From JV as Junior to Finals Champ, Patrick Caps Improbable Rise with Dream Finish
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
February 28, 2026
WATERFORD — Under normal circumstances, this would have been the most pressure-packed shot in the life of St. Clair Shores Lake Shore senior bowler Devin Patrick – and also maybe the most pressure-filled shot any bowler has faced this season.
The only thing was that Patrick had no idea the magnitude of it, even if everyone else watching with bated breath did.
Mired in the Division 2 singles championship match against New Boston Huron junior Hunter Wyszynksi, Patrick in the 10th frame needed a mark and then four pins to win the title after Wyszynski finished his day with three strikes and a spare over the ninth and 10th frames.
With the whole building watching after the girls final ended just moments before Patrick started his 10th frame, mouths dropped and gasps were heard after Patrick’s first ball, which knocked down just seven pins and left a tricky spare that saw the 10, 6, and 9 pins still standing.
The scenario was simple: Pick up the spare, or finish second to Wyszynski.
Patrick stepped up and got the spare, drawing more oohs and ahs from the crowd. He then delivered a strike to prevail by seven pins over Wyszynski and wrap up the title, although he had no clue that was the case.
Patrick had a 252-220 lead after the first game, and ended up with a 210 in the second game after Wyszynski bowled a 235.
“I thought I already lost it,” Patrick said. “I didn’t know I needed to make that spare. I just made it. I had no idea. Then I remembered I was up by (32) pins from the last game. When everyone congratulated me (on the spare after the match ended), I was like, ‘Wait a minute, was that big?’”
Lake Shore boys bowling coach Jim DeLong said he knew exactly what Patrick needed to win going into 10th frame, but by design didn’t tell him.
“I do the math in my head all the time, but I didn’t want him to know nothing,” DeLong said. “I wanted him to just be loose and hit a good shot. He had enough pressure on him, instead of ‘I have to make this. I have to make this.’ He stayed pretty calm all day. We were working on his breathing and just keeping him in the moment without getting ahead of himself.”
The story gets even better on a couple of fronts. One, Patrick said he had a dream about winning the state championship the night before.
“I dreamt of it the night before when I went to sleep,” he said. “I dreamt about winning it in the exact same way. Not the exact same spare, but the same way.”
Not only that, but this was Patrick’s only full year on varsity after bowling primarily on the JV team his first three years of high school.
“It’s my only (full) year on varsity, it was my last year of high school bowling, I made it to states and won it,” he said. “It’s a Hollywood story. I was on JV for three years.”
Seeded No. 14 out of the qualifying block, Patrick beat Flint Kearsley junior Chase Parr by five pins in the round of 16, Adrian junior Aiden Voelkle in the quarterfinals and Bay City John Glenn senior Cody Minor in the semifinals by 10 pins.
Until the final, Wyszynski was the top bowler all day, starting when he finished as the top seed out of the qualifying block.
Wyszynski beat Portland freshman Wyatt Spear in the round of 16 and the Macomb County champion, Warren De La Salle Collegiate senior Jacob Fester, in the quarterfinals to set up a highly-anticipated semifinal matchup with Kearsley senior Jameson Vanier.
Vanier has been the anchor bowler for Kearsley over the last three years and is a Mr. Bowling Award candidate, but Wyszynski earned a 514-357 win.
Wyszynski bowled well in the final, but just simply fell victim to tremendous shot-making by Patrick.
“I was able to force him to mark,” he said. “I hit some good shots and some unfortunate breaks for me. But it felt good to be able to force him to mark in the 10th frame.
Benzie Central Boys Looking to Add Finals Run to Growing Lanes Legacy
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
February 21, 2025
Best ever.
All season long, Logan Hewitt, Kameron Johnson, Keaton Hickey, Jeremiah Wilkinson, Tyler Brooks, Lorin McNiel and Jaylan Ewing have performed like the best bowling team in Benzie Central’s history.
Nothing is changing either. Last month, their names were entered into the record book for combining for the highest two-game series score in program history – 1,777 pins – while competing against Traverse City Central, Traverse City West, Cadillac, Traverse City Christian, Frankfort and Glen Lake.
