Simmons claims individual crown

By BILL SNIER

Canton Repository

COLUMBUS

Jubilation followed by disappointment.

While Champion High captured an individual state bowling champion, the Golden Flashes fell short of their team goal Friday at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.

Champion sophomore Danny Simmons shot a 702 series, the lone 700 of the day, en route to claiming the individual state title by just three pins.

Simmons, who has a high career series in the 750s, had games of 233, 212 and 257 to edge Mentor senior Kevin Oravecz. Oravecz had a string of 16 strikes at one point between Games 2 and 3.

“I got in a groove, found a shot and just let the ball flow,” said the 16-year-old Simmons, who led the Golden Flashes with a 641 series at last week’s Northeast District in Kent.

“I had an idea I was up there, but I wasn’t sure. I just wanted to perform to the best of my abilities.”

Simmons led the 15-player All-Ohio team, which is made up of the top 15 individual state finishers. Struthers senior Cory Bayus, last year’s champion, was a second-team member with a 652 series, placing him ninth overall.

“Danny was on his mark and played awesome,” Gill said. “He was a team leader on and off the lanes today.

“It was that way all season. He was one of our team leaders score-wise, emotionally and support-wise.”

The Golden Flashes, with Baker System games of 159, 172 and 195, missed the eight-team championship round by just seven pins in the 16-team field. Champion was fifth following the three regular team games.

“It hurt that the team didn’t make it,” Simmons said. “There are a lot of different places you can find seven pins. When you have a 7-split, you have to get those two pins every time.”

“We’re not really disappointed. The kids really came together,” said first-year coach Bryan Gill of the Flashes, who were making the first state team appearance in the program’s eight years. “This a well-rounded team, and I have nothing bad to say about these kids.

“We just had a couple of missed opportunities that we didn’t complete. Everything counts here ... every missed spare, every missed opportunity. You have to fill it up.”

Austintown Fitch, seeking its third overall state title but first in the six years of OHSAA play, reached the semifinal round before falling to Coldwater, 3-0.

The Falcons, seventh after qualifying with 3,420 total pinfall, stopped defending state champion Troy 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

“When we bowled Troy, we came out and were ready to roll,” Fitch coach Dino Balkan said. “It was pretty impressive. But I think we started to get a little too fired up heading into match with Coldwater and we started overthrowing the ball.

“The kids were trying too hard instead of relaxing. They really wanted this bad.”

The Falcons, with no seniors on the roster, were led by sophomore Kyle Condrick’s 611 series and 609 from sophomore Kyle Sharisky.

Among other area teams, Struthers (3,242) finished 13th and Boardman (3,143) was 15th.