By BILL SNIER
AKRON — The eighth edition of the revamped Akron Open Singles features a cross-section of bowlers at the top of the leaderboard.
But beginning at 9 a.m. Sunday, they all go back to zero again — and it’s down to man against man when the lights come on.
Sixty-four players made the cut to Sunday’s match-play rounds at Station 300. Matches will be two-game cumulative totals by seed, with the opening group being reduced by half each round until two remain to bowl for the title.
This is a change from the previous years since tournament promoter Jody Boyd restarted the longtime Summit County major event that originally began in 1980 at the former Colonial Village Lanes.
“Colonial Village was always a bit of a bear for me,” said 43-year-old Massillon right-hander and Ten Back Pro Shop owner-operator Frank Testa, who had two appearances in the top 16 at the original Akron Open without a stepladder appearance. “That’s why I liked to bowl there. The lanes were just so tough.”
Testa, who was denied a chance to bowl for the title a year ago by a stubborn 9-pin in the 10th frame against runner-up Bryce Franz, finished sixth overall after six qualifying games — fourth on the 161-player second shift — to reach today’s match play.
George Gohagan III, a 43-year-old Las Vegas left-hander, led the overall field with 1,525 total pinfall, a 254.1 average. He finished 73 pins ahead of second-place and second-shift leader Dustin Sword (1,472), a 35-year-old Medina right-hander who made the cut in the event for the first time.
The remainder of the top six brings a variety of combatants:
- Andres Gonzalez (1,471), a 30-year-old Sterling Heights, Mich., two-handed lefty;
- Vicktor Varner (1,442), a 46-year-old Akron left-hander;
- Elliott Gordon (1,426), a 17-year-old Columbus Whetstone High School senior and two-handed lefty who won the Junior Gold U15 division title in 2024; and
- Testa (1,425), who finished second once in the former Akron Open Doubles at Colonial Village with partner Darrel Ratliff.
Gohagan isn’t sure how he feels about the new format until he actually participates in the match-play portion.
“It really doesn’t matter how you bowled today, which is kind of a bad situation,” said Gohagan, who had his 285th career 300 during the early shift. “You would like to be rewarded for how you bowled (Saturday).
“You could catch a guy whose hot and bowls 550 or catch a guy who’s not. It’s kind of a crap shoot.”
To see our recap of the opening shift go to: https://snieronbowling.com/2026/08/29/akron-open-singles-lefties-gohagan-gonzales-top-first-shift-qualifying-at-station-300/
Sword didn’t bowl either the trio or doubles satellite events Thursday and Friday, but drilled up some new equipment for the singles. He used a Storm Level, Concept and Bionic during the competition.
“I wanted to give this house a smooth back end reaction. When I had to move left, I just went to a nice hybrid to give me a big look and stayed away from the splits,” said Sword, a commercial sales manager for Auto Zone.
“Honestly, other than one pair, they all played pretty consistently. The left lane was hooking a little less than the right on the pairs, but it was consistent.”
LESSON PAYS OFF
Testa, who also had a top-eight finish during last week’s Ohio Masters in Columbus, credits a lesson he had with USBC Hall of Famer and PBA champion Mike Shady for his recent success.
“Things are really clicking right now. I went to see Mike Shady a few weeks ago and my swing just keeps getting loser and loser and the scores keep getting higher and higher,” Testa said. “He really loosened up my swing … I was using way too much muscle.
“We had planned about a two-hour less and he fixed me in about 15 minutes. It was awesome.”
Testa saw more hook out of lanes than he did a year ago during his run to the stepladder finals.
“I felt like the middle part of the lane was hooking more than last year. I wasn’t able to start as far right as I wanted to,” Testa added. “Once I got far enough left, I didn’t have to make a whole lot ofd moves. It was just a matter of avoiding big mistakes and making spares. That was the key.”
After a 199 in Game 2, Testa averaged 241.7 over his final four games.
The funny thing is, despite his 2025 success, he was not planning on bowling this weekend.
