Staff report
BEAVERCREEK — The Sidney High boys bowling team found that the shot at Beaver-Vu Lanes in Beavercreek turned out to be a lot like they were used to back at Bel-Mar Lanes in Sidney.
And that helped lead to a banner day for the Yellow Jacket keglers.
Sidney bowled well from the start, and wound up in second place in the Division 1 District Bowling Tournament Thursday, thereby earning a berth in the State Bowling Tournament a week from today (March 4) at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl in Columbus.
It marks the first time a Sidney High boys team has ever qualified for the state tournament.
“The kids bowled absolutely awesome,” said first-year Sidney coach Trent Knoop, himself a former two-time state qualifier for the Jackets. “It was fun to watch. I knew from the very beginning of the season that we had a good, solid team and as long as we kept our heads in it and made spares, we’d be okay. And the guys kept themselves together.”
The Jackets were led by a record-setting day from Austin Simon. He started out with a 233, followed that with a 215 and finished with a 290 for a 738, 10 pins better than the previous school record for a three-game series.
“I was really happy for Austin,” said Knoop. “He’s had an up and down year, but he’s really picked it up lately.”
Sidney had a 974 in the first regular game, and that put them in 12th spot early on. But then came a 1089 to bump the Jackets up, followed by a final regular score of 1109, which was the highest of the tournament. That vaulted them all the way up to fifth place, which was the cutoff for state qualifiers, heading into the six baker games.
The Jackets then totaled 1289 in baker, and that was also the second-highest of the tournament.
“Our first regular game of 974 is normally a good score,” said Knoop. “But we were sitting like 12th. But this was probably the best spare-shooting tournament we’ve had all year. They have the shot down on Tuesday, so we came down Tuesday to practice on it. It’s kind of a drier shot, so it was a lot like we have at Bel-Mar.”
In addition to Simon’s 738, which was the second-best series of the day, Josh Abbott rolled a 623 on games of 205, 228 and 190, and Damon Huffman a 595 on games of 171, 229 and 195. Abbott was an individual qualifier last season.
Matt Elliott had two outstanding games of 224 and 257 for a 481 series, and Lucas Finke bowled two games and had a 179 and 193 for 372.
The Jackets will head to Coloumbus on Thursday to practice on the shot, and then bowl in the state tournament Friday.
“There’s going to be pressure,” said Knoop. “They just have to realize the lanes are the same length as they bowl on back home, and they just have to stay focused. And they can’t worry about what the other teams are going to do.”
Miamisburg was the only team to finish ahead of the Jackets Thursday. They were sixth going into baker and rallied to take the top spot with a 4474. Sidney had 4461, Springfield 4459, Centerville 4405 and Wayne 4387 for the five state qualifiers.
