Oxford, Kettering Earn 1st Championships
March 2, 2018
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
STERLING HEIGHTS – It’s rare when one MHSAA team championship bowling match comes down to the last frame.
But twice on the same day?
That is what will forever make the 2018 Division 1 Finals at Sterling Lanes so unforgettable.
The Oxford girls and Waterford Kettering boys teams both rejoiced in winning their first titles in school history, as both pulled out their matches in the final frame.
Oxford’s girls team outlasted Macomb Dakota, which entered the regular game of the championship match trailing by 26 pins. Dakota rallied and actually was leading in total pins going into the last two bowlers before Oxford’s duo of juniors Megan Armbruster and Claire Sandstrom made sure the reigning runner-up Wildcats wouldn’t lose in the Final two years in a row.
Armbruster bowled two strikes and finished with 27 pins in her 10th frame to set up the last between Sandstrom and Dakota anchor bowler Danielle McBride.
Unfortunately for Dakota, McBride had an unlucky split on her first ball of the 10th frame, leaving three pins and only being able to pick up two of them.
With the door open, Sandstrom bowled a strike and then added nine more pins in her 10th frame to finish off the title for Oxford.
“A weight was lifted off of my shoulders,” Sandstrom said of when she saw McBride’s ball end with a split. “But I had to stay focused on what I was doing and make my shot.”
For Oxford coach JR Lafnear, it was the end of a 13-year quest for a Finals title, one that nearly resulted in a championship last year before the Wildcats fell to powerhouse Davison in the title match.
“That is what propelled them to work so hard over the summer in practice,” Lafnear said. “Shooting spares and corner pins and doing all that stuff. They were here and got a taste of all the excitement. They really wanted to get it done this year.”
Dakota was seeking its second Division 1 title after winning in 2015.
“They battled through a lot of adversity today and could have gotten knocked out several times,” Dakota coach Kevin Wemyss said. “They showed their character today.”
The boys tournament ended in similar dramatic fashion.
Davison held an 11-pin lead over Kettering after the two Baker games, and the match stayed close until the final frame of the regular game.
The last bowler of the match was Kettering junior Hunter Gates, who stepped up needing 14 pins to give his team the title.
Gates firmly got a strike on the first roll to send the Kettering team jumping for joy, and then the celebration officially began on the next ball when Gates knocked down seven pins.
When he did so, he quickly put his hands over his face and wept tears of joy as he was mobbed by teammates.
“I was just trying to stay cool, calm and collected,” Gates said. “Bowl like I know how I do. My teammates had all the faith in the world in me.”
Kettering head coach JR Olerich said he wasn’t sure if Gates knew he needed only four pins on what turned out to be his final ball.
“If he did, it probably would have been a little bit tougher,” Olerich said. “We all knew.”
Kettering achieved a rarity in that it went wire-to-wire for the title.
The Captains finished first out of the qualifying block before beating No. 8 seed Hudsonville by three pins in the quarterfinals (1,285-1,282) and Saline by 39 pins (1,298-1,259) in a semifinal.
Davison qualified as the No. 2 seed before beating Walled Lake Central in the quarterfinals (1,322-1,227) and Macomb L’Anse Creuse North in the semifinals (1,403-1,335).
Davison was trying to carry the torch at the Finals for the powerhouse girls program, which failed to qualify for the tournament after winning it five of the previous six years.
This was the first time the boys team advanced to the championship match.
“We graduated four starters from last year, so we were really looking at this as a rebuilding year,” Davison coach Robert Tubbs said. “But we went into Regionals and we won the Regional, and we came in here and qualified second. We looked at it as house money. It’s hard for those guys to take it on the chin and say you were four pins from a state championship. These guys, they are not my best average team in my 14 years, but they got more heart, more grit and more determination than any other team I have coached.”
The Oxford girls finished second out of the qualifying block and then earned wins over Saginaw Heritage (1,223-1,207) in the quarterfinals and Holt (1,193-1,152) in the semifinals.
Dakota qualified fifth and then beat Bay City Western (1,164-1,119) in the quarterfinals and No. 1-seed Jenison (1,330-1,157) in the semifinals.
Comeback Champs Claim D3 Titles
March 6, 2015
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
JACKSON – At a time when it needed them most, strikes became contagious for the Corunna girls bowling team late in the third and final game of the MHSAA Division 3 championship match Friday at Airport Lanes.
Freshman Morgan Gilbert caught the bug initially. Bowling in the leadoff position, Gilbert struck from the fourth through seventh frames as Corunna wiped out a deficit against Coloma.
