Brookside boys, Open Door girls earn second North Shore Bowling Conference titles

LORAIN — Lane conditions were a bit tough as always, but the Brookside boys and Open Door girls answered the bell to record winning performances at Saturday's North Shore Bowling Conference Erie Division tournament. Neither the Cardinals nor Patriots were seriously challenged as each won their second NSBC title. Brookside won for the first time since 2021 as it outdistanced defending champion Lutheran West by 284 pins, 4,085 to 3,801. Open Door triumphed for the second year in a row as it pulled away from Oberlin to win by 449 pins, 3,247 to 2,798. Saturday's win offered some redemption for Brookside, which finished just six pins behind Lutheran West at last year's classic. The Cardinals failed to maintain a 23-pin lead through five out of six Baker. Behind sophomore Raiden Younkin, junior Chase Davis and sophomore Matt Mahnke, the Cardinals pulled out to a 200-pin lead through three regular games, 2977 to 2,777, and never looked back. Brookside's No. 8 bowler last year, Younkin brought his A game as he recorded the second-highest series for the tournament out of 42 bowlers that went a full three-game set. The Cardinals sophomore rolled a 198-289-184-671 series to finish 109 pins over average. Only Fairview junior Parker Karp (192-267-229-688) was better. "What put us on a good vibe today was all the teamwork that we put in at practice," Younkin said. "We worked at trying to keep everyone's spirits high and not let anyone get down on themselves. To keep our team morale high is very important." Younkin switched over from a one-handed bowling approach to a two-handed approach over the summer. The changeover has improved his fortunes this season, upping his average from 165 to 183. "Last year I was pulled up from the junior varsity for this tournament as a one-handed bowler. Now I'm a two-hander," Younkin said. "The adjustment phase was difficult, but I have great teammates and one of our assistant coaches, Liam Scott, helped me transition very fluidly and very easily. "I liked everything that we did today. Even when we had some bad shots we didn't let our spirits get down. We wanted to make sure that we stayed on the right track to win this tournament." Davis was also on fire as he rolled a 254-216-181-651 series for the fourth-best series as he went 45 pins over average. Mahnke, son of Brookside coach Matt Mahnke, rolled a 231-199-194-624 series for the sixth-best series and was nine pins over average. "We came together as a team. We all did well in our Baker," Davis said. "I'm grateful for all my coaches and my teammates. Definitely to keep up team spirit was a key, making sure everyone's head is in the game. We had a lot of hope coming into this year. I'm just glad that we were able to come out and put it through." Matt Mahnke was pleased with nearly all facets of the Cardinals' performance, but especially the Baker round where the Cardinals averaged 184 — seven pins better than their regular-season average. "I couldn't be more proud of the guys," he said. "They put it all together today. We've been striving for this all year. They've steadily been getting better and better. They're starting to believe in themselves, how good they really are." Junior Hannah Thomas was the mainstay for Open Door. Thomas rolled a 210-174-175-559 series to record the top singles score for the day out of 40 bowlers that bowled a three-game set. She finished ahead of Oberlin freshman Keira Phillips (195-153-183-531). Thomas finished 109 pins over average while Phillips was 51 pins over average. A lefty, Thomas had recently just switched back to her normal bowling hand (left-handed) after bowling with her right hand for most of January. Thomas tore two ligaments in her bowling hand (left hand) at a holiday tournament at Park Lanes over Christmas when she slipped and fell while releasing the ball. "Things went pretty well. I was coming back from an injury," Thomas said. "I was feeling a bit more confident that what my average was telling me. I think we just have great teamwork. We work together very well. We just anchor each other. "We have an excellent coach (in Mark Frazier). He teaches us so much and we learn very quick." Seniors Abby Hopkins (477), Linda Kinnear (463) and Molly Felty (461) of Open Door finished Nos. 4, 6 and 7, respectively, for high series. "We've been working on one-pin spares and today the key was to make more than we missed because we've been hit-or-miss with them all season," Frazier said. "Today we made 40 and missed only 20. That was a good feeling. We've been working very hard on that over at Park Lanes. "The girls have put a lot of work in. That's what it all comes down to. We graduated two very good seniors (Gabriella Riba and Anna Koglman). Some people thought that we might not be as good without them. We've put in a lot of extra work in the offseason to try and offset that. If we execute what we're doing, I always tell them we'll be doing OK. We put the work in. You get out what you put in." Oberlin coach Austin Smith was also very pleased especially with the Phoenix girls team, led by Phillips and sophomore Rosie Street, who finished No. 5 for high series with a 468. "I'm very pleased with how far the girls have come for being only a second-year program," Smith said. Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Erie Division (Division 2 schools) BoysTeam scores1. Brookside 4,085; 2. Lutheran West 3,801 (284 pins behind); 3. Fairview 3,798; 4. Clearview 3,633; 5. Keystone 3,598; 6. Oberlin 3,512; 7. Firelands 3,494; 8. Wellington 3,421; 9. Open Door 3,284; 10. Black River 3,200; 11. Columbia 2,898. High seriesParker Karp (Fairview), 688; Raiden Younkin (Brookside), 671; Sam Marcum (Open Door), 652; Chase Davis (Brookside), 651; Zachery Smeal (Lutheran West), 633; Matthew Manke (Brookside), 624; Hunter Mate (Black River), 613; Alex Roland (Oberlin), 586; Gavin Toothman (Keystone), 586; Bruce Dudziak (Wellington), 582; Ian Ortiz (Clearview), 572; Hunter Young (Firelands), 566; Aaron Mihacik (Wellington), 549; Nate Christensen (Clearview), 538; Ben Smith (Firelands), 522; Kaden LaScola (Firelands), 516. High gameYounkin, 289; Karp, 267; Davis, 254; Marcum, 248; Dudziak, 245; Young, 235; Mate 234; Ethan Leiby (Keystone), 234; Preston Gabel (Fairview), 233; Mahnke, 231; Zachery Smeal, 227; Roland, 227; Ortiz and Brendan Welch (Clearview), 222; Evan Lehman (Oberlin), 219; Nathan Smeal (Lutheran West), 214; Toothman, 204. GirlsTeam scores1. Open Door 3,247; 2. Oberlin 2,798 (449 pins behind); 3. Firelands 2,696; 4. Keystone 2,591; 5. Wellington 2,452; 6. Columbia 2,230; 7. Fairview 1,967; 8. Clearview 1,949; 9. Brookside 1,244; 10. Black River 1,229. High seriesHannah Thomas (Open Door), 559; Keira Phillips (Oberlin), 531; Abby Blodgett (Wellington), 481; Abby Hopkins (Oberlin), 477; Rosie Street (Oberlin), 468; Linda Kinnear (Open Door), 463; Molly Felty (Open Door), 461; Katie Smith (Firelands), 451; Madison Smith (Black River), 435; Kaitlyn Drew (Keystone), 423. High gameThomas, 210; Phillips and Blodgett, 195; Katie Smith, 194; Kinnear, 174; Street, 172; Felty, 161; Drew, 158; Madison Smith, 157; Katie Dickason (Wellington), 152; Brooklyn Regal (Wellington), 151; Lyra Miller (Firelands), 150.