On the same day, the team produced the school-record single team game, 975, and Brooks racked up the highest individual game in Benzie boys history at 277.
Then this week, while winning the Division 4 Regional championship, the Benzie bowlers set a school record with a 243 Baker game and then reset their two-game series record at 1,782.
Now, they’d like to stake claim to the school’s first MHSAA Finals bowling championship when they return to Northway Lanes in the Muskegon – the site of their Regional success – for next Friday’s Final.
“We don’t give up,” said Benzie coach Chip Fryer, now in his 22nd season with the Huskies. “We keep trying right to the end, no matter what, to do our best.”
And their best has been pretty darn good.
“I am not surprised at their records,” Fryer admitted. “I know they are fully capable.”
Good practice games are discussed and analyzed as the Huskies strive for more, Fryer noted.
“I challenge them If they go out and bowl a 170 in practice to try to add 10 or 20 pins on top of that in matches,” Fryer said. “We talk about making a couple more spares here or there or getting a good break and carrying a strike here and there.”
Brooks and Wilkinson also qualified for the Singles Final this year. Hewitt fell one pin short.
Wilkerson had two Regional games over 200 en route to qualifying. Hickey had led the Huskies in the Regional team competition with two games over 200.
Those four Huskies are seniors. In fact, of the 12 bowlers on the varsity and junior varsity squads this year, only two will be back next season. So Benzie is going for broke, with lots of previous Regional and Final experience.
“They know how to get there,” Fryer said. Jeremiah (Wilkinson), Logan (Hewitt) and Tyler (Brooks) were on the team back in 2023 when we won Regionals for the first time in school history. And Jeremiah and Logan were on the first team we ever had qualified for states the year before.”
Brooks did not join the bowling team until his sophomore year. He averaged 145 per game then. Last year he averaged 162 and finished 25th in the Singles Final qualifying block. He is averaging 180 this year and has high aspirations for himself and his team.
“We’ve all put in the time, and I feel like we’re pretty prepared,” Brooks said minutes before a late-season practice. “I like to strive to greatness. I always want to get better.”
Brooks recalls every moment of his school-record 277 game. He was matched up with Traverse City Central’s Carter Banton, who just missed qualifying for match play at last year’s Division 1 Singles Final. Banton and Brooks both entered the seventh frame with a perfect game.
Banton didn’t mark in the seventh, and Brooks picked up a spare before hitting strikes the rest of the way.
“The ball checked up and went a little high and left me a spare, and I made the spare,” Brooks recollected. “Carter is a great bowler, and I just want to bowl the best I could.”
Brooks was one pin from a possible perfect game.
“It was just one little frame,” Brook acknowledged. “The rest were strikes.”
Brooks’s 277 made a huge contribution to the team’s 975 record, as did Hewitt’s 244. McNiel and Hickey both rolled a 153. Wilkinson had a 144. The 975 toppled the previous school record by more than 50 pins.
Johnson rolled a 177 in the second game as the Huskies set the two-game series school record in January, subbing for McNiel. Hewitt was next at 170, Brooks followed at 166, Hickey at 159 and Wilkinson 137.
When the Huskies broke their record at the Regional, Hickey led the way with a 233 and 220. Wilkinson kicked in a 190 and 181. Brooks had a 182 and 176, Hewitt had a 148 and 147, and McNiel and Ewing each bowled one game, scoring 139 and 158, respectively.
Next, the Huskies are planning to place their highest ever at the Team Final.
“The last two times we’ve qualified for states we finished 11th, and they only take the top eight into the bracket,” Frey said. “Missing a seven pin or a 10 pin or a single pin spare costs you the game. We’ re going to hopefully increase their scores just by making those spares.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Benzie bowlers Jayden Ewing, standing, and Logan Hewitt share a fist bump during a recent match. (Middle) Senior Tyler Brooks bowls a frame. (Below) Brooks, right, and teammate Keaton Hickey confer during a break. (Photos by Tom Spencer.)