Better Than Perfection: Brown Follows Team Runner-Up Finish with Singles Championship
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 2, 2026
ALLEN PARK — Grandville senior Ethan Brown has bowled five perfect games during his young life, incredible given bowling just one might be the highlight of many people’s careers.
It’s hard to believe Brown could do something that felt even better than all five of those perfect games combined. But he did just that Monday at the Division 1 Singles Bowling Finals.
Brown closed out his high school career by winning his first individual championship, finishing it off with a 419-384 victory over Salem junior Andrew Fsadni in the deciding match.
When asked if the title felt better than all those perfect games, Brown flashed a wide smile.
“A lot better,” he said.
Brown and the rest of his Grandville teammates went to bed Sunday night a little down after suffering a loss in the team championship match to Dearborn Unified. However, Brown quickly refocused and said getting far as a team paid big dividends for him during the individual tournament.
“Coming in here yesterday gave me a great idea of what to do today,” he said. “I really think yesterday helped me prepare for today. You just have to keep a level head. The more you keep your head clear, the better.”
Brown was trailing in the early frames of the championship match but caught fire from there, bowling five straight strikes to take a 30-pin lead into the second game.
Following an open frame early in the second, Brown got hot again, rolling six straight strikes to create a deficit too large for Fsadni to overcome.
“At first, my ball wasn’t really coming back,” Brown said. “I talked to my coach, and we made an adjustment. Thankfully it was the right one. We just moved more right and tried to keep it a little inside to try and control that pocket and move that 10 (pin) out.”
Grandville head coach Nick Watkins said Brown was an important bowler on Grandville’s Division 1 championship team two years ago and has been relied on as the anchor bowler for most of this year.
“A heck of a bowler who was believing in himself,” Watkins said. “This year, he stepped up in his leadership role as a senior and helped out the team. He taught himself a lot more. I just couldn’t say any better words about a kid to have on the team.”
Brown was the No. 9 seed out of the qualifying block and started his run with a narrow 380-374 win over St. Clair Shores Lakeview freshman Drew Dimuzio in the round of 16.
Brown then ran into a familiar foe in the quarterfinals, junior teammate Cash Pulcifer, who was the top seed out of the qualifying block.
Brown earned a 469-418 victory.
“We told them, ‘Whoever wins better go win this one,’” Watkins said. “He did exactly his job.”
Brown went on to earn a 437-423 win over Detroit U-D Jesuit senior Emory Stone in the semifinals.
For Fsadni, it marked a second-straight trip to match play after losing in the quarterfinals last year.
“I brought one of my urethane (balls) out, and I don’t normally throw it a lot,” Fsadni said. “But it looked great in practice, and I said, ‘You know what? I’m just going to bring it in here.’
“I had a great day. This was my goal all along was to be top two. Beat last year, because I have one more year to beat the last two years.”
The only sad part for Fsadni was that his team had six seniors whom he looked up to throughout his high school career. Next year, he’ll be the senior everyone seeks to follow.
“I’d never be here if it wasn’t for my team,” he said. “My goal (next year) is to get the underclassmen to find love for this sport.”
Seeded No. 2 out of the qualifying block, Fsadni first earned a 489-383 win over Muskegon Mona Shores senior Skyler Bosch in the round of 16. He then earned a 427-390 win over Troy Athens freshman Noah Magoian in the quarterfinals and a 405-388 triumph over Grand Blanc senior Lucas Knowles in the semifinals.
Gift of Bowling Keeps Giving as Eisenhower's Harnden Pursues Championship Repeat
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
January 30, 2025
Birthday parties usually feature the best gifts for the person celebrating the birthday. But in this case, the best gift might have ended up going to one of the party’s attendees.
Back when he was in fifth grade, current Utica Eisenhower senior bowler Dylan Harnden was invited to a birthday party at Shelby Lanes in Shelby Township by friend and current Eisenhower bowling teammate Kingston Corpuz.
That day, they celebrated Corpuz – and Harnden received the gift of being introduced to bowling.
“That was his first time bowling, and he basically got the bug that he wanted to bowl,” he said Dylan’s father and current Eisenhower coach Mark Harnden. “From that point forward, he just kind of wanted to get better and better.”
The last couple of years, it can be argued that there’s been no better high schooler in the state.
Last year as a junior, Harnden captured the Division 1 Singles Finals title after also winning his Regional. Naturally, he was named to the all-state Dream Team by the Michigan High School Interscholastic Bowling Coaches Association.
This season, Harnden completed a unique career trifecta by winning the individual title at the Macomb County championship.
“I can say that I’ve won that tournament along with other great Macomb bowlers who have won that tournament,” he said. “It was great to see myself winning it.”
In addition, Harnden is sporting a 222 average — one pin below his average last year — and has scholarship offers in tow from two prestigious college bowling programs, St. Ambrose University in Iowa and Trine University in Indiana.
Not bad for someone who didn’t know anything about the sport until that birthday party invite roughly seven years ago.
“It only took me maybe about a half year to a year to get the hang of everything and get really good,” Harnden said. “It was interesting at first.”
In addition to winning the state title last season, Harnden as a sophomore in 2023 finished first out of the qualifying block at the Division 1 Final but ended up falling to eventual champion Brendan Riley of Waterford Mott in the quarterfinal round.
This year, Harnden’s big objective has been continuing to master mental aspects of the game.
“A lot of things this year compared to last year is the same stuff, except for trying to expand my knowledge,” he said. “Knowing how to transition better, knowing what balls to go to and trying to hit different shots. Just expanding knowledge mainly from last year to this year just so if I encounter new scenarios, I can use it better.”
Mark Harnden said Dylan when he was younger tried a one-handed bowling style, but quickly discovered that going with the two-handed style was a better fit for him.
“It allowed him to bowl with a heavier bowling ball,” he said. “As you know, heavier balls don’t tend to deflect off the pins.”
This year, not only could Dylan Harnden be a contender to win another Singles Finals title, but he has a decent shot of being part of a team champion thanks to a merger.
The Utica and Eisenhower bowling programs joined forces as one this year, something Mark Harnden said was talked about for a while due to low participation numbers experienced by both programs.
“We’re trying to really allow two programs to survive in the downside until more kids get interested in bowling,” he said.
What the merger has created is a pair of powerful combined Utica-Eisenhower programs.
The girls team now features contributors from last season’s Macomb Area Conference Red and White champions joined together as one, with returning all-state bowlers Ava Mazza (sophomore, Utica) and Sophia Matheson (senior, Eisenhower) atop an incredibly deep lineup.
For the boys, what was the outstanding duo of Harnden and Corpuz has turned into a terrific trio, with sophomore Marco Mazza joining the fray. Ava and Marco Mazza are twins whose father, John, bowled professionally.
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
(Photo of Dylan Harnden courtesy of the Harnden family.)