By BILL SNIER
CANTON — One thing Roger Webb always has expressed is his love for his “boys.”
The Stark County USBC and Stark County High School Bowling Congress Hall of Famer refers to his former Perry High School players always as “his boys.”
One of of those boys, 33-year-old Louisville right-hander Adam Kutz, who bowled four years for Webb at Perry and also is a SCHSBC Hall of Famer, teamed up with his former coach during Saturday’s College Bowl Tournaments series 50-50 doubles at Eastbury Bowling Center.
It was a successful reunion.
Webb, a 59-year-old Perry Township right-hander, and Kutz were the No. 3 seed after the four-game qualifying round and went on to stop No. 4 seed Frank Testa and Mike Spitale Jr. 449-404 in the title match.
The former coach averaged 252.75 during qualifying, shot 263 in the semifinal match and then added 225 in the finals to lead the duo to victory.
“Lately, I have been making the wrong adjustments or the wrong ball choices. Today, the lanes just fell into place for me,” said Webb, who earned his first win in the CBT series. “I made the right choices and got a little confidence going.”
Asked about his day, Kutz said, “I shot a lot of spares.”
“I think I only missed the pocket four or five times during qualifying, but I had a lot of 10-pins,” said Kutz, whose lone previous CBT series win came in doubles with another former Perry player, Alex Lincoln. “I think I only missed one overall so I must have been about 15 for 16.”
Kutz averaged just 213.5 during qualifying, but shot 217 in the semifinals and added 224 in the title match.
“I was just trying not to let him down all day,” Webb said. “He was staying clean and it just made me focus that much harder.”
TESTA-SPITALE MAKE RUN
Testa and Spitale paired up together for just the first time in a CBT event. In the past, Testa had bowled with Mark Herdlick, who instead was participating in the PBA50-60 Doubles across town at Park Centre. Spitale’s partner had been Testa’s stepson, Cooper Smith.
After shooting just 416 in Game 4 of qualifying, Spitale admitted he was surprised the team made the cut to match play.
“I didn’t execute very well and combine that with going through the face five times and splitting five times with two pocket 7-10s … it was a very subpar four-game set,” said Testa, a 43-year-old Massillon right-hander and owner-operator of Ten Back Pro Shop who averaged 226.75 during qualifying.
Spitale, a 64-year-old Canton Township right-hander who averaged 236.2 during qualifying including a 289, said he was “just having fun bowling with Frankie.”
“The first part of the day fit my game,” Spitale said. “But at the end, not so much.”
In the semifinals, the pair combined to take out No. 1 seed Chase Barstow and Matt Frock 422-397, with Testa running off four strikes late to secure the win. Barstow, a Louisville two-handed righty who had the day’s lone 300 in Game 3 of qualifying, was unable to strike until throwing four in a row from the seventh frame into the 10th. Frock left a split early and finished with just four strikes overall.
In the other semifinal, Kutz struck on seven of his first eight shots around an open frame in the fifth and Webb had a string of eight strikes as the pair stopped J.D. Jones and Bob Eckenrode 480-438 to reach the finals.
TITLE MATCH
The strikes again came early and often for Kutz and Webb in the final match, with Webb starting with the front four and Kutz adding four in a row after an opening 10-pin spare.
Meanwhile, Testa and Spitale could manage only a double each through five frames on Lanes 11 and 12.
“Carry was the problem. It wasn’t too hard to get to the pocket, but when you watch the ball go through the pins as poorly as it does, it makes you try to manufacture ball reaction,” Testa said. “That’s where things really started to go downhill.
“This place has that brutality that once they start hooking, you think it would start to favor guys who can shape it a little more. But It actually makes it worse for them.”
Testa had just that one double, failing to convert a 2-4-5 spare in the sixth en route to 191. Spitale, who was able to string three strikes late, finished with 213 after failing to convert a 10-pin spare in the 10th frame.
“I just tried to move a little right and tried to throw it a little straighter and a little harder,” Spitale said. “But when I throw harder, I kind of hang up in my thumb and either double dribble it or get it out too far.”
For their part, Kutz and Webb had problems with Lane 11 the second half of the match, but did not have an open frame en route to shooting 224 and 225, respectively.
“To me, the pair wasn’t much different than the others, but even on Fridays, the middles are flooded and you can’t get too straight or it can get off line really quick,” said Kutz, who used all six of his bowling balls during the event. “I was just trying to find something to hit the pocket. I knew the scores weren’t going to be that high.”
Kutz, who settled on his Roto Grip X-cell for the title match, added, “the left lane hooked when I sat it down early … I moved and thought I threw it OK, but it was gone. Thankfully, it didn’t split.”
Webb had similar problems on Lane 11, leaving three straight spares.
“The right lane went a little longer, which surprised me. But the left lane started to hook. I made a move, but it hooked even harder,” said Webb, who used a Track Paragon Hybrid in the title match.
It was the best finish for Spitale in a CBT event while Testa has just one win to go with many top-five finishes.
“Mike threw it great all day. It’s a hard place for a person like me to really try to stay competitive with guys who throw it as well as Roger and Adam did today,” Testa said. “They deserved to win.
“It’s just one of those cases where I have to get better. If harder and straight is the way to go … I’m a little older than some of those young kids so you either have to adapt or die. Right now, I’m dying so I need to learn to adapt.”
You could tell the meaning of this win on Webb’s face when it was over.
“It’s just fun,” he added, “to get a win with one of my guys. I just love my guys.”
NOTEBOOK: The event drew just 15 doubles teams, with one player needing to be at least age 50 or older. … Frock and Barstow led qualifying with 1,940 total pinfall, finishing 41 pins ahead of Eckenrode and Jones. Jones, who lost a portion of a finger on his right hand following a work-related accident last year, now is using a two-handed delivery and finished with 949 during qualifying, an average of 237.25. … Frock and Barstow turned in the high game with 568 in Game 3, when Barstow had his 300 and Frock added 268. … The next CBT series event is singles, set for 10 a.m. Nov. 22 at AMF Hall of Fame Lanes with a $65 entry fee.
COLLEGE BOWL TOURNAMENTS 50-50 DOUBLES
(Saturday, at Eastbury Bowling Center, Canton)
Semifinals
(Single-game match; losing teams each receive $240)
4 Mike Spitale Jr. (185)-Frank Testa (237) d. 1 Matt Frock (184)-Chase Barstow (213) 422-397
3 Adam Kutz (217)-Roger Webb (263) d. 2 J.D. Jones (202)-Bob Eckende (236) 480-438
Championship
(Single-game match; winning team receives $600; Losing team receives $360)
Kutz (224)-Webb (225) d. Spitale (213)-Testa (191) 449-404
