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Versailles
Bowlers Place 4th at State
For the 2nd straight year, the Versailles High School Boys Bowling Team
made it to the State competition. The OHSAA State Bowling Tournament
took place at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl on Saturday, March 7th. 16
Teams were competing for the State Title from all over the State.
The format was 3 Regular Games and 3 Baker Games. Scores would be
tallied and the top 8 teams would then advance to the Bracket Style
Match Play Finals. “With losing 3 seniors last year, this team had big
shoes to fill to get back to State this year, especially with 3 new
guys on the varsity squad. We all knew it was not going to be easy, but
these guys showed everyone that they could do it.” said Coach Davidson.
Versailles started off on a fairly tough lane pattern with an 846. They
improved the 2nd game to a 928. “With 1 more game to go and only 3
baker games, I told the guys it was crucial to post a good 3rd game,”
said Davidson. Well, they posted a fine 3rd game score of 949. “One of
our seniors was struggling on this lane pattern, so we had to go to
sophomore Brody Hyre. Brody came in late in the 2nd game for Zach and
saved the game. Brody then proceeded to roll a very nice 228 game. Due
to the 5 returning Varsity players and the closeness of a lot of our
matches, Brody did not get a lot of time on the lanes during matches.
For him to come in under the extreme pressure of State on a tough
condition and to perform like he did, was a game saver for the team.
Michael Hemmelgarn then came in to relieve Brody during the Bakers when
he started to struggle and did a fantastic job,” said Coach Davidson.
The Tigers rolled 181, 172 and 212 in the Baker games to finish in the
7th qualifying position with a 3,288 making the Round of 8 match play
by 40 pins. “To get to the match play round of 8, it took a total team
effort,” said Davidson.
After the break, the Individual Champion as well as the All-Ohio Teams
were announced. “I had a really god feeling of what was to about be
announced,“ said Coach Davidson. The tournament director then
announced, in 4th place and making 1st Team All Ohio, Sophomore Alex
Groff from Versailles with a 636 Series. “Alex missed being the 2nd
Versailles bowler to be State Champion by a mere 16 pins. Alex rolled a
196 the last game and he worked his tail off. We made all of the right
adjustments and even made a ball change, but the pins would just not
cooperate. I am so happy for Alex. He was the steadiest player on the
team this year and has come a long, long way from last season,” said
Davidson.
Last year was so close to being an all WOHSBC finals at State with
Versailles and Coldwater. Coach Hartings from Coldwater and I talked
all week about the potential of it happening this year. The stage was
set as we were in different brackets and Versailles qualified 7th and
Coldwater 1st. The first match was against Zanesville Maysville. Baker
games were 161-139, 161-219,184-160, 192-200 and 198-168. Coldwater
also won their match so all that had to happen was a win from both
teams in the semi-finals. The Tigers kept battling but just lost their
momentum. They lost the semis in 3 games to Wooster Triway. Coldwater
ended up winning their match and proceed to win the State title. The
Coldwater Girls won the day before. This past weekend the Wapakoneta
Girls won Division 1 and the Wapak boys placed 4th. The WOHSBC
continues to show their domination in the State. Great job WOHSBC!
“This has been another great group of guys to coach. I am so proud of
them to never giving up and keeping the faith. That is what winners do.
To Seniors Dustin Ruhe, Zach Marshal and Kenny Nagle, you guys will be
missed!”, said Coach Davidson.
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