By BILL SNIER
CANTON — Josh Haddad had witnessed Michael Thewes’ spare-shooting escapades first-hand during the 2024-25 fall-winter bowling season.
So when the 35-year-old Perry Township left-hander had to make a 10th frame 7-pin spare Saturday to clinch the College Bowl Tournaments series doubles, his partner knew the situation.
“He had kind of gone in spurts all season on that spare,” said Haddad, who was captain of the Northeast Ohio Travel League’s RJ Flooring team that included Thewes.
“The night of the rolloff (in the NEOTL) he was making them all. I think maybe he missed one all day today.”
The pair’s trio team finished as runner-up in the NEOTL rolloff finals. They moved one step up in their first CBT series doubles appearance.
With Thewes converting the 7-pin spare in the title match, he and Haddad were able to stop former Perry High School teammates Adam Kutz and Adam Webb 461-455 to claim the victory at AMF Hall of Fame Lanes.
Ironically, due to work schedule conflicts during the Saturday monthly series, both Thewes and Webb were making their first series appearances. Haddad (with J.D. Jones) and Kutz (with Alex Lincoln) had won previously with different partners.
After Haddad had struck on his first ball in the 10th frame and added a 10-pin spare for 217, Thewes needed to mark to earn the title.
“I was going up there and telling myself, ‘just mark,’ ” said Thewes, a 35-year-old left-hander who also graduated from Perry. “Then I saw the 7-pin and I have to make that to win. I don’t want to do this.
“I’ve got to say I’ve been horrible at shooting them all season. It’s easily the worst aspect of my game.”
But as he had all day, Thewes converted the spare and added a strike for the final margin, finishing with 244.
PERRY DUO’S RUN
Webb and Kutz never dropped lower than third during the four-game qualifying round, with the former finishing with 994 (including games of 267 and 269) and the latter starting with 279 and finishing with 971. Their low game was 430 in Game 2, when they dropped to third after leading following Game 1 with 546
“He had a great look all day. I really didn’t move much. I just balled down and stayed in the same area,” said Webb, a 31-year-old Perry Township right-hander who bowled two years with Kutz in high school.
“I pretty much just stayed out of trouble, hit the pocket and carried,” said Kutz, a 33-year-old Louisville right-hander.
After leading qualifying with 1,965 total pinfall, the pair faced off against Scott Vandegrift and Kevin Schott in their opening match. The latter pair had shot a tourney-high 548 in the final qualifying game, including 300 from Schott, to earn the final match-play spot by just 11 pins.
Schott started out with the first five strikes as the pair moved to the early lead. But Kutz threw the last four strikes and Webb had the last four out of five as the pair combined for a 473-449 semifinal win.
NO. 3 AFTER QUALIFYING
Haddad and Thewes never dropped below fourth during qualifying, with Thewes leading the way with 962 (high game of 269) and Haddad at 936 after starting the day with 290.
“He found it a little better than I did. We started off pretty well in qualifying, but then we hit a bit of a rough stretch in the middle,” said Haddad, a 41-year-old Perry Township right-hander. “But then we ended kind of strong.”
They faced Brett and Alex McCourry in the semifinals and got on a roll again.
Thewes left only a 7-pin in the third frame while running strikes until an 11th frame split en route to 274 while Haddad finished with seven strikes for 259 as the pair advanced with a 533-464 win.
“Against Brett and Alex, we just wound up in the right part of the lane. We were real comfortable with where we were playing and we got some good carry,” Haddad said.
TITLE MATCH
Both Webb and Thewes started the title match with four strikes in a row, and Kutz struck son four of his first five shots. But after a strike on his opening ball, Haddad left back-to-back 10-pin spares.
“Those first few balls I threw were terrible. The ball was just rolling out and I didn’t know what I was doing wrong,” Haddad said. “Luckily, I snapped out of it and got back on it.”
Webb’s streak ended with a 4-6-7-10 split in the fifth frame. Thewes extended his run to five in a row before leaving his own 4-6-10 split in the sixth.
But Haddad was able to run of three strikes in a row and stay clean the rest of the way.
Kutz also stayed clean, finishing with three doubles in the game.
“On that pair (Lanes 11-12), I had to get a little more left and go a little harder to get it around the corner,” Kutz said. “It was crazy different.”
After his split in the fifth, Webb followed with a double before leaving a 7-pin in the eighth frame. But he failed to convert before finishing with four strikes in a row for 232. Kutz added a 6-10 spare and strike for 223.
“It always comes down to one spare, even though I didn’t know it at the time,” Webb said. “It’s like a walk in baseball … you can bet that runner is going to come round to score. It was my bad and I knew it was going to come back and bite me.”
Haddad struck on his first shot in the 10th and followed with a 10-pin spare for 217 to set Thewes up for the climatic finish — and the key 7-pin.
“I asked Mike to do this earlier, but with the postponement, our work schedules didn’t collide so we were off at the same time,” Haddad said. “He basically grew up in this house, so I knew he would have a good matchup and give us a good chance to win.”
NOTEBOOK: There were 25 teams in the field after this event had been postponed in April due to center problems. This was the final regular-season event in the College Bowl Tournaments series, with the finale set for May 31 at Park Centre Lanes in North Canton. … Schott and Brett McCourry had the lone 300s of the day, with McCourry turning in the high four-game series of 1,019, an average of 254.75. McCourry also had a 288 in Game 2 en route to finishing with 803 for his first three games. … Schott and Vandegrift posted the high game with 548. … Jack Wells also had 297. … The finale will be a singles event for players who have bowled in at least four CBT series events this season, with $1,800 being added to the prize fund. Entry fee is $65. Tournament director Jeff DiMarzio will announce the eligible players later. … Vandegrift and Schott finished with 1,889 to earn the final cut spot, with Tony Godden and Ray Cook falling short by 11 pins (1,878). … The final cash spot went to Nick Kightlinger and Matt Ballard with 1,788 in eighth position, claiming the spot by 35 pins.
COLLEGE BOWL TOURNAMENTS DOUBLES
(Saturday, at AMF Hall of Fame Lanes, Canton)
Semifinals
(Losing teams win $250)
Adam Kutz (236)-Adam Webb (237) d. Scott Vandegrift (247)-Kevin Schott (202) 473-449
Josh Haddad (259)-Michael Thewes (274) d. Brett McCourry (216)-Alex McCourry (248) 533-464
Championship
(Winning team wins $800; losing team wins $500)
Haddad (217)-Thewes (244) d. Kutz (223)-Webb (232) 461-455
Other cashers
(With total pinfalls; each team receives $150)
5, Tony Godden-Ray Cook 1,878; 6, Chase Barstow-Joe Hostetler 1,864; 7, Tony Confalone-Chance Mattern 1,798; 8, Nick Kightlinger-Matt Ballard 1,788