Prepapalooza: Final Countdown Begins

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 25^th 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 11^th, 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.)