Hillsboro bowlers place 6th at Div. II state tournament

COLUMBUS — The Hillsboro Indians bowled well Friday afternoon at the Division II State Championships, but following a tough battle in the championship round, the Indians saw their season come to a close, placing sixth in the state.

Hillsboro entered the championship round at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl in the state event with a No. 4 seed but lost in the opening round to the No. 5 seeded Lima Shawnee Indians in five games.

“The boys did well, and they bowled well to get to that point of the tournament,” HHS coach Shane Ison told The Highland County Press.

The Indians lost the first game in the championship round 170-161, followed by a 230-158 win. HHS followed by taking a one-game lead with a 196-170 score in game three. In game four, HHS lost by a single pin, 247-246, and in the final game, HHS lost, 195-164.

“Bowling a 246 and losing to a 247 is kind of rough to come back from, and again, I thought they bowled well enough to win, but obviously we just came up one pin short,” Ison said.

The eventual state champion for Division II was Urbana, who defeated Akron Coventry, Peninsula Woodbridge and Coldwater for the state championship.

“It was a rough day at the end, but there is only one champion out of 16 teams, and I feel like our boys are champions,” Ison said. “They came in and did what we asked them to do, and they came in and gave themselves a chance to become champions.”

For HHS, last year they placed fifth in Division I, as they also lost in the quarterfinals of the championship round.

As for this year, in the qualifying round, the Indians scored 1,055 in Game 1, followed by a 1,023 score in game two and a 1,044 score in the third game for a total of 3,122 in regulation. In the Baker games, the Indians scored 175, 161 and 198 for a Baker total of 534, and with all scores combined, they finished with a 3,656 in the qualifying round.

“Placing in the Top 8 in the state is a good season,” HHS coach Jeff Miller said. “We aren’t disappointed in anything or anybody. It was a great effort all the way around.

“We shot better here than we did in practice all week on the same shot. They guys rose to the occasion.”

Hillsboro junior Hunter Lowe placed 11th overall with a 679 score, with game scores of 214, 212 and 253.

Junior Sajoun Jones followed with a 28th overall individual spot, collecting scores of 258, 169, and 214 for a total of 641.

Hillsboro senior Jaxsun Miller placed 33rd overall tallying scores of 210, 216 and 204 for a 630 total.

Tyler King was next at 43rd. King, a junior, had state scores of 189, 225 and 188 for a 602 total.

Senior Travis Carter finished with a 570 overall score, with game totals of 184, 201 and 185.

Also on the team for state as alternates were seniors Logan Lavan, Bryan Holley and Chris Jeter.

This season for the Indians, they won the South Central Ohio League (SCOL), sectional and district championships.

In SCOL play during the season, the Indians went a perfect 18-0 and during the entire regular season lost just one match (vs. Zane Trace).

“This year has been surreal,” Jeff Miller said. “We have a few seniors on the team, and we are going to miss them bad. For the rest of the team, there is always next season, and we are looking forward to hopefully making another run at it next year.”

Ison also spoke about the seniors.

“You hate to say goodbye to the seniors, that’s the toughest part about (Friday),” Ison said. “A couple days after all of this sinks in, the loss will be over, and it will be easier.

“What these kids have accomplished the past two years … that doesn’t happen often, qualifying for the championship round at state two years in a row.”