Grandville Emerges from Semifinal Tie-Breaker to Sweep 1st Championship Win
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
March 1, 2024
ALLEN PARK – Grandville senior Mason VanDyke was looking at a difficult 1-2-4-6-10 in the eighth frame of the third game of Friday’s Division 1 Final against Davison at Thunderbowl Lanes.
He threw the ball and looked away, then was in shock when he heard cheering.
VanDyke indeed picked up the spare, Davison eventually opened in that frame and again in the ninth, and Grandville captured the team title 3-0 with a 162-144 win.
“Unbelievable; I couldn’t believe it honestly,’’ said VanDyke. “This means everything. Last year we missed the cut by 50 pins. Being able to go from 12th to fifth (in qualifying) was absolutely amazing.’’
Said Coach Nick Watkins: “I always tell the guys to concentrate on every shot. That was a big spare because they ended up opening that frame and the next one. Extremely proud of this group.”
Grandville’s lineup included senior Justin Schmidt, freshman Cash Pulcifer, senior VanDyke, junior Bonham Pulcifer, sophomore Ethan Brown, junior Carter Holt and junior Gavin Dailey.
Grandville won the first game 193-191 and went up 2-0 winning the second 195-156. The championship was the Bulldogs’ first.
The Team Bowling Finals went to a new format this season with five Baker games determining the champion.
Davison advanced to the Final by sweeping Holt 3-0, while Livonia Churchill and Grandville went to a five-frame roll-off in their Semifinal after tying the fifth game. Open frames were Churchill’s undoing, as Grandville advanced to the championship with a 93-74 victory.
Churchill had made a huge jump in the first regular game of qualifying, shooting 1,158 to vault from 14th into 10th. A 1,016 in the second regular game garnered Churchill the eighth seed and a match against top-seed Jenison, which finished qualifying with a 3,792.
Waterford Mott was second in qualifying at 3,682, Macomb Dakota third at 3,619 and Grand Haven fourth at 3,571. Grandville, Holt, Davison and Churchill rounded out the top eight.
Holt swept perennial contender Dakota in the Quarterfinals, rolling a 237 in the first game.
Churchill continued its momentum from qualifying, eliminating Jenison 3-1 to set up a Semifinal with Grandville, which had knocked off Grand Haven, 3-1.
Davison defeated Waterford Mott 3-2 to face Holt in the other Semifinal.
Fournier Adds Another Hudson Finals Win with School's 1st in Bowling
March 2, 2024
MUSKEGON – As Hudson boys bowling coach Mike Longmire explained it Saturday, his community is known athletically for football, wrestling and competitive cheer. In fact, the wrestling team repeated as Division 4 champion a week ago, and the cheer team won its fifth-straight Division 4 title Friday.
But sophomore Carter Fournier’s performance to cap the weekend at least puts bowling in the picture.
Fournier became his school’s first MHSAA Finals champion in this sport, qualifying as the 10th seed for match play and surviving a series of strong challenges before breaking away for a 444-392 win over Allen Park Cabrini junior Bryce Cadaret in the championship match at Northway Lanes.
Fournier had started the morning’s six-game qualifying block with a pair of 222 games, but dipped to 148 in the fourth. He rebounded in a big way with a 238 in his final game of qualifying to finish with a 1,194 total – and with the separation between 10th and missing the cut in 17th only 48 pins.
“I thought I wasn’t going to make the cut,” Fournier said. “I made it as the 10th seed, and I just kept grinding away in match play – and winning.”
First up was Burton Atherton junior Michael Demey, and Fournier won by six pins, 385-379. Next was New Lothrop’s Ashtin Andres and another lean win, 390-388.
Fournier rolled a 201 and 258 in the Semifinal to get past Jonesville’s Andrew Sackett 459-431. He carried the momentum of that 258 into the championship match, rolling a 236 to Cadaret’s 190 in the first game and taking the second 208-202.
“He was throwing the ball really well early on, but he was down every match we started, except for the final one,” Longmire said. “(I) just tried to keep him positive and keep him going and not give up, and he did a great job. He didn’t get emotional or anything; he was just steady and made good shots.”
Cadaret finished runner-up for the second-straight season. He qualified for match play as the fourth seed and dominated on his way to the Final with wins of 414-341, 469-351 and 510-364 in the Semifinal.