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Coldwater's Brady Mathewson earned second team All-Ohio honors at Saturday's Division II state bowling tournament.
File photo.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
The Coldwater and St. Henry boys bowling teams both reached the championship round of the Division II state tournament before bowing out, while the Fort Recovery boys came close to joining them before bowing out in qualifying during Saturday's tournament at HP Lanes in Columbus.
The Cavaliers, looking for the fifth state OHSAA title in program history, had a great start in qualifying, bowling a 3,347 in the three regulation games and then coming away with an 1,109 in six baker games to earn the top seed with a final tally of 4,456 pins.
St. Henry started well before having a quiet bakers. Still, the Redskins' total of 4,041 was good for fifth place and a spot in the eight-team championship round.
Fort Recovery, making its first trip to state as a team, finished with a final score of 3,842, just 78 pins behind Washington Court House Washington for the eighth-and-final spot to the next round. Fort Recovery finished 11th overall.
Coldwater faced Washington in the opening round of the best-of-five baker game series. The Cavaliers picked up the sweep with scores of 204-183, 231-201 and 233-206.
St. Henry faced Marion Pleasant in the quarterfinals, with the Spartans picking up the 3-0 sweep with scores of 237-180, 247-201, 247-199 to advance to face Coldwater in the semifinals.
The Cavaliers won the opening game 202-194 before Pleasant won game two 244-214. Coldwater took game three 278-241 to get to a game away from the finals, but the Spartans came back to take the final two games 246-208 and 253-208 to advance to the championship match against Benjamin Logan. Coldwater was credited with a third-place finish.
In the final, Ben Logan needed five games before beating Pleasant, with the final game going 270-257.
St. Henry's Ben Wendel finished seventh to lead his team at the Division II state boys bowling tournament.
St. Henry's Ben Wendel finished seventh overall in the standings with a 702 series to earn second team All-Ohio honors. Coldwater's Brady Mathewson was eighth with a 701 and teammate Clay Schulze was 10th with a 697 to also earn second team honors. Coldwater's Caleb Wendel was 13th with a 687 and St. Henry's Jack Siefring was 14th with a 677 to earn honorable mention All-Ohio honors.
Fort Recovery's Gabe Acheson was 18th to lead his team at the Division II state boys bowling tournament.
Fort Recovery's Gabe Acheson tied for 18th with a 661, two pins ahead of Coldwater's Andrew Myers' 559, which was good for 20s.
The Indians' Reece LeFevre bowled a 645 for 26th. St. Henry's Nick Lefeld was 31st with a 621 and Coldwater's Austin Burden was 39th with a 603.
Fort Recovery's Garrett Diller's 542 was good for 71st with St. Henry's Brayden Heitbrink finishing 76th with a 519. St. Henry's Connor Jacobs (246-167) and Fort Recovery's Leland Wilson (192-191) and Riley Grieshop (225-148) each bowled two games.
Mechanicsburg's Christopher Ritchie was state medalist with a 764 series. Claymont's Riley Milburn was second with a 744 and bowled a 300 in his final game.
The Division I tournament takes place this weekend. The girls, featuring the Celina team, bowls Friday at HP Lanes with the boys bowling Saturday, with St. Marys' Cadyn Neargardner bowling as an individual. Competition on both days will start at 10:45 a.m.
