Wayne Boys, Holt Girls Rally from Early Deficits to Clinch 2nd Finals Titles
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
March 3, 2023
ALLEN PARK – Wayne Memorial bowling coach Christine Day will be celebrating her 34th birthday Saturday with a state championship.
Led by Jeremiah Hodge’s 212 game, Wayne rallied from a 59-pin deficit to defeat Brownstown Woodhaven 1,331-1,244 to win the Division 1 championship Friday at Thunderbowl Lanes.
“I have an entire group of seniors – seven,’’ said Day. “This was present enough. I’m so proud of these guys. They kept fighting and coming back.’’
Down 59, senior anchor Donovan Uselman called a team huddle in the third frame, and his teammates eventually responded.
“He just said to keep our focus and keep executing our shots,’’ said Hodge. “It was a long day. We were down every game. We shot 1,100 today. We shot 1,000. I just tried to control the pocket.’’
Wayne Memorial advanced to the boys championship by defeating Livonia Churchill, 1,385-1,315, while Brownstown Woodhaven topped Jenison 1,382-1,268. The title was the second for Wayne, which previously won Division 1 in 2015.
Holt captured the girls title, also its second, behind a 214 game from Lola Knox, 1,197-1,078.
“It was hard getting here, but I was just happy I could pull it out for my team,’’ said Knox. “I’m very proud of my senior class.’’
Coach Sandra Teague said she knew early in the season this group was special.
“We won a title in 2010,’’ said Teague. “With this group I said there was no way I was going to mess this up.’’
Wayne Memorial opened the boys championship match with a 224-202 win in the first game of the Baker match. Both teams struggled in the second Baker game as Woodhaven shot 170 to open up that big lead.
Woodhaven then went ahead 101 pins, but Wayne made a comeback to get the deficit back to 51.
The effort was sidetracked with four opens in the seventh frame, giving Woodhaven a chance to reassume control.
“It was a matter of making good shots,’’ said Hodge.
In the girls Final, Traverse City West led by 18 pins after the first Baker game, but Holt shot 157 to open up an 10-pin lead going into singles play.
Traverse City West had advanced to the championship match by easing past Grandville 1,265-1,111, while Holt edged Westland John Glenn 1,167-1,155.
Zeeland was the top girls qualifier at 3,271 pins, followed by Sterling Heights Stevenson at 3,174 and Grandville at 3,159. The hard-luck school was South Lyon, which missed the last qualifying spot by one pin.
Zeeland’s run for the girls title was short-lived, though.
With a raucous crowd behind them shouting “Rocket Power,” Westland John Glenn’s bowlers knocked off the top seed in a heart breaker, 1,089-1,088, to advance to the semifinals.
Stevenson, the No. 2 seed, also had a tough afternoon and fell to Traverse City West, 1,149-1,132. That set up the Titans’ showdown with Grandville, which had eliminated Grand Blanc 1,198-1,122.
It was a tough day for annual powerhouse Macomb Area Conference teams, girls and boys, as they were all eliminated in the quarterfinals. Holt defeated reigning Division 1 champion Dakota in the girls division 1,245-1,195.
On the boys side, Davison jumped from ninth after the first singles games of qualifying to first with a 1,113 score in the second set of singles for a total qualifying score of 3,598. The Cardinals had lost five of six starters from a year ago, which made the run to the top even more impressive.
Jenison was second in qualifying at 3,594, Utica Eisenhower third at 3,538 and Wayne Memorial fourth at 3.496. Macomb Dakota was the other Macomb Area Conference team to make the top eight with a score of 3,474.
Davison’s run abruptly came to an end, however, when eighth-seed Livonia Churchill prevailed, 1,177-1,162 to start bracket play. Churchill moved on to face Wayne Memorial, which had eliminated Dakota 1,179-1,162.
Brownstown Woodhaven bested Eisenhower, 1,308-1,251, and moved on to face Jenison, which was six pins better than seventh-seed Byron Center, 1,258-1,252.
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.)