with regular matches beginning Monday.
NOTEBOOK: There were 16 boys and girls teams in the field, with East Canton being the lone squad from outside the SCHSBC. That number included Perry’s two junior varsity teams. … The oil pattern was the 2023 OHSAA State Bowling Championships pattern, which also was used for the SCHSBC’s Alumni Tournament at Park Centre. … The cut to the top eight was 2,573 for the girls, with Marlington earning that spot by just one pin over GlenOak despite shooting 105 and 129 its last two Baker games. … The boys battle for the eighth spot came down to a two-frame rolloff between GlenOak and East Canton, which tied at 3,224. The Golden Eagles advanced with a 50-28 win. … Individually in the girls division, McKinley’s Haleigh Leggett, a returning state qualifier, led the division with 427. Other members of the all-tournament team included Perrine, Triway’s Kennedy Finley (378), Krager and Triway’s Raya Fiesler (364). … Lake was the top boys qualifier with 3,633, but fell in its opening match to GlenOak 2-1, with the Eagles winning Game 3 161-155. … Hoover’s Hendrick Livengood turned in the high individual series with 448. Other members of the all-tournament team included East Canton’s Dylan Lint (445), GlenOak’s Braxton Burns (437), Lovas and Perry’s Gavin Hentzell 412. … Jackson’s 228 in Game 5 was the high Baker game of the day. Perry had the high girls Baker of 223 during Game 3 of qualifying. … Perry captured the overall team championship, with its girls and boys teams combining for 6,751 total pinfall, with the Panther girls taking first in qualifying and the boys finishing second.
STARK COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL BOWLING CONFERENCE EARLY BIRD
(Saturday, at Park Centre Lanes, North Canton)
BOYS
Quarterfinal matches
(Best-of-three Baker System)
No, 8 GlenOak (153-178-161) d. No. 1 Lake (140-220-155) 2-1
No. 4 Jackson (153-209-196) d. No. 5 Triway (156-170-181) 2-1
No. 6 Green (170-162-182) d. No. 3 Canton McKinley (180-142-175) 2-1
No. 7 North Canton Hoover (215-180-200) d. No. 2 Perry (163-204-199) 2-1
Semifinals
(Best-of-three Baker System)
Jackson (169-201) d. GlenOak (164-189) 2-0
Green (171-187) d. North Canton Hoover (157-129) 2-0
Championship
(Best-of-five Baker System)
Jackson (193-186-151-138-228) d. Green (169-167-164-165-141) 3-2
GIRLS
Quarterfinal matches
(Best-of-three Baker System)
No. 1 Perry (222-170) d. No. 8 Marlington (110-122) 2-0
No. 4 East Canton (170-142) d. No. 5 North Canton Hoover (117-119) 2-0
No. 6 Jackson (133-129) d. No. 3 Canton McKinley (126-125) 2-0
No. 2 Green (194-163) d. No. 7 Triway (139-85) 2-0
Semifinals
(Best-of-three Baker System)
Perry (164-170) d. East Canton (134-138) 2-0
Green (163-183) d. Jackson (157-127)
Championship
(Best-of-five Baker System)
Green (199*-181-197-149-173) d. Perry (199*-146-192-185-168) 3-2 (*—Perry wins two-frame rolloff in Game 1 27-24)