By BILL SNIER
CANTON — There is a lot to be said about familiarity with an opponent.
Sometimes, it can be good; sometimes, not.
Joe Stauffer and Alex McCourry faced that challenge Saturday during the final College Bowl Tournaments regular-season event for the 2025-26 season, a regular doubles at Eastbury Bowling Center.
Stauffer, a 52-year-old Canton right-hander, and McCourry, a 30-year-old Canton lefty, faced off against 24-year-old two-handed Perry Township righty Jordan Norris and 51-year-old Canal Fulton righty Matt Frock. Stauffer and Frock are teammates in the Liberty Vending league at Eastbury.
“I know how they bowl,” Stauffer said about the pair, who also are teammates in the Northeast Ohio Travel League. “If they get lined up and we don’t carry, we’re in trouble. We just happened to get lucky that game.”
It was Stauffer and McCourry who had the carry in the title match on Lanes 11-12, with the former stringing the first five strikes and the latter missing just once in the game en route to a 519-394 win.
“There was a comfortability factor there,” said McCourry, who won a CBT singles event earlier this season at Eastbury. “But sometimes, that just means you want to beat them just a little bit more.”
Stauffer and McCourry were the qualifying leaders, but did not ascend to that spot until the final game of qualifying, when the pair combined for 515 to finish with 1,962 over four games, earning the top spot over Frock and Norris by 25 pins.
“We had kind of a shaky start. They seemed to be playing way tighter than they had the past month or two,” McCourry said. “We were just trying to get (Stauffer) comfortable. He did that in the second game and we were able to click off a couple of big ones at the end.”
After starting with 203 out of the gate, Stauffer shot 728 the rest of the way on the Eastbury house oil pattern while McCourry, after a 216 in Game 2, went 279 and 268 his final two. The lefty led the tournament individually with 1,031 (257.75 average).
FROCK-NORRIS START STRONG
Frock and Norris led after the first three qualifying games before falling to second despite shooting 475 in Game 4. The former started the day with 300, the lone one of the tournament.
In fact, the pair originally was not supposed bowl together.
“We were heading to Inter-City when Chase (Barstow) reminded me of this tournament. I was supposed to go to New York for a wedding so I told him I couldn’t,” Norris said. “But the wedding got canceled that day and the next morning when I told him I could bowl, he said he already had another partner.
“So Matt asked me and I agreed. I wasn’t even planning to bowl at all.”
Neither was Frock — until he asked Norris.
“How could you not want to bowl with him?” Frock asked.
And Norris was the spark plug in the semifinals against Canton’s Troy Workman and Akron’s Justin Edens. After a spare in the opening frame, he ran off the next 11 in a row for 290 to overshadow Frock’s 181 with just five strikes for a 471-421 win.
Meanwhile, Stauffer was able to rally after leaving splits on his first two shots in the semifinal match against Devone Johnson and Rob Weary. He then threw seven in a row after a spare in the third frame to key a 449-414 win.
“That first pair, they were hooking and I had a lot of over-under with how deep I went,” Stauffer said. “So I switched balls, squared up and ran off seven in a row.”
Weary, on three strikes in a row entering the 10th frame, left a 7-pin on his opening shot to prevent a rally.
TITLE MATCH
But the title match was all Stauffer and McCourry.
Norris had a pair of doubles through six frames, but Frock was unable to strike until the sixth — when he ran off four in a row.
“It got touchy for me. It would either skid or hook,” said Norris, who finished with 206. “I had to be perfect, but I didn’t throw it perfect.”
“I just didn’t throw it well. I made a big move to the left and I had to get around it because it was so wishy-washy inside,” said Frock, who finished with 188. “If I missed I, it slid and if I got out of it, I stoned something. I did find something, but it was way too late.”
Stauffer did have an open in the sixth frame, but finished with 240 to go with McCourry’s 279.
“We just seem to bowl well together,” said Stauffer, whose last win came in a singles event at Legacy Lanes in Coshocton last season. “I don’t think we’ve ever finished lower than fifth.”
Stauffer made the move to the Roto Grip Exotic Gem in the semifinals while McCourry used his Motive Max Thrill Solid about “75 percent” of the time.
Frock echoed his opponent’s comments from his team’s standpoint.
“You can’t make mistakes against tense guys,” Frock said. “If you do, they make you pay.”
They did — and they did.
NOTEBOOK: The event drew 27 doubles teams. … In addition to McCourry’s 1,031, Weary (1,004) and Ryan Trowbridge (1,003) shot over 1,000 individually. … Three 279s also were shot by McCourry, Dane Coast and Vincent Ludwig. … The CBT Singles finale is set for 10 a.m. May 9 at AMF Hall of Fame Lanes. Only players who have bowled in at least four events this season are eligible to participate. … First place paid $950, with the final cash spots earning $150 each
COLLEGE BOWL TOURNAMENTS REGULAR DOUBLES
(Saturday, at Eastbury Bowling Center, Canton)
Semifinals
(Losing teams earn $250 per team)
No. 1 Joe Stauffer (234)-Alex McCourry (215) d. No. 4 Devone Johnson (217)-Rob Weary (207) 449-414
No, 2 Matt Frock (181)-Jordan Norris (290) d. Justin Edens (233)-Troy Workman (188) 471-421.
Championship
(Winner earns $950 per team; loser receives $540)
Stauffer (240)-McCourry (279) d. Frock (188)-Norris (206) 519-394.
Other cashers
(Based on four-game qualifying totals; each receives $150 per team)
5, John Randolph-Ryan Trowbridgd 1,878; 6, Brian Ball-Rich Elliott III 1,859; 7, Vincent Ludwig-Chase Barstow 1,853; 8, Mitch Miller- Ray Cook 1,846.