In that seventh frame, three of Gilbert’s four teammates followed with strikes as the Cavaliers defeated Coloma 1,233-1,170 for its first MHSAA championship in bowling.
“We didn’t really have anything going on, and someone needed to step up,” said Gilbert, who rolled 201 in the deciding match. “I felt like we needed to do it now, and if we didn’t do it, then we weren’t going to do it at all.”
Corunna, which a week earlier won its Regional at Eastland Bowl in Kalamazoo, was first after the morning qualifying by five pins ahead of Coloma. The Cavaliers defeated reigning champion Croswell-Lexington in the Quarterfinal and Grand Rapids South Christian in the Semifinal.
In the title match, Coloma won the first Baker game 183-144, and Corunna took the second 201-162, making it even going into the third and deciding individual match. Coloma started strong in the third game before Corunna regrouped.
“I was a little bit concerned, but these girls know what they have to do to battle back,” Corunna coach Ryan Koyne said.” They never give up. We had some nerves out there, you could definitely tell. I might have been the most nervous out of the entire group.”
Junior Hannah Eldridge, who made the Singles Semifinals a year ago, led Corunna with a 208 from the third spot.
“In the individuals you are by yourself, but winning states with a team is so different,” she said. “We just tried to keep each other going and keep making spares, but it was very nerve-wracking. I’m really proud of our team.”
Morgen Scott added 173 for Corunna, while freshman Brianna Eldridge had 156 and senior Sierra Howes added 150.
“There are no emotions to describe this,” Scott said. “It was the most thrilling thing you could ever think of. You can’t understand the feeling of winning states.
“It had never been done at Corunna before until today, and I’m the happiest person on earth right now.”
Howes said that bowling well late in games was something the team had done all day.
“I believed we could come back because most of the games we bowled today we were behind in the first five frames but then in the last five frames we came out and won,” she said. “I am very emotional right now. Being a senior and winning conference, regional and state is just beyond how words can explain.
“It’s really a great feeling.”
While winning in come-from-behind fashion was nothing new for Corunna, it was a new sensation for Armada’s boys, who trailed by 38 pins after the two Baker games before beating Richmond 1,202-1,166 to win the MHSAA championship.
“We started out good and then sort of hit a soft spot, but we pushed through,” leadoff bowler Edward Seefried, a sophomore, said. “There wasn’t much concern because we know we’re a good singles team and we could pull through. We really hadn’t fallen behind before, so we had to come back, so that was a little different.”
Armada, the Regional champion at Cherry Hill Lanes in Dearborn Heights, won its first Bowling Finals championship in school history and did it against a school with which it shares home lanes.
“We know them very well, so it was good to bowl them, and we knew before the last match that at least the state title was coming back to the conference.”
A 147 in the second Baker game left Armada 38 pins behind Richmond going into the final individual game.
“We were behind in the Baker, but we picked up some momentum late in the second game,” Armada coach James Carl said.
Armada was pretty steady in the final game, while Richmond was not able to keep its momentum from its scores of 178 and 198 in the two Baker games. Armada won the third game 867-794 to erase the 38-pin deficit and win the state championship.
Senior Zack Blackstock, who has been bowling since the second grade, led the way with a 198.
“The feeling is unreal,” he said. “We were down 38 pins, and my coach told me I just needed to cover my guy and every spare counted. I made everything I could. I ended with a 198 and threw it the best I could.
“I think the major turnaround was just keeping everyone together. We’re a good group of boys. When someone gets down, the others bring you up. You’re only as good as your weakest link.”
Seefried threw a 184 for Armada, followed by Kyle Gest (171), Nick Medley (161) and a combined 145 from Brandon Carrizales and Matt Hammer. Medley converted a tough 4-10 split late in the game that Seefried said “really changed things.”
Medley, a senior, said he was not concerned about the 38-pin deficit after the Baker games.
“Two Baker games don’t mean anything,” he said. “In the individuals you can shoot 1,000 pins, and in a Baker game you can only get 400. Anything can happen; you have five bowlers bowling 10 frames. They started off with some open frames, and that gave us a little motivation to get up and start throwing some strikes.
“This is a great way to end it.”
Armada, which was seeded No. 2 after the morning qualifying session, defeated Birch Run in the Quarterfinals and Jonesville, last year’s Division 4 champion, in the Semifinals. Defending Division 3 champion Fremont, which had won two of the previous three MHSAA titles, did not make it out of the morning qualifying session.
Click for full girls results and boys results.