WATERFORD — Flint Kearsley boys bowling coach Bart Rutledge said he thought for years that he would retire once his son Trent graduated. 

That actually happened last year, but Rutledge decided to come back for one more.

“We had six seniors coming back, and I knew them since they were freshman,” Rutledge said. “I didn’t want to hand them off. I wanted to finish it with them.”

Kearsley certainly finished it, sending Rutledge off to retirement with the best gift possible. 

For the fourth straight year, Kearsley won the Division 2 team title, sweeping New Boston Huron in what was the third meeting in four years between the teams in the championship match. Kearsley won all three. 

“The feeling gets better every single year,” Kearsley senior anchor bowler Jameson Vanier said. “I don’t know how to describe it.”

Rutledge said Kearsley was consistently solid as a team all year, not placing below third at any tournament all season. However, the team also didn’t win a tournament until its last one of the regular season.

“It took a while to get the communication going and everything,” Rutledge said. “There could’ve been a little bit of a letdown (from last year). It’s tough. It’s hard doing back-to-back, let alone four.”

Kearsley was seeded second out of the qualifying block and then beat Three Rivers in the Quarterfinals and St. Clair Shores Lake Shore in the Semifinals. 

Kearsley then ran into the familiar New Boston Huron foe in the Final, although Chiefs head coach Larry Collins said his team didn’t initially think it had advanced past the qualifying block.

Collins said his bowlers were at a nearby Culver’s for lunch and he planned to stick around and support neighboring school Carleton Air[port, which was the top seed out of qualifying.

Much to his surprise, Collins found out his team had qualified by 22 pins as the No. 8 seed, and had to call back his bowlers from Culver’s to get ready for the Quarterfinal match.

“I stuck around to watch Airport, and next thing you know we are bowling Airport,” Collins said. 

New Boston Huron then knocked off Airport in the Quarterfinals and Tecumseh in the Semifinals to earn another crack at Kearsley.

After a five-game thriller last year, Kearsley was in control from the start this time, winning 176-138, 205-149, 190-128.

Despite another loss to Kearsley, Collins wasn’t unhappy at all with how his team competed.

“This one is special,” Collins said. “We weren’t expected to do much this year. We lost a lot of seniors from last year. We thought we were dead. Kids were at Culver’s getting lunch and all of a sudden they made the announcement that they made the cut and came flying back over. We shot 980 in the last game (of qualifying) and it vaulted us ahead. We got to bowl Airport in our region and in our league, and that’s a phenomenal team. Our boys just stepped up and said that we weren’t going to lose to them again.” 

Click for full results.