“I wasn’t going to bowl. I just came up to watch (stepson) Cooper (Smith) because I knew the field was full,” Testa said. “But there happened to be a couple of openings on the shift and Jody (Boyd) approached me. So why not give it a swing?”
Sword has a simple game plan coming into match play.
“Just come in and start by taking the Level up the boards off the rip,” Sword said. “If I can’t carry, move a little left and go to the Bionic, which gave me a better look later in the day.”
But, as Testa said, it’s a “whole new tournament” starting at 9 a.m. Sunday.
“I have to be as aggressive as possible with the pins all being dropped. If I perform the way I did today, I like my chances,” Testa said. “When scores are high, you have to hope you don’t run into a buzzsaw.
“I hope I’m the buzzsaw (Sunday).”
NOTEBOOK: Of the 64 players who made the cut to Sunday’s match play, 37 came off the afternoon shift. … Tony Preston earned the final cut spot with 1,330, shooting 248 his final game following a 300 in Game 5 to move up the ladder. Twelve other players were within 10 pins, including Ratliff, who was the youngest Akron Open champion in its early history whlle winning at age 21. He missed by nine pins, shooting only 157 in Game 5. … Triway High School graduate Aeron Meshew, who also made the cut in 11th place overall, had the shift’s other 300. There were four 300s during the opening shift, which had 156 bowlers. … Canton’s Michael Thewes, one-third of the co-champion trio team from Thursday, shot just 192 his final game but made the cut by just two pins and Jackson Township’s T.J. Charles made it by four in 62nd place. … Also surviving was Ohio Masters champion Simon Mote, who finished 56th. … Three players, Jonathan Kleer, Sam Dewitt and Selina Good, withdrew during play on the second shift. Good pulled out due to injury after one game while Kleer and Dewitt pulled out after completing four games.
AKRON OPEN MATCH-PLAY PAIRINGS
(Two-game cumulative match play; with lanes following pairings)
Right side of bracket
1.George Gohagan III vs Tony Preston 3-4
2.Jordan Blair vs Jeffery Scott 3-4
3.Hayden Tarris vs Chad Roberts 5-6
4.Dylan Jablonski vs Jacob Balser 5-6
5.Shawn Curtis vs Brian Green 7-8
6.Roger Adams vs Zach Smeal 7-8
7.Anthony Neuer vs Simon Mote 9-10
8.Matt Zitnikvs Phil Drumm 9-10
9.Vicktor D Varner vs Brian McMahon 11-12
10.Itai Yancey vs Zeke Bayt 11-12
11.Jarrett Buckenroth Va Blake Mushen 13-14
12.Trent Pektas vs Aj Wolstenholme 13-14
13.Elliott Gordon vs Russell Duckjr 15-16
14.Don Hipkiss vs Aj Rice 15-16
15.Jacob Johnson vs Kyle Brooks 17-18
16.Bryce Oliver vs Johnny Priest 17-18
Left side of bracket
17.Dustin Sword vs Mike Thewes 19-20
18.Jordan Nunn vs Jason Bowles 19-20
19.Charles Brown vs Nick Kightlinger 21-22
20.Terrence Mathis vs Matthew Richards 21-22
21.LeAndre Thomas vs Lewis Stansbury 23-24
22.Conrad Chapple vs Dean Vargo 23-24
23.Tuna Böncü vs Scott Miles 27-28
24.Charlie Zelechowski vs Aj McCoy 27-28
25.Andre Gonzales vs TJ Charles 29-30
26Tim Jones vs Jesse Hawkins 29-30
27. Michael Turiana vs. Steve Pennington 31-32
28. Andrew Smith vs. Chris Steele 31-32
29, Frank Testa vs. Daniel Robertson 33-34
30. Ryan Speer vs. Graham Fach 33-34
31. Aeron Meshew vs. Phil Cooney 35-36
32. Austin Robison vs. Meeco Walker 35-36
