In comparison to the other sports programs at Riverside, bowling has not been around very long.
But the Pirates’ boys team has quickly made a name for itself.
Riverside on Saturday made school history, winning the Division II boys state bowling championship at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.
It is the first state title in any sport for the Pirates.
“This is super special,” said head coach Zerah Crouch on Sunday. “It cements these guys into school history. The reception we received (when returning home Saturday night) from the school and community was amazing. There had to be about 150 people waiting for us in the parking lot when we got back, and that didn’t even include the people standing out on their porches greeting us as we came through town. It is something we will never forget.”
The state championship victory completed an impressive postseason trifecta for the Pirates, who also won sectional and district titles.
The Division II tournament field included 16 teams. The tourney consisted of two parts, with the qualifying portion including three regular games and three baker games.
From there, the top eight teams advanced to a tournament bracket competition to decide the state team champion.
The Pirates finished seventh in the qualifying round with a total of 3,334.
Riverside turned it on during the tournament portion, which featured head to head matchups in a best-of-five format
In the first round, the Pirates knocked off second-seeded Liberty Center 204-190, 225-175, 216-191.
With the win, Riverside advanced to face sixth-seeded Rocky River Lutheran West in the state semifinal.
The Pirates were defeated 204-165 in the first game, but responded with three straight wins (202-148, 194-167, 214-212) to earn a spot in the championship round against top-seeded Coldwater.
Riverside grabbed the momentum in the first game against the Cavaliers, winning 213-149.
Coldwater won game two 170-168, but the Pirates came back with a 219-214 win to get within one more victory of a state title.
Riverside didn’t flinch, rolling a 208 to easily beat Coldwater’s 161 and claim the championship trophy.
“We have seen Coldwater before and they are absolutely a great team,” said Crouch.
“But I felt that if we kept bowling with the same pace and same confidence, we had a good chance. Our kids weren’t intimidated at all.
“We stepped up and bowled our best when we had to. Our baker games were bad in qualifying, but we only had two of the 11 (in the bracket tournament) under 200.”
With a veteran team, Crouch thought competing for a state title was a realistic goal for the Pirates coming into the season.
“We don’t have a conference, so our focus all season is on getting ready for sectional, district and state,” said Crouch. “After seeing the way they competed over the summer and the work they put in, I definitely felt like this was something they were capable of doing.”
A strength for the Pirates has been their balance. That was the case again Saturday.
“When you talk about being a team, there’s no doubt this is the best team in the state,” said Crouch. “These guys are always picking each other up. (On Saturday) it was Gage Stevenson. He had the low average of our five guys but he stepped up and had our best series in qualifying. If he doesn’t do that, we wouldn’t have made the cut.”
Stevenson, a junior, led the Pirates by finishing 20th in the individual standings with games of 181, 200 and 229 for a 610 series.
Senior Tyler Knight had games of 200, 183 and 201 for a 584 series, senior Andrew Knight rolled games of 184, 230 and 161 for a 575 series, junior Sam King posted games of 181, 176 and 199 for a 556 series and senior Zander Crouch added games of 185, 179 and 185 for a 548 series.
Graham’s Spencer Hannahs was the individual state champion with games of 212, 248 and 269 for a 729 series.