Seniors Lead Winning Efforts in D4
March 1, 2014
By Andrew Frushour
Second Half
BATTLE CREEK – Jonesville’s boys bowling team made it all the way to the championship match at the 2012 Division 4 Bowling Team Final before falling to Rogers City.
The Comets pledged to return and win the school’s first MHSAA title in any sport.
And then, last season, they failed to advance from their Division 4 Regional.
That only added Jonesville’s resolve this winter – especially with four key seniors competing together for the last time. Their run through Friday’s Team Final was not an easy one – the Comets qualified seventh for match play, won their Quarterfinal by only a pin and trailed in the championship match after the Baker set.
But by the sixth frame of the individual games, those seniors knew.
Jonesville outlasted Ithaca 1,1153-1,094 to claim that first championship. Meanwhile, on the girls side, Vandercook Lake added its third MHSAA title in four seasons.
“It’s unexplainable, really. It’s been our goal all year, been our goal since last year. Sophomore year we finished second, and it was a goal for us ever since,” Jonesville senior Reed Baker said. “Up and down, crazy. We battled it, really battled it.”
Ithaca’s boys, who also didn’t make the Finals in 2013, dominated Friday’s tournament up until the final match.
The Yellowjackets finished first in qualifying play, then beat Burton Bendle by 241 pins in the Quarterfinal and reigning champion Riverview Gabriel Richard by 126 in the Semifinal. Jonesville, meanwhile, got by Grass Lake only 1,207-1,206 in the quarter and Sandusky by 30 in the semi.
All five Comets rolled between 160-186 in the Final, led by Drew Baker at 186. Joe Whittaker paced Ithaca with a 172.
“All along, we said we were doing it for the seniors. We said we’re going to send you off with a state championship,” Jonesville boys coach Matt Molinaro said. “As soon as we made match play, we looked like the weight of the world was off our shoulders. It was a whole different team. We really bowled badly in the morning and still made it. As soon as we figured out we made it … we just kept fighting.”
Vandercook Lake’s girls also were keyed by an incredible senior group that made its fourth straight MHSAA championship match – lead-off bowler Malloree Ambs, Jessica Bunch and Kelsea Reichard, daughter of coach Todd Reichard.
Ambs, who won the Division 4 Singles title in 2013, was the lead-off bowler in all four of her MHSAA Team Finals – and that was by design. Todd Reichard told her during middle school that she would be his lead-off some day – the bowler who would made good shots, pick up spares and give his team the lead every turn.
Vandercook Lake finished 244 pins better than the field during qualifying and won its Quarterfinal and Semifinal matches by 236 and 228 pins, respectively, before defeating Rogers City in the Final 1,273-1,031.
Ambs rolled a 203, with Bunch leading with a 244 and Kelsea Reichard adding a 180 in the championship match.
“I think it was one of the most dominating performances I’ve ever seen,” Todd Reichard said. “Any one of the three is going to bowl good, and once one of them gets lined up, I think everybody gets comfortable. They just make spares and throw strikes, and it’s fun.”
The Jayhawks had matched up against Sandusky the last three MHSAA championship matches, and Sandusky finished second to Vandercook Lake in qualifying. But Rogers City threw a wrench into another potential rematch by beating Sandusky by 37 in their Semifinal.
Nicole Bannasch led Rogers City with a 179 in the Final.
“There’s still good competition out there for us. Rogers City surprised us and gave us a run for our money in the Bakers,” Ambs said.
“Our team is young. Most of the kids we have right now are sophomores – it’s just our three seniors – and that makes me feel like they are going to (continue our run).”
Click for full boys results and full girls results.
PHOTOS: The Jonesville boys and Vandercook Lake girls pose with their MHSAA championship trophies. (Photos by Andrew Frushour.)
Fremont Boys, Cros-Lex Girls Claim D3
February 28, 2014
By Chip Mundy
Special to Second Half
JACKSON – Fremont junior Sam Brandt fell a little short of perfection Friday afternoon in the championship match of the MHSAA Division 3 Boys Bowling Final at Airport Lanes in Jackson.
However, Brandt did not come up short in terms of a championship.
