By BILL SNIER
STRUTHERS — Winning a tournament is always a good thing.
But the way the Perry High School girls achieved their goal during Saturday’s 17th annual Struthers Super Bowl Blowout Baker high school bowling tournament at Holiday Bowl was what pleased head coach Joe Altimore III the most.
“After qualifying at the state tournament when the lanes start hooking and opening up, that has not been our strength,” said Altimore, who has taken the Panthers to eight straight OHSAA Division I state tourneys. “We know HP (Lanes) hooks, so we’ve been working on how do we attack drier lanes this year. It has been paying off.”
The top-seeded Panthers’ lessons paid off during Saturday’s finals against defending Division I state champion and No. 4 seeded Boardman as they swept to the title 2-0 in the best-of-three Baker System finals.
In the boys division, No. 2 seeded Lake also earned a 2-0 sweep over top-seeded Boardman to earn the title, the Blue Streaks’ third tournament win this season.
The tournament featured 18 boys teams and 17 girls squads bowling 15 Baker System games during qualifying before the respective fields were cut to the top five in each division for best-of-three Baker stepladder finals.
Teams bowled on the 2025 OHSAA sectional-district oil pattern.
PANTHERS GAIN CONFIDENCE
The Panthers had their share of problems during qualifying as sophomore Niko Woods had to pull out due to back spasms. Junior Arielle Clapper (back) and senior Jenna Boyer (stomach problems) also had difficulties, but were able to complete the tournament.
Still, Perry led the girls side with 2,889 total pinfall, an average of 192.6 for 15 Baker games. It would have placed them fourth overall in the boys division and was 149 pins ahead of second-place and two-time defending champion Fairport Harbor Harding.
“That’s really exciting to me. We got on a run there and got our confidence,” Altimore said. “There were still shots that had to be made out there. If you didn’t throw it well it didn’t come back. You had to roll it well.”
Boardman had to take the long road to the finals as the No. 4 seed, winning three matches just to get there.
“It was a long day for us to come back from the bottom and I think they ran out of gas a little,” Boardman coach Justine Cullen said. “Honestly, we barely shot any games over 200 during qualifying (the Spartans had two in 15 games) and I thought we weren’t going to make the cut.
“But when we got into the championship round we were out of our minds … no opens, consistent and in rhythm.”
The Spartans did not shoot a game under 200 in sweeping past No. 5 Struthers, No. 3 Green and defending champion No. 2 Fairport Harbor, topping the Skippers 208-191 and 232-160.
“We always seem to be going back and forth with Fairport so it was a big win,” Cullen said. “But we had to go through four really good teams today and that’s tough to do. It just didn’t go our way.”
In the title match, Perry struck on four of its first five shots and then added three in a row late to win 219-151 in Game 1 as the Spartans had a pair of splits and one missed spare.
The Panthers then got a key spare in the 10th frame of Game 2 to earn a 188-184 win for the sweep as Boardman again had a pair of splits. The Spartans had a chance to force Game 3, but was unable to strike out in the 10th frame.
“That pair was playing pretty consistent to that point. But the breakdown was a little more severe in the final. It was a matter of adapting to that,” Cullen said “There were a couple of strikes we had that maybe we shouldn’t have, but it didn’t break our way at the end.”
Altimore knew what the Panthers were walking into on Lanes 13-14 heading into the final match on the pair.
“Four of our girls threw different balls in the finals. We knew they were going to get blown up by the time we got to them,” Altimore said. “We knew we would need to make a progression to lower balls. It was a good decision to do it and that’s what we’ve been trying to figure out all year long.
“But I was more concerned with execution because we had been sitting there so long. We told them to just hit their mark and then we would make a decision. When the first girl threw a shot and it pealed off the lane, it was like ‘you grab this’ and ‘you grab this.’ We made a quick change. If one comes close to hitting their mark, I know what everyone else’s ball is going to do based off that shot.”
The Panthers threw 200 games the final four games of qualifying to earn the top seed and had just one game under190 over their final 10.
“Confidence is always key. It only takes on shot to rattle them, but 10 to get that confidence,” Altimore said. “We got on a string going in the Bakers near the end where a couple of our starts weren’t very good, but they finished strong with five or six strikes to still shoot 200s. You could see their confidence rise there.”
RIGHT PAIR FOR LAKE
No. 2 seeded Lake got to the title match by sweeping past Perry JV 222-203 and 204-159. The Panthers’ two teams in the tournament were selected via a drafting of players, with four regular varsity members ending up on the JV squad.
“That’s the third tournament where we have knocked them out, and I know they’re not too happy about it,” said Lake first-year coach Jeff Mowls, who was a former assistant at Perry while Blue Streaks assistant Don Sprout was the Panthers boys coach a year ago. “The fact that the coaches came from Perry makes it a little more bittersweet.”
Mowls had an idea how the title pair of Lanes 23 and 24 would react. Lake had hit the pair during qualifying, shooting 224 and 198 en route to finishing with 3,037 total pinfall, just 117 pins behind top-seeded Boardman (3,154).
