Saturday, February 28th, 2026
Division II Boys State Bowling Tournament
Outlasting the field
St. Henry captures first state championship
By Gary R. Rasberry
Submitted Photo
The St. Henry High School boys bowling team poses with the Division II state championship trophy after defeating Coldwater in five games in the championship match at HP Lanes in Columbus on Friday. It's the first state title for the Redskin bowling program. More information from the state bowling tournament can be found on page 12.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
For the St. Henry boys bowling team, the road to a championsionship meant going through three five-game matches, two coming against fellow Midwest Athletic Conference teams.
When they needed to, the Redskins stepped up, winning a down-to-the-wire five-game series in the championship match against rival Coldwater to bring home the program's first state title at the Division II state tournament at HP Lanes in Columbus.
It's the first state bowling title for the Redskins, who were state runner-up to Coldwater in the inaugural OHSAA state tournament in 2007.
"All year long we've been right there with them," said St. Henry coach Noah Stammen, referring to the Redskins finishing second in regular season play and the tournament to Coldwater. "They kept edging us every tournament we went to and (in the season). To come out on top at state is really special."
The chances that a MAC team would capture a state title on Friday were literally 50/50 as Coldwater, St. Henry, Versailles and Fort Recovery all reached the eight-team championship bracket.
Coldwater dominated qualifying to earn the top seed in the championship round with a score of 3,986, 159 pins ahead of second-place Springfield Shawnee. St. Henry was sixth with 3,635 with Fort Recovery seventh with 3,624 and Versailles taking the final spot with 3,578, 23 pins ahead of Heath and Springfield Northwestern.
"I was excited to see how we were bowling," said Coldwater coach Rick Hartings regarding the MAC. "We led qualifying the last couple of years (every year from 2022 to this year), but our goal is just to get to the top eight and get settled in."
File Photo/The Daily Standard
Fort Recovery's AJ Siefring led the Indians with a 578 series as the Indians reached the semifinals. of the championship round.
"It was a rough road to get to the cut," said Stammen. "We bowled a 777 in the second game (of regulation games) and that put us out of the cut. We really brought it back in the third game and shot 974 in bakers that got us to sixth. It was tough making the cut."
St. Henry, as sixth seed, faced third-seeded Napoleon in the quarterfinals. The Redskins started out hot, winning the first two games 232-171 and 190-159 before the Wildcats came back with games of 183-182 and 206-161 to force a fifth game, which the Redskins won 220-182 to advance to the semifinals, where Fort Recovery awaited after the Indians needed four games to beat Springfield Shawnee 136-157, 190-150, 186-149, 187-166 in their opening round.
St. Henry started out quick, taking the first two games 193-187 and 200-187 before Fort Recovery fought back against their State Route 119 neighbor with scores of 187-154 and 238-201. St. Henry came through again, winning the fifth game 217-190 to advance to play their other neighbor to the north on State Route 118.
The Cavaliers opened their championship with a three-game sweep of Versailles 155-148, 236-125, 228-168 to advance and play Mentor Lake Catholic. MLC won the opening game 175-165 before Coldwater rattled off three straight 200-plus games to take the win 203-188, 258-225, 213-147.
"We knew we were going to face a MAC team (with St. Henry and Fort Recovery in the other semifinal). We watched them go five," said Hartings.
"It's incredibly special," said Stammen of facing Coldwater, especially since the teams share the same home lanes at Pla-Mor Lanes. "All those boys know each other, and with Fort Recovery a lot of them are cousins. The boys absolutely love facing each other."
Coldwater struck first, taking the opening game of the final 174-169, only to have St. Henry strike back and take the next two games 212-179 and 188-164. Needing a win to stay alive, the Cavaliers got it 167-165 to force a fifth game.
File Photo/The Daily Standard
Ben Wendel helped St. Henry capture its first state championship in bowling at the Division II tournament on Friday.
"We had some good ones and not so pretty (games)," said Stammen of the games in the bracket round. "A big mistake against Napoleon led us to go five games. Then we had mistakes against Fort Recovery."
The Redskins got to the 10th frame first, but a foul on the final throw of the frame left St. Henry with a 180. The Cavaliers needed a strike on the opening ball, but could not get it, securing the 180-169 win for the title.
"I had my head down. I didn't want to watch," said Stammen about the Cavaliers' last frame. "Once I looked up and saw they missed (the strike), the bowlers told me we won. I couldn't believe it."
"We could have handled the pressure better," said Hartings. "We didn't settled in. I think the pressure got to us. This is going to sting a little how we finished the day.
"It's been six years since we won one (state title). We thought today was going to be the one, but fell short."
File Photo/The Daily Standard
Coldwater's Andrew Meyer was the individual state runner-up at Friday's Division II boys state bowling tournament in Columbus.
Coldwater's Andrew Meyer, the MAC Bowler of the Year, earned first team All-Ohio honors in finishing second in the individual competition with a 696 series behind Brooklyn's Adam Cowper's 729 series. Cavalier Drew Schulze earned second team honors with a ninth-place finish of 653.
Ben Wendel led St. Henry with a 607 series to finish 15th overall. Coldwater's Carter Miller was 19th with a 602 and teammate Braylon Brown rolled a 590 to tie for 22nd.
Fort Recovery, which finished fourth in the final standings, was led by AJ Siefring's 578, good for 30th place. Reece LeFevre added a 536 for the Indians with Anthony Roessner bowling a 517.
Versailles was paced by Caiden Green's 27th-place series of 581.
The Division II girls state tournament is today. Coldwater, Fort Recovery, Versailles and St. Marys will vie for the title.
