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The Vestavia Hills High School boys bowling team won the Class 6A-7A state tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, at Bowlero Mobile.
The Vestavia Hills High School boys bowling team finished off a terrific season by winning the Class 6A-7A state championship Tuesday afternoon.
The Rebels rallied back from a deficit to defeat Thompson in the championship match, 1,594-1,577. The state tournament was held at Bowlero in Mobile.
The state title is the Rebels’ second in the 10 years of bowling in Alabama high school competition. They last won the event in 2019.
Vestavia Hills won the South Regional last week to qualify for state and kept up the winning ways at the state tournament.
On Monday, the Rebels won three matches to lock up their spot in the state championship match. Vestavia began the tournament with a 1,522-1,314 win over Mortimer Jordan. The Rebels then beat Stanhope Elmore 1,627-1,615. In the semifinals, Vestavia knocked off Thompson 1,547-1,368.
With Thompson knocked into the consolation portion of the bracket, the Warriors had to win a match to get back to Vestavia in the final Tuesday afternoon. The warmup time played to Thompson’s benefit in the final, as the Warriors started out hot and got out to a 61-pin lead.
Thompson led by six pins, following a set of traditional games and two of three Baker games. But the Rebels stormed back and won the final Baker game to overtake Thompson and claim the blue map trophy.
Vestavia Hills dropped the first Baker game 214-201 but won the final two, 214-195 and 230-207 to win the match. In the traditional round, Davidson Smith bowled a 238 and Carson Gentry notched a 224. Doug Dellacio, Grant McEwen and Josh Burgess were among the players to step up in the state tournament as well.
Vestavia Hills coach Todd Evans said the best part of coaching the bowling program is getting to see guys grow up throughout their four years in the program. Gentry is a prime example of that. He had a strong performance in the state tournament, but had to battle through sickness just to show up and be in the lineup.
Evans was unafraid to make lineup changes in the final, knowing his team could handle the shakeup. The change paid off, he believes, because the Rebels have characteristics of a strong team in what is often an individual sport.
“The difference in us is that we ride together, stay in the same hotels, the parents are friends, and we’re more of a team than any other team in the state,” Evans said.
The Vestavia bowling team has been known for its community efforts throughout the year, including raking yards for senior citizens and volunteering at the Special Olympics, with team members Vaughan Rainer and Josh Maners participating in the games.
“Those are things that other people might not think can affect your team,” Evans said. “I can promote it, but it takes having leaders that buy into it to work. There was never a time with this team where they didn’t do everything I asked them to do from the jump.”
Along those same lines, Evans gave deserved credit to Thad Boryczka, the team’s “director of snacks.”
“The team chemistry is off the charts,” Evans said.
