Staff report

The Sidney High boys bowling team wound up 13th in the recent Division 1 State bowling Tournament, held in Columbus Friday.

Josh Abbott’s 644 series led Sidney, Austin Simon had a 618, Jamie Wallis 558 and Damon Hufman 549.

“I felt like we bowled well as a team, but we didn’t score well,” said Sidney coach Trent Knoop. “Kind of like basketball, where you feel like you’re shooting the ball well, but it just won’t go through the net. I thought the boys kept their composure well, and didn’t let the big stage get to them. I was very happy with our team.”

Sidney won the Greater Western Ohio Conference North championship with a perfect 10-0 record, the second straight year for that accomplishment. Overall, Sidney was 15-3 prior to postseason play.

“One bad scoring day does not take away from how great a year we had, and our amazing accomplishments,” Knoop said. “We are the GWOC north champs for the third year in a row, and we have won 33 straight GWOC North matches. We had all five of our starters get first or second team all-North, and we made it to state.

“Our goal going into the season was to make it to this level, state,” he added. “No SHS boys bowling team had ever made it this far. We knew going into the year that if we kept our minds focused we had the team to do so. That was the biggest accomplishment in the history of the program. We lose Jamie and Damon, and they can both go out knowing they helped shape the program into a state contender. I fully believe we will have a good team again next year. We will be bringing back Josh Abbott, Austin Simon, Matt Elliott, Lucas Finke, Sean Martin, and Brock Fleming. And there are a few junior varsity kids that are on the cusp of varsity. We will have a good offseason, and look to come out even stronger next year.”