By BILL SNIER
NORTH CANTON — A year ago, Joe Stauffer and Alex McCourry finished off the 2025-26 College Bowl Tournaments Series season with a regular doubles win.
In the first doubles event of the 2026-27 CBT season Saturday, the pair made series history at Park Centre Lanes.
Stauffer and McCourry teamed up to earn their second straight CBT Series doubles win, this time in an over age 50-under age 50 format, by shooting just five pins less than they did in April. It was a first in the CBT’s nine-year history.
But after rolling to a 126-pin win in the April event, the pair faced a tougher challenge against right-handers Jack Lenhart and Frank Testa before emerging with a 514-496 victory.
“This one was a lot closer,” said Stauffer, a 52-year-old Canton right-hander. “We watched what they did to the No. 1 seed and we knew we were going to have to step it up a bit.”
The duo finished as the No. 3 qualifier as McCourry, a 31-year-old Canton left-hander, led the pair with 980 while Stauffer finished at 917.
“The higher we moved in the house, the tighter the lanes got for me,” said Stauffer, who used his Roto Grip Wicked Gremlin all day and “just adjusted and went left when I had to and right when I had to.”
McCourry, who used the Storm Ion Pro Solid the first two games and then switched to the Storm Rocket AI, had little difficulty adjusting to pairs.
“I had to move maybe two or three boards across the house,” McCourry added.
It also helped that the pair had hit the title pair — lanes 27 and 28 — during the third qualifying game. McCourry shot 259 that game while Stauffer had 212.
“I just told him to remember what Game 3 was like … that it was really tight,” McCourry said. “We were able to stay ahead of it the rest of the game and struck when it mattered.”
During their semifinal match with No. 2 seed Tony Godden, a 50-year-old Franklin, Pa., right-hander, and Tim Jones Jr., a 47-year-old Cleveland two-handed righty, the pair had to battle into the 10th frame for the win.
Godden left just a 2-4-8-10 split in the second frame and struck on every other ball for 266, but Jones, who had shot 290 and 296 earlier in the day, had just one string of three strikes but also added a pair of open frames for 190.
Stauffer had his only double of the game in the 10th frame and McCourry struck on eight of his last nine shots to earn a 463-456 win to reach the finale.
ROLLOFF AND SEMIS
Testa and Lenhard struggled on the title pair during their final qualifying game, shooting just 441 to fall from first into a tie for the final qualifying spot with Dell Ray Jr. and Teroy Wade, who shot 467 the final game, at 1,889. It forced a ninth and 10th frame rolloff between the teams to advance. The former pair thought they had come up a couple of pins short of the cut.
Lenhart and Wade, the two seniors in the duos, both struck on all four of their shots. Ray left 7- and 10-pin spares while Testa had three straight strikes after staring with a 10-pin spare to give his team a 110-99 win and a semifinal berth.
The pair, which didn’t decide to bowl until Thursday night, went on a roll in the semifinals against top seeded Jeff Mowls, a 59-year-old Plain Township lefty, and Zach McCutchan, a 21-year-old Canton two-handed righty.
“I was supposed to bowl with Mark Herdlick, but (his wife) Mandy and I had plans. But those fell through and when I reached out to Mark, he had a family thing going on,” Testa said. “Jack came in the shop Thursday and I asked him if he was interested in bowling.”
“I wasn’t going to bowl, but I wanted to start bowling a lot more of these,” said Lenhart, who won a 2024 50-50 doubles event with Marissa Perrine at Eastbury. “So I went in to have work done on a bowling ball and he asked me. For being the last minute, we did pretty well.”
Lenhart and Testa missed on just four shots combined to finish with a 527-416 win. Mowls went without a double until the 10th frame and McCutchan was unable to string more than three strikes in a row at any point in the match.
Lenhart shot 955 during qualifying while Testa added 934.
“Frank lined me up all day long. We talked about whether to throw it straight or circle it,” said Lenhart, a 68-year-old Green right-hander. “Most of it was him … I was just asking what I should do.”