Brandt opened the final game with the first seven strikes before a 7-pin stopped him in the eighth frame. He went on to a 268 game to lead Fremont past Pinconning 1,296-1,203 for Fremont’s second MHSAA title in three years.
“It felt great – although the smash seven wasn’t a great feeling, but it happens,” Brandt said. “I got a little light with the ball.”
Brandt, a right-hander who was using a Storm IQ Tour Fusion ball he had just bought Thursday, is the younger brother of Zach Brandt, who was the Division 3 individual runner-up for Fremont in 2010 and the MHSAA champion in 2011.
“I feel the pressure having to win state because I’ve been bowling with him and all of his friends all my life, basically,” Sam Brandt said.
Fremont nearly did not get out of the qualifying round. The Packers were 11th entering the final game of qualifying and used a 913 team game to climb to eighth and grab the final spot in the Quarterfinals by just five pins over Ishpeming.
“At first, we were half and half on whether we were going to make it or not, but once we found out we made it, we knew we had to finish,” said Fremont senior Jeremy Pikaard, who bowled in the MHSAA Final two years ago for Fremont with Brandt and Mike Margol.
Seeded eighth, Fremont knocked off No. 1 seed Jackson Lumen Christi 1,252-1,200 in the Quarterfinal and No. 5 seed Grand Rapids South Christian 1,312-1,259 in the Semifinal.
Fremont stumbled early in the first Baker game against Pinconning with three open frames to start. But the Pioneers followed with six strikes in a row for a 225 and went on to a 93-pin victory.
“All year long we’ve been a very resilient team,” second-year Fremont coach Tom Elmer said. “We kind of start slow sometimes, but we battle and battle and battle. We have a strong group of kids.”
In the final game when all five individuals bowl an entire game, Brandt led the way with a 268 while Pikaard added a 231 and Margol had a 203. All three will be joined by teammate Sean Vincent in the Individual Final today, also at Airport Lanes in Jackson. Brandt lost in the Semifinals a year ago.
Meanwhile, the Croswell-Lexington girls had to get past their nemesis, Richmond, in the Semifinal, to get to the championship match. The Pioneers knocked off top-seeded Richmond 1,312-1,256 and then rolled over Ishpeming 1,190-1,082 in the championship match.
As far as the Pioneers were concerned, beating Richmond was almost as thrilling as winning the championship. Richmond and Croswell-Lexington both compete in the Blue Water Area Conference, and Richmond finished first and the Pioneers third in the same Regional last week.
“It was amazing that we beat them,” senior Victoria Bender said. “It’s one of the first times we’ve ever beat them, and we’ve never beat them by that margin.”
Senior Megan Geiser had similar feelings.
“I felt more pressure against Richmond than anything because they’re like our family,” she said. “But when it came to being against them – we don’t normally beat them like that – we came in feeling good and pulled it off and got first.”
The match against Ishpeming was almost anti-climatic. The Pioneers won both Baker games (171-163 and 163-137) and then used great consistency in the team game as all five girls rolled between 166 and 179. Bender led the way with a 179, while Charity Mosher had a 174, Geiser 170, Katie LaPorte 167 and Kelsey Lodge 166.
“We were very nervous going into it, but the girls came to bowl,” Croswell-Lexington coach Anita Mifsud said. “They did a good job.
“There was nice consistency all the way through, and they all stepped up to the plate this year. It was wonderful.”
The Pioneers qualified fourth and beat Wyoming Kelloggsville 1,221-1,149 in the Quarterfinal to set up the match with Richmond, which had a 3,473 qualifying total – 362 pins ahead of No. 2 seed Battle Creek Pennfield, the defending MHSAA champion.
Bender, Geiser, Mosher and LaPorte all will compete today in the Individual Finals. Bender, Geiser and Mosher all are seniors, while LaPorte is a junior.
“It’s pretty amazing that we actually did it,” Bender said. “It took a lot to get here and to overcome the nerves that we had early in the day.”
Click for full boys results and full girls results.
PHOTOS: The Fremont boys bowling team and Croswell-Lexington girls bowling teams pose with their MHSAA championship trophies. (Photos by Chip Mundy.)