Boys Singles Finals: No Pins to Spare
March 4, 2012
BATTLE CREEK – No one said becoming the first-ever two-time boys MHSAA Singles champ would be easy.
But after the winning the Division 1 title as a sophomore, Davison senior Taylor Greene took home top honors for the second time by defeating Lake Orion senior Kevin Yang on Saturday at M-66 Bowl in a match that came down to the last frame.
Greene almost didn’t have a chance to get that coveted second title after struggling in the first four games of qualifying. Standing 70 pins short of the cut line and in 40th place, he rolled games of 223 and 235 just to get into a roll-off for the 16th and final afternoon match play spot.
But Greene stayed hot, and a 256 roll-off score sent him to the match play and started a run to the championship match.
“The lanes kind of opened up, and I knew I had the shot to do it,” Greene said. “I was one of the few that were able to go that deep and turn it a lot.”
Greene opened the championship match with a 258, but Yang kept pace with a 229. When Yang failed to double in the 10th frame of Game 2, the door was open for Greene – a mark and eight would seal the win.
“I knew I just needed a mark to beat him,” Greene said. “I was hoping it wasn’t a 10-pin because I missed one before that.”
In fact, it was a 10-pin. But this time, Greene promptly buried it and followed up with a strike to seal the historic championship, 438-435.
“Wow, it means a lot. That’s crazy. I never thought I would,” Greene said of adding his second title. “Last year, I had a good run at it. I dominated the field, but bowled bad after the re-oil.
"But this year, I’m glad I got to redeem myself.”
Division 2 at Century Lanes
WATEFORD – Let Wyoming Rogers junior Derek Nyenhuis stand as the example for any bowler who squeaks into the final spot of match play at an MHSAA Final.
Your run might be just beginning.
Nyenhuis made the Division 2 match play Saturday by a mere nine pins. But he proceeded to down the top seed by 18, his Quarterfinal opponent by 70 and eventually New Boston Huron’s Terry Bonner 426-340 in the Final.
"It feels awesome. I just worked hard through this whole thing,” Nyenhuis said.
“To tell you the truth, the seeding I don't think is a big deal. It just depends on how good the bowler is at the end."
He nearly fell into another slow start in the championship match before finding his shot.
"The first game I started off bad and made a ball adjustment and then threw seven in a row,” Nyenhuis said. “So I was up 60, but I just kept telling myself we were tied."
Division 3 at Airport Lanes
JACKSON – This already had been a memorable season for Grand Rapids West Catholic. But Trent Clark added a finishing stroke Saturday.
Clark pulled off arguably the gutsiest run of the Singles Finals, winning his first three matches by four, eight and 11 pins before downing Caro’s Jarred Pretzer 376-324 in the finale.
“This is the best group of kids you could ask for. Trent Clark did an amazing job this season,” West Catholic coach Mike Hall said. “He finished with a 220 average for the season and a high game of 289. He works every day on his game and strives to be the best.
“West Catholic won their conference for the first time in school history, and now Trent is the first to become state champ in school history.”
Division 4 at Century Lanes
WATERFORD – Sandusky senior Tyler Johnston qualified for the MHSAA Singles Finals all four of his high school seasons. One more day wasn't going to keep him from winning the Division 4 title.
Johnston also made the match play for the fourth time Sunday, and survived two and four-pin wins before defeating Rogers City's Zach Hazel 424-371 in the Final.
"The brown out yesterday was a very long day," said Sandusky coach and Tyler's dad Jeremy Johnston, noting the power outage at Sunnybrook Lanes that moved Division 4 competition back one day and to a different center. "I know all three of my boys that qualified for singles did not bowl well Friday and were happy to hear the tournament was moved, even though it was a long wait.
"We have only bowled at Century Lanes once, and didn't know what to expect. But it worked out well for Tyler."
PHOTO of Taylor Greene receiving his championship medal at the Division 1 Final. Click for detailed results from all MHSAA Singles Finals.
'Battle-Tested' Frankenmuth Sweeps Match Play to Clinch 1st Finals Title
By
Jeff Bleiler
Special for MHSAA.com
March 1, 2024
JACKSON – Ron Krueger is old school, so the Frankenmuth High School boys bowling team decided to throw it back to the 1980s.
It worked to perfection as the Eagles pounded the pins at Jax 60 in Jackson on Friday with urethane balls — made popular decades ago and experiencing a resurgence during the past few years — to win the Division 3 championship, the program's first Finals title.
Frankenmuth polished off a perfect day in the match play portion of the Final with a dominating performance over Milan, sweeping the best-of-five Baker match 221-126, 196-154 and 199-156.
“We got a little niche (with urethane), and it worked out really well,” Krueger said. I knew that if we could get in the top eight, with the new format being head-to-head best of five, we were tested throughout the year with Bakers.
“We’ve bowled a lot of tough tournaments and faced a lot of tough teams. And I knew we could compete against the top ones here today.”
The Eagles qualified fifth after eight Baker games and two regular games with 3,393 pins and dispatched Portland in the Quarterfinals with games of 154, 214 and 216. They topped top seed Gladwin in the Semifinals shooting 201, 134 and 201.
In the Final, they opened the first game with five of seven strikes while Milan struggled through seven opens over the first nine frames. About the only thing that could stop the Eagles was the gutter — which came into play at an inauspicious time during the second game. The team had a spare and four strikes in a row before throwing gutters on three of the next four shots.
That could have derailed a lesser team, but Frankenmuth responded with a double to win the second game comfortably.
“That’ll put a little stress on you, but again, that’s what this team is made of,” Krueger said. “The guy that came up behind steps up and throws a strike and we mark behind that and away we go.”
Frankenmuth made up for some of the disappointment from last year’s postseason when the Eagles missed qualifying for the Finals by 11 pins. Krueger said the team responded by returning to the lanes the next week and training the entire summer, showing resolve and commitment.
“I didn’t think from the beginning of the season we’d go on to actually qualify for the state championship,” said senior Mayson Knop, who last weekend won the singles competition at his Regional. “But we just kept qualifying first in tournaments over and over, and it was like, ‘Wow, we actually have a shot at this thing.’ And then absolutely popping off during match play, it’s an unbelievable feeling. There’s no words to even describe it.”
Knop will join junior teammates Miles Paetz and Liam Liddle at the Singles Final on Saturday, a week after they swept the top three Regional positions, and Krueger has a good feeling about how they will fare.
“All have a really good shot,” Krueger said. “They all threw a lot of balls today so they should feel real comfortable going into tomorrow. I think they’re prepared. All you want to do is make that cut.
“Once you get into the cut, the pressure is on and our guys are battle-tested.”
Milan qualified sixth with 3,358 and beat Blissfield in three straight, then advanced to the Final with a 3-1 victory over Midland Bullock Creek.