Prepapalooza: Final Countdown Begins

JACKSON – The chant started as soon as Noah Wood’s name was announced as the Division 3 Individual Finals champion.

“He’s a freshman! He’s a freshman!”

It was not news to those who know the Durand High School bowler, but to those who simply witnessed his on-lane achievements this weekend without that context, the fact that he’s only a freshman was astonishing.

A day after helping lead his Railroaders to the Division 3 team championship — the first team Finals title in any sport in school history — Wood added another piece of hardware to the trophy case by taking advantage of the freshly oiled lanes at JAX 60 on Saturday during match play.

“It means a lot,” Wood said. “I definitely wasn’t expecting to get both, but it feels great that we did.”

Wood defeated Olivet senior Michael Fitzner in a two-game championship match, 442-398, with scores of 224 and 218 to Fitzner’s 183 and 215. That followed a 257-258 blitz in the semifinals by Wood, who after an up-and-down qualifying session welcomed the fresh oil for match play.

“It was a mentality,” he said. “It was making spares and then going up and striking when you could. It helps when you get to bowl on fresh, but it was a mentally.”

Wood qualified ninth with a six-game total of 1,229 that included a 267 start but also a 163 finish.

“He didn’t do the best in qualifying,” said coach Nick Wood, who is Noah’s father. “The transition was tough, but he just does what he does. He gets enough. He understands you can’t win it in qualifying, you can only lose it.

“When he got into match play, you put him on fresh lanes, he was like a train today.”

While he enjoyed early leads in his previous matches, Noah Wood found Fitzner tough to shake in the first half of the championship. The pair were tied through the sixth frame of the first game before Fitzner missed back-to-back 10-pins while Wood stayed clean for a 224 finish. An 8-10 split in the ninth brought a ball change from urethane to reactive resin for Fitzner.

Wood carried a 41-pin lead into the second game and gave more than half of it back when he left a 4-6-7-10 split in the third frame. Fitzner, meanwhile, had strikes on five of his first seven deliveries in the game to get Wood’s attention.

After the split in the third, an undaunted Wood crushed the pocket for six straight strikes to seal the win.

“It’s moxie. This kid is unfazed. They call him the Iceman. Nothing fazes him,” Nick Wood said. “Mistakes happen — he’ll be the first to tell you. It’s what you do after the mistake that defines you, and he’s pretty good at defining himself.”

In his first match of the day, Noah Wood shot 279 and 212 to oust Caro senior Cameron Cuddie and then knocked out top seed Carter Ramage in a tight contest 421-413. Ramage, a Croswell-Lexington senior, was unstoppable during qualifying, shooting 1,419 on games of 228, 229, 205, 266, 265 and 226 to secure the top seed by 120 pins.

Wood sidelined Whitehall senior Mason Slaughter in the semifinals with 257-258 after Slaughter had rolled 259-263 in the quarterfinals.

“It gave me all the confidence I needed to get it done,” Wood said of his semifinal victory.

Fitzner qualified 10th with 1,218, then shot 241-221 to beat Ishpeming Westwood senior Roman Yuhas in the first round, scored 185-224 to topple Bronson junior Clayton Shortridge in the quarterfinals and came from behind to squeak past Armada senior Trenton Rogers in the semifinals 386-381.

Fitzner, who lost in the first round last year to eventual state champion Hunter Ross of Almont, was pleased with his showing.

“It was a long grueling day. It was who can pick up spares and who can stay in it mentally longer than physically,” he said. “That’s what bowling comes down to. For me, coming into it, keep the mental game strong for as long as you can and the scores will follow.”

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