Both the Perrysburg boys and girls bowling teams finished second behind Napoleon, which swept both championships, in the Northern Lakes League final standings.
Perrysburg coach Aaron Wozniak said his bowling squads had high expectations this season, in part, because the boys and girls came into the season with five seniors each.
“So, a very veteran squad on both sides, and several returning letter winners and All-NLL conference bowlers,” Wozniak said.
The Bowling Green boys team finished third and the Bobcats’ girls team finished fourth in the nine-team bowling league.
On the boys team, Perrysburg senior Jamey Phillips (221.93 average) is first team All-NLL. Perrysburg senior Nathan Ulrich (202.33) and junior Connor Kessinger (200.17) are second team.
Perrysburg ended the season with a school record 16 wins (16-3) and a conference record of 6-2 with the only loss coming to BG and Napoleon.
“We needed to win the NLL tournament in order to take the overall conference title (which could have been Perrysburg’s our first since 2018-2019), and we gave it our best shot,” Wozniak said.
“We shot a school record 4,002 for three games and five baker games, which is a 200.1 average on a challenging oil pattern (the USBC Junior Gold pattern) that was put out by Interstate Lanes.
“Unfortunately for us, Napoleon got hot and shot an even bigger score (4,241) behind a 300 game and 741 series by freshman Hunter Ehlers. That was tough to beat with them shooting a 1,229 first game. There is no defense in bowling,” Wozniak continued.
“Perrysburg boys bowling also had a crucial injury during much of the season. Senior and all-conference award winning bowler Rohan Gupta dealt with a wrist injury for approximately eight weeks, putting seniors Wyatt Sorg, Brandon Stark, junior Connor Courtney, and freshman Ethan Kramer in charge of making up for the all=conference player’s scores. They all did a great job.”
The Perrysburg boys did set a few school records this season. Phillipps set a single game record of 299 and a record for two game series (299-238-537) on January 17 at Clay (Toledo Sports Center) and he also set a Perrysburg single season record for NLL conference play average (221.92) previously held by Daniel Tomalak (215.93 in 2021-22).
Phillipp’s two-game series of 537 is also now an NLL conference record, beating Alex Burton’s 534 (Maumee) from 2017-2018.
“The wild part is, Jamey Phillipps has only been bowling for two years,” Wozniak said. “However, he has put a tremendous amount of work into his game.
“When we don’t have a match or practice, he is at whatever bowling center in the Toledo metro area that has open lanes, putting in the work. He has also spent a lot of his hard earned money working part time at Appliance Center buying bowling balls to add to his arsenal.”
Ulrich, a captain, “also had a great achievement” —during the Jacket-Eagle Invitational Tournament on January 27 at Bowlero Lanes in Toledo, Ulrich made the all-tournament team.
Ulrich finished third out of 120 male bowlers, highlighted by a 289 game where he had the front 10 strikes on what Wozniak described as “an extremely difficult oil pattern (Kegel Chromium).“
The Perrysburg boys also finished in third place in the Napoleon Baker Bash.
BG senior Jerrad Main and freshman Conner Main are third team All-NLL.
In the dual meet standings, Napoleon finished 7-1, followed by Perrysburg (6-2), BG (6-2), Clay (6-2), Springfield (5-3), Anthony Wayne (3-5), Fremont Ross (2-6), Toledo Whitmer (1-7), and Findlay (0-8).
Napoleon won the league tournament, followed by Perrysburg, AW, BG, Springfield, Ross, Whitmer, Clay and Findlay.
Final point standings were Napoleon (41), Perrysburg (36), BG (30), AW (27), Springfield (25), Clay (18), Ross (16), Whitmer (11), and Findlay (3).
Girls All-NLL bowling
In the girls all-league teams, Napoleon took five out of six first team choices, but Perrysburg, primarily coached by Jay Carr, took five of six spots on the second team.
Those Yellow Jackets making second team are seniors Karli Courtney (171.86), Lydia Williams (168.46), and Mackenzie Wozniak (162.81), and juniors Riley Bisnett (165.09) and Julia Gahn (153,.75).
BG sophomore Madgelin Landry and Perrysburg senior Sydney Gankosky (145.3) are third team.
The Perrysburg girls finished with a school record 12 wins, and finishing 12-6 (7-1 NLL). Wozniak said the Jackets ended up qualifying second in “an extremely difficult oil pattern” at the Bryan Bear Open in December.
The Jackets set a school record for the highest three game, five baker set, just as the boys did, but with a 3,173 series, even while struggling in baker games during the NLL Tournament with a strong second place finish behind Napoleon.
In the dual meet competition, Napoleon went undefeated at 8-0, followed by Perrysburg (7-1), Springfield (6-2), BG (5-3), Findlay (3-5), AW (3-5), Clay (2-6), Whitmer (2-6), and Ross (0-8).
“Knocking Napoleon off is always a goal, but a very tough one,” said Wozniak. “Napoleon girls have not lost an NLL match in almost a decade, let alone give up their NLL crown.”
They finished in the same order in the final league standings and tournament, with Findlay placing ahead of AW and Clay finished ahead of Whitmer in the tournament.
