By BILL SNIER
COLUMBUS — A year ago after a semifinal loss to Avon Lake, Ashland coach Jim Brown acknowledged the weight on the shoulders of his veteran team.
“Let’s just say the target on our backs is real big … it covers the whole back,” Brown said after the 3-1 loss.
But one day — and one big win — can change it all.
The Arrows, who were making their seventh overall state appearance, captured their first OHSAA Division I Boys State Championship title Saturday with a 3-0 sweep of top-seeded Boardman at HP Lanes.
No. 3 seed Ashland — state runner-up twice, most recently to Kettering Fairmont in 2021 — had made the cut the last three years only to come up short each time.
How much weight did this take off of the program?
“A lot. I think going into this, this team had the most pressure on it,” Brown said. “They have talked about this team since most of these kids were in the seventh grade.
“They have to understand that teams bowl a little better against better teams. But they stepped up today and the pressure did not get to them. They kept their composure and showed a lot of moxie.”
Boardman ended the Arrows’ tourney run in 2022 with a 3-0 sweep in the quarterfinals. But the Spartans knew what they were up against entering this year’s finals.
“That team is fantastic. They throw it great,” Boardman coach John Lucansky said. “Coming in against them we knew what we had to do, and we just couldn’t get it done.”
Ashland had to endure a tough semifinal matchup against defending state champion Beavercreek that went five games despite the Arrows not throwing a game under 217.
“It was back and forth the whole match. We had a couple of ringing 10s and they had us going into the last ball,” said Brown, whose Arrows trailed by three pins heading into the 10th frame.
But Beavercreek, needing a double to preserve a win after Arrows anchor Max Oeken struck out, left a 1-3-6-7 washout on the second ball.
“They dropped the last ball a little and it six-counted. If he doubles, it’s over. But he didn’t,” Brown said.
Oeken, a junior two-handed righty, knew the situation.
“Honestly, not much,” Oeken said when asked about the pressure of the moment. “I was just in my zone, going through the routines and trying not to think about it. I was just going to do what I do and execute.”
BOARDMAN’S RUN
The Spartans, who led the tournament from Game 2 of qualifying on with 4,311 total pinfall, struggled at the start in their opening match against No. 8 seed Cincinnati LaSalle. They shot 153 (loss) and 168 (a win) in their first two games.
“We thought we had the fresh stuff figured out. We kind of had a plan with the stuff laying all day and flattened a while,” Lucansky sad. “Then we go 150, 160 and luckily we won one of those. But then things started coming around.
“We kind of figured it out, they loosened up and started throwing it real good.”
Boardman went 225-226 to close out that match and then had games of 229, 237 and 237 in a 3-1 win over No. 4 seed Cleveland St. Ignatius.
“Against a team like Ignatius, we knew we had to keep striking,” Lucansky said. “That’s what you have to do against teams like that. Unfortunately, in the title match we didn’t have enough.”
The Spartans actually closed qualifying with Baker games of 149 and 160, but maintained their lead.
“We were throwing it pretty good, caught the differences in the pairs really quickly and made adjustments really quickly,” Lucansky said. “Then we got into Bakers and the first three were real big. The last two … I don’t know, maybe we ran out of gas a little bit. The break came at a great time for us.”
TITLE MATCH
It was Boardman that got off to the hot start in Game 1 of the championship match with the front four strikes.
But after a spare in the fifth frame, the Spartans had three straight opens, including a pair of missed spares.
Ashland didn’t have a strike until the fifth frame, but followed that one with two more before leaving back-to-back spares in the eighth and ninth. It was Oeken who sealed the deal in the 10th frame by striking out for a 212-191 win.
Boardman again had a hot start in Game 2, striking on six of its first seven shots. But open frames hit the Spartans again late with a 2-4-8-10 split in the ninth and a missed 10-pin in the 10th frame.
But Ashland, after a 2-10 split in the second frame, had a double, two spares and then ran of the final six strikes — the final three again by Oeken — for a 235-212 win.
Both teams rolled big to start Game 3. After spares in the first frame for both, the teams each ran off six strikes in a row.
Boardman was stopped by a 4-9 split in the eighth; Ashland didn’t quit until the 10th frame when Oeken left a solid 9-pin. By then, the match had been decided with the Arrows earning a 263-224 win and the title.
“Honestly, I don’t have words for this … it’s surreal for sure,” said Oeken, who finished third individually with a 727 series to earn All-Ohio honors. “This is our third year going after this and our last year with Brantyn (Long). There are not many words to describe this feeling.”
Junior Landon Dreibelbis also earned All-Ohio honors, finishing 13th with a 673 series. Junior Mikey McKinney added 610, junior Luke Rhine had 596 and Long finished with 585.
“We had a couple of bad breaks and maybe if some things fall our way maybe things change,” said Lucansky, whose team was trying to duplicate the Spartans girls 2024 title win. “But they were really good and all the credit goes to them.”
Boardman also had a pair of All-Ohioans with junior Jessy McCutcheon finishing eighth with 691 and senior Austin Rule 12th with 680. Senior Don Bagdassarian tied for the final All-Ohio spot with 665, but lost on a high-game tiebreaker to Cincinnati LaSalle’s Jace Amann 269-257. Sophomore Ben Hildebrand also had 648 for the Spartans.
“We lose a couple of key guys, but we’ll be back,” Lucansky said.
The Arrows captured the 2024 U.S. High School National Championship in Lancaster, Pa. They plan to make another run at it in June.
“The state title means more to me personally,” said Brown, whose team came out of the Northwest District. “For me, it’s like winning on our home track. And all these trophies are heading to Northeast Ohio.”
The Arrows lose just Long to graduation, with junior Adam Reynolds waiting in the wings to replace him.
“Adam has some big shoes to fill,” Brown said. “But I think our guys are progressively getting better anyway. Now, we want to go back and win another national title.”
Oeken feels this win will provide momentum heading into next year — and prove some of the “haters” wrong.
“This does take the pressure off. We could win every tournament out there, but there are still going to be some haters if we win or not,” Oeken said. “But we proved them wrong and that makes me feel good.”
PRAISE FOR FANS
Brown also had praise for fans watching the match play.
“Everyone in this crowd was very respectful. We’ve been coming here for a lot of years and it hasn’t been like that,” Brown said. “We had years in the past where we had yelling or making noises in people’s backswings. But this was different.
“We try to teach these guys respect in this sport. This year it was different, and maybe that will change people for next year.”
NOTEBOOK: Boardman’s three-game total of 3,302 broke the Division I state record for that category of 3,273 set by Akron Springfield in 2016. Its 1,163 in Game 2 along with Beavercreek’s 1,162 and Wapakoneta’s 1,170, both in Game 1, now rank second, third and fourth all-time in Division I state boys play. Springfield also owns that mark of 1,173. … A packed house continued Saturday with 750 tickets sold, but there appeared to be plenty more than that in the building. … Although no contract has been signed, tournament officials feel the event will return to HP Lanes in 2026. The center will be under construction in the coming weeks with new lanes being installed.