RC bowling teams take it to state quarter and semi finals

The Rogers City Huron bowling teams competed at the MHSAA 2007 finals competition in Jackson this past weekend, and didn?t leave without making sure every opponent knew what the Hurons could do on the lanes. The Lady Hurons ended their season on two high notes, with the team and one individual making it to the semi-final round. IN THE team event, the girls finished the qualifying round in second place out of 18 teams. The Hurons had trouble finding a rhythm on the oil pattern used for the tournament. ?Our score of 8,887 through the six Baker games had us missing the cut to the top eight by 16 pins,? said coach Brian Bannasch, ?but the team came alive in the regular games, posting the second best three-game series with scores of 868, 880, and 833.?

Senior Paula Vogelheim bowled 209 in the first game, while freshman Tayler Bannasch had scores of 212 and 194 in games two and three to lead the team. The quarterfinal round had the Lady Hurons matched against the seventh seeded Sandusky ? the same team that knocked them out of the semi-final round last year. Sandusky took a small lead early, winning the regular game by a score of 829 to 795. The girls fought back during the Baker games, which included games of 185, 179, and 183, cutting Sandusky?s lead to a slim 4-pin margin heading into the final game. In the sixth and final Baker game, Danielle Darga, Tayler Bannasch, and Vogelheim rolled a string of three clutch strikes to beat the Sandusky team. ?The three strikes were a huge boost, helping us to win the whole match by 24 pins,? said Bannasch.

In the semi-final round, the Huron team faced Wyoming-Kelloggsville ? last year?s state champion. ?The girls fought hard and bowled well through the whole match, but Kelloggsville never gave us an opening, taking a 91-pin lead in the regular game, and steadily increasing that lead to a final total of 201 pins,? said Bannasch. ?Kelloggsville went on to win the championship again this year, beating out Vandercook Lake in the final round.?

THE ORANGE and Black finished the tournament in third place, with their score besting the total of Portland, the other team to fall in the semi-final round. The Lady Hurons also finished third in last year?s tournament. Freshman Tayler Bannasch was the team MVP, averaging better than 190 in four regular games. ?Tayler really showed a lot of focus and confidence,? said Bannasch, ?especially for being in her first state final competition.? Three girls competed in Saturday?s individual tournament of champions, including Vogelheim, senior Heather Kowalski, and junior Danielle Darga. Vogelheim was consistent in the qualifying round with a six game total of 1,080. This put her into 13th place, which was enough to move to final rounds. Kowalski did not end her season at the state finals this year ? the first time in four years of her career. Kowalski?s final score of 1,053 left her 22-pins short of the final round. Darga also ended her season before making it to the final competition with her score of 958. Vogelheim continued to bowl well in her match play rounds. She forced a two-frame roll-off with her first opponent, fourth seeded Jeni Lindawood of Grass Lake. Vogelheim rolled a strike, spare, strike for a total of 40 pins, while Lindawood rolled 37. Vogelheim went on to win her second game as well (180-144) to land a spot in the quarterfinal round, where she won 149-147 and 177-158. Her semi-final match against Nicole Crabtree of Vandercook Lake went the full distance. Vogelheim lost the first game, 179-221, but picked up a win in the second, 204-181. She lost the third game, 139-196, ending her high school career with an impressive fourth place finish at the state finals.

IN BOYS? action, the Huron team finished the season by advancing with seven other teams to the state finals. Rogers City completed the qualifying round in fourth place. The Hurons compiled a score of 4,099 for their three regular games and six baker games. The Hurons fell behind Essexville-Garber, 896-955. The Orange and Black could not rebound from this, and Essexville would go on to end the Huron title hopes with a 2,218-2,015 victory. The highlight of the match was the Hurons bowling the highest Baker of the competition at 267. ?This was another step in the right direction,? said Bannasch. ?Our starting five bowlers will all be back next year. They got to see the difference between the top teams and themselves.? To show how evenly matched teams are at the state level of competition, the first, second, third, and fourth seeded teams all lost their matches, which left the teams seeded 5-8 to battle for the state title. In indi

vidual competition, Henry Dietlin advanced into the round of 16. Dietlin started with two games of 172, and went on to average 226 in the final four games, which would be enough to sneak him into the next round with a 15th place finish and a total of 1,249. Dietlin would face David Carroll of Wyoming-Kellogsville in his first match. Dietlin won the first game of the best two out of three, 243 to 200. Carroll would go on to defeat Dietlin, 225-184, in the deciding game. Carroll went on to win the state title, making it four years in a row that the state champion had to battled against a Rogers City bowler for the win.

Ryan Darga finished in 37th place, while teammate Devon Ferris finished in 52nd place. ?This was a good showing for Dietlin, and all three bowlers will be back next year to try for an individual state title,? said Bannasch.