“I’m a firm believer that any team that has success communicates with each other,” said Testa, owner-operator of Ten Back Pro Shop at Park Center and a 44-year-old Massillon right-hander. “It doesn’t matter if you are right- or left-handed … if you have a partner who can see what is going on and sees the lane transition, its always benefits the team.”
TITLE MATCH
The two teams combined to shoot just one multi-pin spare in the finale. That was by Stauffer when he converted a 2-4-8 in the second frame.
Familiarity with the title pair was a benefit to both teams.
“Overall, it was just great execution. I will take 496 all day long in a final match and let the chips fall where they may,” said Testa, who shot 258 and left three 10-pin spares.
“On those back-to-back 10-pins I just got the ball in a little and overrolled it. I just told myself after that to make sure I got around the ball,” said Testa, who threw the final seven strikes. “There were some pairs where I had to roll it and others where it was more beneficial for me to get around it a little more.”
Lenhart left four 10-pin spares overall en route to 238.
“We did what we had to do,” Lenhart added, “but sometimes the bowling gods don’t want you to strike.
“I just like to compete. It was a lot of fun all day long, getting to watch the kids I’m following just rev it up and throw it. It gets me pumped up to beat them. Frank just pured every shot that last game.”
Stauffer struck on eight of his final nine shots, leaving 7- and 4-pin spares en route to 249. McCourry left just a 6-pin in the first and a 7-pin in the midst of striking on 10 of his final 11 shots for 265.
“I could tell when I was going leave something,” Stauffer said, “but we adjusted when we had to. That seven-count, I just overthrew it a bit.
“The title pair was about 10 boards left from where I was in the semifinals. It dove on me. But when I went left, I was able to make it work a lot better. But when I opened the lane, I really had to stay behind it. The final pair, I just had two bump a little right and stay firm.”
McCourry said bowling on that pair earlier was a key.
“We were able to sniff it out quickly,” McCourry said. “When Joe left that 7-pin (seventh frame), I just told him to remember Game 3 when everything was really tight.”
And how about winning two of these doubles in a row?
“It’s just as good as any other,” McCourry said.
But the “other” is becoming a habit in the CBT.
NOTEBOOK: The event drew 24 doubles teams. … Mowls and McCutchan topped the field with 1,914 total pinfall, finishing just seven pins ahead of Godden and Jones. The cut was at 1,889 producing the rolloff after a tie. … The final cash spot went to Tony Sutcliffe and Jack Wells at 1,835, finishing just one pin ahead of Gary Liber and Troy Wilt and three ahead of Roger Webb and Katelynn Eldred (1,832), one of only two women in the field. … Senior Frank Kaczyński had the lone 300 in Game 4 of qualifying with Jones adding 296. … The high junior series was by Jones with 1,056 (264 average), followed by Matt Fowler with 991 and McCutchan with 990. High senior series belonged to Wade with 972, followed by Lenhart’s 955. … The next CBT series event will be a singles at 10 a.m. Nov. 21 at Eastbury Bowling Center with a four-game qualifier followed by match play. Entry fee is $65. See https://www.facebook.com/groups/1732438633645945 for details.
COLLEGE BOWL TOURNAMENTS OVER 50-UNDER 50
(Saturday, at Park Centre Lanes,, North Canton)
Semifinals
(Single-game elimination; losing teams receive $250; seed)
Jack Lenhart (259)-Frank Testa (268) d. Jeff Mowls (191)-Zach McCutchan (225) 527-416
Joe Stauffer (222)-Alex McCourry (241) d. Tony Godden (266)-Tim Jones Jr. (190) 463-456
Championship
(Single-game elimination; losing team receives $500, winning team receives $800)
Stauffer (249)-McCourry (265) d. Lenhart (238)-Testa (258) 514-496
Other cashers
(With four-game qualifying totals; each team receives $150)
5, Teroy Wade-Dell Ray Jr. 1,889 total pinfall (lost in two-frame rolloff to Lenhart-Testa 110-99); 6, Frank Kaczynski-Nathan Sommers 1,879; 7, Eddie Prowell-Matt Fowler 1,870; 8, Tony Sutcliffe-Jack Wells 1,835
