Cavaliers finish runner-up

Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry

The Coldwater boys bowling team reached the championship match of the Division II state tournament for the second straight season and third time in four years.

But for the second straight season, the Cavaliers were unable to attain the program's fifth state title, as Riverside won the championship series three games to one on Saturday at Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl.

"Just tough for three seniors (Keaton Bruns, Hayden Beougher and Brandon Hammons) that had a pretty good career," said Coldwater coach Rick Hartings. "They made the final four all four years. Won it once and finished runner-up twice. We're proud of the leadership they had. They took it hard. Pretty emotional when we were done. It was fun coaching them."

The Cavaliers, with experience from last season's state run, dominated in qualifying, tallying a score of 3,071 in the three rounds of regulation games before a solid 653 in the three baker games to finish as the top seed with a total of 3,724 pins, 238 pins ahead of runner-up Liberty Center.

"We qualified really well and got a lot of guys in," said Hartings. "We had some guys get in a little trouble early. Our first game wasn't real good and we were sixth. Then we made some changes, put Hayden Beougher back in and he rolled a 255."

In the opening round of championship play, Coldwater faced eighth-seed Clinton Massie, winning 3-1 in the best-of-five baker game matchup 212-206, 193-177, 176-215, 200-159 to advance to the quarterfinals to face Conotton Valley. Valley won the opening game 184-181 before Coldwater came back to take the next three games 217-199, 202-199, 197-160 to reach the finals against Riverside, which swept Liberty Center in the quarterfinals and then beat Lutheran West in 3-1 in the semifinals.

The Pirates won the opening game 213-149 before Coldwater leveled the match 1-1 with a 170-168 win in game two. Riverside held off Coldwater 219-214 in the third game before dominating the fourth game 208-161 to take the championship.

"Match play, you never know. You just have to win matches," said Hartings. "We made many changes through match play, which I don't normally do. We kind of shuffled the lineup. Riverside was pretty solid. Five seniors, they only had five guys on the team. They didn't get in trouble. Just kept the ball around the pocket and we had a couple bad shots that got us in trouble."

Carter Bertke became the latest member of Coldwater's Ring of Honor as he finished fifth in the individual standings to earn first team All-Ohio honors with a 658 series. Graham's Spencer Hannahs was state medalist with a 729 series.

"I knew he'd bowl well," said Hartings of Bertke. "He's bowled well all week. All of our guys looked good all week."

Hammons bowled a 621 for 18th place with Keaton Bruns finishing with a 620 to take 19th.

Minster, bowling in its first-ever state tournament, finished 10th in qualifying, missing the top eight by just 57 pins with a final score of 3,256. Keetan Sharp finished 22nd overall with a 609 series. Wyatt Kemper added a 577 series with Cedric Ranly adding a 551 series.

Versailles finished 13th overall in qualifying with a score of 3,096. Colten Groff led the Tigers with a 591 series to finish 28th overall with teammate Brayden Henry finishing tied for 29th with a 586.