Lake got to start on the same lane (Lane 22) in both matches, as Boardman also picked to start on Lane 21 as the higher seed. This time, the Blue Streaks swept again 231-202 and 212-190.
The Blue Streaks were able to string four strikes into the 10th in Game 1 and then ran off five in a row to start Game 2 to put the Spartans down early.
“They were throwing it great all day long and we kind of knew what we were in store for. They didn’t disappoint,” said Boardman coach John Lucansky, whose team had an open and split in each game. “We missed some spares and it is what it is.
“The practice pair played pretty much the same so we weren’t surprised. We just didn’t make the shots we needed to make.”
Mowls said the only difference for his team during qualifying was moving seniors Zac Abbott and Logan Hamrick a board left with their feet on Lane 22.
“That lane was hooking a little more, but 21 played like it did earlier for us,” Mowls said. “It was a nice oil pattern for us today.
“It didn’t seem like they got too tired. I think me and Don were more tired than they were and we were just standing around all day while they’re throwing the ball.”
The Blue Streaks averaged 202 over 15 Baker qualifying games, finishing with 234 in Game 15.
“That’s impressive, even though we were only the second seed,” Mowls said. “We bowled next to (Boardman) all day and they threw the ball well. That’s a good Boardman team.”
Lucansky said the Spartans will use the loss as a tool.
“We don’t take this is a loss; we take it as a learning experience,” Lucansky said. “It’s not too bad to get knocked off your pedestal once in a while to bring you back to earth.
“We’ve been bowling well, and we still bowled well, but it just wasn’t good enough. Maybe a little more focus, sharpen up the edge a little bit … we don’t mind at all.”
Mowls knows his team is eyeing a run at the Federal League title with eight matches remaining. He is hoping for more.
“I want a lot of stuff for these kids,” said Mowls, who led the Lake girls to their first state appearance in 2024. “I want this team to make it to Columbus, but it won’t be an easy road.”
Altimore knows he saw five of the top girls teams in the Northeast District — Boardman, Struthers, Green and Fairport Harbor — in the stepladder finals.
“This is why we travel all over … to battle teams like this. Those are four powerhouse teams,” Altimore said. “But confidence and health also are key. Health is always an issue and that’s been the rough part.”
NOTEBOOK: In the boys division, Green secured the final stepladder spot with 2,840, shooting 234 and 224 in Games 13 and 14, to finish 65 pins ahead of Minerva (2,775) and 67 ahead of Fairport Harbor. … Hubbard posted the high Baker game of the day in the boys division with 257 in Game 2. … Struthers gained the final stepladder spot in the girls division with 2,567, shooting 237 its final game. Minerva was sixth with 2,274. … Fairport Harbor had games of 238 and 232 to lead the girls while Perry had 233.
17TH ANNUAL STRUTHERS SUPER BOWL BLOWOUT
(Saturday, at Holiday Bowl, Struthers)
BOYS
Qualifying results
(After 15 Baker System games; top five advance to stepladder finals)
1, Boardman 3,154; 2, Lake 3,037; 3, Hubbard 2,926, 4, Perry JV 2,863, 5, Green 2,840, 6, Minerva 2,775; 7, Fairport Harbor Harding 2,773; 8, Struthers 2,736; 9, Canton McKinley 2,732; 10, Jackson 2,678; 11, Louisville 2,641; 12, Austintown Fitch 2,630; 13, Boardman JV 2,629; 14, North Canton Hoover 2,613; 15, Perry 2,602; 16, Howland 2,641; 17, Lakeview 2,459; 18, Canfield 2,444
Stepladder finals
Match 1: Perry JV (185-198-200) d. Green (245-164-158) 2-1
Match 2: Perry JV (223-185-213) d. Hubbard (185-202-148) 2-1
Match 3: Lake (222-204) d. Perry JV (203-159) 2-0
Championship: Lake (222-204) d. Perry JV (203-159) 2-0
GIRLS
Qualifying results
(After 15 Baker System games; top five advance to stepladder finals)
1, Perry 2,889; 2, Fairport Harbor Harding 2,740; 3, Green 2,738; 4, Boardman’s 2,655; 5, Struthers 2,567; 6, Minerva 2,274; 7, Austintown Fitch 2,266; 8, Howland 2,112; 9, Canton McKinley 2,091; 10, Hubbard 2,073; 11, Lake 2,033; 12, Louisville 1,971; 13, Lakeview 1,941; 14, North Canton Hoover 1,909; 15, Jackson 1,852; 16, St. Joseph Academy 1,829; 17, Canfield 1,575
Stepladder finals
Match 1: Boardman (202-210) d. Struthers (182-155) 2-0
Match 2: Boardman (233-202) d. Green (176-164) 2-0
Match 3: Boardman (232-208) d. Fairport Harbor Harding (191-160)
Championship: Perry (219-188) d. Boardman (151-184)