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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills' Boris Lu bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills' Mason Maners bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills' Beau Reed bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills' Mason Maners bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills' Cameron Monistere bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills' Beau Reed bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills' Cameron Monistere bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills' Boris Lu bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills' Barrett Blackwood bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills' Barrett Blackwood bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
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Sarah Finnegan
Vestavia Boys Bowling State Championship 2018
Vestavia Hills bowls during the AHSAA State Bowling Championships on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham.
PELHAM – A baseball hat and a Hawaiian shirt almost did the trick for the Vestavia Hills High School boys bowling team.
Vestavia Hills coach Todd Evans had a few tricks up his sleeve, but the Rebels fell short on Friday at the AHSAA State Bowling Tournament. For the second consecutive year, Vestavia Hills placed second in the state, this time falling 1,547-1,493 to Buckhorn in the final.
“I’m proud of our players,” Evans said. “We have a good group of kids. They’re really good, from good families. We didn’t really know what to expect because last week, we weren’t real good. We kind of hit our stride yesterday. Things just didn’t work out.”
The two-day state tournament was held Thursday and Friday, Jan. 25-26, at Oak Mountain Lanes in Pelham. The first day featured three rounds of traditional games, which were used for seeding for the bracket format conducted on the second day.
In each round on Friday, three baker rounds followed a traditional game. A baker game is one in which all five bowlers rotate to bowl a game of 10 frames.
Last week, the Rebels bowed out in the semifinals of the regional tournament, and Evans felt like the team wasn’t bowling to its potential. So entering the state tournament on Thursday, Evans had an idea.
“I had this baseball cap that I really liked, and I said yesterday, the high guy gets the baseball cap,” he said.
That guy was Beau Reed. Over three games on Thursday, he racked up a 645, including a high of 247.
Then, Evans told his team that if it found a way to make it to the finals on Friday, he’d pull out a Hawaiian shirt and wear it for the last competition.
The Rebels rolled a 3,063 total in the three-round traditional bowling competition on Thursday to break the AHSAA state record of 3,014, set by the Rebels last season. On Friday, they then picked off Southside (1,536-1,348), Daphne (1,583-1,464) and Thompson (1,685-1,503) to reach the finals.
Evans stuck true to his word and busted out the Hawaiian shirt. His tactics seemed to do the trick of motivating his team.
“I think more than anything, it took their mind of the pressure and made it fun,” he said.
After a strong traditional game in the final, the Rebels held a 69-pin lead, 965-896. Spanning the fourth and fifth frames for each player, the Rebels piled up six consecutive strikes and nine out of 10 overall.
Reed finished the round with a turkey (three straight strikes on the 10th frame), but Buckhorn responded with the same result. It was the second consecutive match that Reed wrapped up his traditional game with a turkey.
Buckhorn nearly gained it all back in the first baker game, as the Bucks edged Vestavia, 233-166, to close Vestavia’s lead to just two pins. The second baker game was a tight affair, with Buckhorn taking it, 194-189, to take a three-pin lead entering the final game.
In the final baker game, Buckhorn posted a 224 to Vestavia’s 173 to pull away and win the state title.
“While you’re disappointed with finishing second, there’s a lot of teams that would love to be second,” Evans said. “It’s a loss. I don’t want them to like it, but it is what it is.”
The Rebels held the same lineup for most of the state tournament, a combination of Mason Maners, Cameron Monistere, Boris Lu, Barrett Blackwood and Reed. Out of that group, Blackwood is the only senior, and the Rebels will look for someone else to step into the role of setting up Reed next winter. Josh Handra is also an outgoing senior.
