Bowlers ready to chase district berths

February 14, 2016 at 12:09a.m.

Twelve Division I high school boys bowling teams will compete for three berths in the district tournament when the sectional tournament is held today at McKinley Lanes in Niles.

Warren Harding is hoping to repeat as sectional champions. Last year’s other qualifiers were Fitch and Boardman.

“We missed earning a trip to district in 2014 and had a nice run last year that took us to state, so the hope [is] we can get back to state and improve on last year’s ninth-place finish,” Warren Harding head coach Thomas Burd said. “The strength of this year’s team is experience as four players were on last year’s state qualifying team.

“We missed by 38 pins,” Burd said of last year’s finish.

Warren Harding will bank on the efforts of sophomore Tavish Burd, who is averaging 210 and freshman Shon Moore with a 203 average.

The lone senior is Tommy Seese (182). Alec Adair (190), Joe Homa (180) and Zachary Criss (168) are the juniors. The other bowler is Josh McVicker (170), a sophomore.

The other teams include Canfield, which boasts three-time state qualifier Andrew Letscher who finished third overall last year as a junior).

The other teams are Howland, Hudson, Kent Roosevelt, Niles, Nordonia, Stow-Munroe Falls, Twinsburg and Walsh Jesuit.

“We’re no longer an independent so being part of the All-American Conference and playing a challenging schedule has really helped,” Thomas Burd said. “We’re a young team and peaking at the right time, just like we did last year.”

Fitch head coach Dino Balkan is in his fifth season. The Falcons made back-to-back state appearances in 2012 and 2013.

“Everyone has contributed this year and when one player was down, someone was right there to pick him up,” Balkan said. “If we expect to get back to district then spare shooting will be big.

“We know that we can score and throw strikes, but Bakers are the key. We need to get marks from everyone, need to pick up our spares and average 200 in Baker games.”

The Falcons boast three senior leaders in Dakota Gorgie, David Grimm and Nate Kennedy. The juniors are Alex Smith, Kyle Scott, Adrian Willoughby and Jeff Desko. Sophomore Kevin Howard rounds out the squad.

Gorgie’s 289 roll is the Aac Red Tier’s top individual game this season.

Boardman is led by seniors Brian Stanchin and Michael Parise. The others are juniors Sean Sullivan and Bobby Morrell; sophomores Chase Felger, Ben Burkey and Nathan Needham; and freshman Seth Lucansky.

“We are hoping that the good things that have happened during the season can be repeated now,” Spartans head coach Al Dohar said.

Canfield head coach Sarah Letscher said, “We’re a young team, except for Andrew [Letscher].”

Letscher is averaging a Red Tier best 217.67. Rounding out the Cardinals squad are Pat Neilson, Anthony Mareani, Matt Neilson, Jaret Davis, Danny Griffin and Kyle Huston.

Howland’s top players are Zach Campbell and Brad Singledecker.

Jeremy Clark of Niles rolled a 262 this season, the fifth best scores in the AAC White. Niles other players are Jacob Smith, Josh Crouse, Jeremy Leppert and Ben Wakefield.

“We’ve really improved since the beginning of the season,” Niles head coach Kevin Zook said.

The district tournament will be on Feb. 21 at Roseland Lanes in Bedford.

Division II

At the Feb. 6 sectional, Struthers captured its third straight crown led by tournament leaders Cameron Coppola (170-223-228—621) and Andrew Brabant (220-205-189—614).

Girard, led by Chris Kuhn (200-160-189—549) placed second. Hubbard (3528), led by Caleb Johnson (206-198-183—587)), placed third.

Brookfield (3489) placed fourth. Michael Katko led the Warriors with a 554 set (203, 135, 216).

Individual qualifiers are: Charles Click, Wellsville; Mason Persons, LaBrae; Lucas Wieson, Liberty; and Andrew Neider, Cardinal Mooney.