According to Ravenna boys’ bowling Coach Kelly Champ, her squad left the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division I state tournament last season with a bitter taste in their mouths after finishing in 11th place. Despite graduating their top three bowlers, the Ravens plan to prove that last season was no fluke and enjoy another deep run to the state tournament this year.
“I am excited to see where they can go and believe whole heartedly we can do it again,” said the fourth-year coach. “But it will take more work. It is a lot to try and get those spots filled that the seniors left behind, so we just finished our tryouts yesterday, so they are all ready for our first practice and none of them are just going to sit back and relax. They know what we went through last year and want to do it again.”
Last season Ravenna was paced by the core of seniors Jacob Champ, Parker Addison and Kevin Robinson, winning the Metro Athletic Conference title, a sectional banner and a district championship.
This year, the Ravens will rely on a squad consisting of no seniors and only two bowlers with any varsity experience.
Ravenna’s number one bowler will be sophomore Jeriah Miller, who will be pacing the Ravens using a two-handed bowling technique.
According to Champ, Miller uses two hands to put more spin on the ball and create more power to explode the pins.
“He is never satisfied,” she added. “He wants more and whenever he misses a spare, he works hard to make sure he does not miss it the next time. He is just poised as a much older bowler than just being a sophomore. He is ready for this, and it is what he wanted.”
Miller will be flanked by junior Mark Jones, who competed on the football team during the fall season.
Champ said that despite having less time to practice for the bowling season, Jones did not miss a beat and secured the number two spot on the team.
“He came in like a wrecking ball,” she said. “He really has worked on slowing his game down and making sure he is hitting his spots and his score showed it.”
Juniors Carson Schuller and Jacob Stefansic will be Ravenna’s third and fourth bowlers, the only two that competed on last year’s Division I state qualifying squad.
“Carson and Stefancic have both been on varsity since they were freshmen, so they have been there and are working towards solidifying themselves in the top,” Champ said.
The last spot in Ravenna’s starting five will be occupied by sophomore Matt Fuller, who worked his way up from the junior varsity team last year.
“He worked really hard and has put in the most work over the offseason and has really climbed,” added Champ. “He is still raw and is still young and is a sophomore as well and has really started working hard.”
After competing with an eight-man team last year, the Ravens only have six bowlers on their varsity squad and Champ acknowledged it will be an adjustment to compete without as much depth as last season.
“Those seniors last year were a special group,” Champ said. “Everybody knew it and they were the ones to beat so I would say we are probably looking like an underdog this year, but you can never count us out.”
Although the Ravens may be young, Champ said the precedent set by the four seniors who graduated from last year’s team has motivated this year’s squad to prove themselves.
Schuller and Stefansic may be the only two bowlers who competed at the state tournament, but Miller and Jones were also members of last year’s varsity team and got a first-hand experience of what it felt like to bowl at the state tournament.
According to Champ, those four got to work in the offseason with the goal of earning another trip to Columbus.
The foundation of last year’s team may have graduated but Champ is excited to build a new core this season.
“It’s awesome because they will do the same things that my seniors did last year,” she said. “Jacob, Parker and Kevin have bowled together since middle school. They really learned each other’s games at how the lanes differ just by watching each other bowl and I am excited to teach this new group that will be together for two or three more years to be able to do that same thing.”
Before the Ravens can think about competing for a state berth, they still must battle in the formidable MAC with Akron Coventry and Norton threatening to knock off the reigning conference champions.
Ravenna’s season begins when it competes in the MAC preseason tournament at the Spins Bowl Lane in Kent this Saturday at 10 a.m.
