Last year the Ravenna Ravens boys’ bowling team was blessed with depth. This year, the Ravens’ depth has been tested and they competed short-handed at the Metro Athletic Conference tournament, taking fifth place by knocking down 3482 pins, relinquishing their league title to Woodridge last Saturday at Spins Bowling Alley in Akron.
“It was not where we wanted to finish but it was a really tough shot,” said Coach Kelly Champ. “We had two bowlers that bowled really well but we would just could not get the rest of the team going.”
Junior Jake Stefansic led Ravenna by bowling a 609 to finish as the league’s runner-up, followed by junior Carson Schueller who knocked down 587 pins to place fifth, sophomore Pete Jennings scored a 478, sophomore Jeriah Miller bowled a 424 and junior Kieran Rosander knocked down 135 pins.
Ravenna was missing three of its starters and called up Jennings and Rosander from the junior varsity squad to plug the holes. Ravenna also entered the tournament, having lost their last five matches by close margins.
Despite getting off to a fast start in the first series, the Ravens could not sustain their momentum in the second game.
“When you only have five bowlers bowling on one pair it is really hard to break down the oil pattern and that is what we ran into,” noted the four-year coach. “We ran into an area that we just had pushed the oil and could not get through it, and it made it very difficult not only on our first ball but our spare conversions.”
Despite Ravenna’s inexperience showing, Stefansic and Scheuller competed well by finishing in the top five.
For Stefansic, his two-handed technique continued yielding positive results en route to finishing only five pins shy of winning the individual league title.
“Scores were down considerably from the preseason tournament and the winner only had 613 for the day and that was below what we had in the past,” noted Champ. “Jake pushed through and did what he could to get better and has expanded his game considerably and is able to play a part of the lane now where he could not at the beginning of the season That has really changed with how he has been able to score on patterns outside of our regular matches.”
Despite a shaky second series, Scheuller rebounded with a strong third game to finish in fifth place.
According to Champ, Schueller has improved his mental game considerably this year and it showed with a strong performance at the league tournament last Saturday.
“He has a very simple game, and he plays it very well when he is focused and he is listening and we can make adjustments,” said Champ. “Sometimes that can be the difference between a good bowler and a great bowler and Carson has been working on that the last couple of weeks.”
With both upperclassmen performing well at the league tournament, Champ said it instilled confidence that the pair of Raven bowlers can continue to lead the team next year.
In addition to not having as much depth as the previous years, the Ravens have also struggled in the Baker games. In the last three years, Ravenna was a master in the Baker games but this year that element has been one of its greatest challenges.
It was no different in the MAC tournament as the Ravens once again struggled to find consistency and ultimately took fifth place. Champ said that missing spares is always costly but when a team cannot convert spares in the Baker games, it is too much of an obstacle to overcome.
“I always tell the kids that I won’t pull them if they are making spares, but I also can’t pull them if multiple kids are missing spares because you only have so many subs,” she added. “It has been one of those things where we have done great in regular games and then you get to the Baker games and we just can’t put anything together.”
Despite a tough league tournament, Ravenna’s season is far from finished, as it will now compete in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II tournament. Champ noted that the Ravens have competed against several teams in their sectional during the regular season, so they have a good idea of what to expect.
They will compete in the OHSAA Division II sectional tournament on Friday at Spins Bowl in Kent beginning at 9 a.m.
