Bowlers dominate Region 5

By Rhonda Hutchison 

 

NEWPORT—The Pendleton County High School Wildcat bowlers earned their fourth straight Region 5 boys championship, and for the first time, two Ladycat bowlers advanced to the state finals, finishing first and second in individual regional competition.

The Region 5 boys/girls/unified bowling competitions took place Jan. 22 and 23 at Bellewood Lanes in Newport.

State finals will roll next month in Louisville, where the boys team will go for gold, Ladycats Maddie Crawford and Kree Brewer will try to replicate their one-two finish in the regionals and Wildcats Kyan Brewer and Bradley Brann, who also finished in the top four in the boys division, will go after the state singles competition.

Also, Pendleton County’s unified team of Jordan Ewers and Kyan Brewer won the regional unified title and will advance to state.

In the regionals, the singles competition was first, with each school in the region sending their top four averaging boys and top four averaging girls to compete.

The athletes who represented Pendleton County in the singles were Bradley Brann, Braden Brann, Leroy Bryant, Kyan Brewer, Kree Brewer, Maddie Crawford, Aliyah Webster and Brooklyn Wrobleski.

In each division, the bowlers had to bowl three games. The top eight scoring bowlers in each division moved on.

In the boys division, four Pendleton bowlers advanced: Brewer, seeded first; Bradley Brann, third; Braden Brann, fourth; and Bryant, sixth.

The top eight then had to bowl two additional games, which were added to their previous scores. The top four scoring bowlers moving on. That left the Pendleton Wildcats with two bowlers in the top four: Kyan Brewer, seeded second; and Bradley Brann, seeded fourth.

These bowlers moved on to the stepladder part of the competition to determine who would be the region winner and runner-up. 

In the first round of the stepladder, Brann went up against Mason Booth from Campbell County. The match was a nail-biter and wasn’t over until Brann threw the last ball, beating Booth by one pin, 191-190, moving him to the next round against teammate Brewer.

This match was also a close one with Brewer taking the win 179-175, which advanced him to the finals against Bryce Sargent from Campbell.

Though he rolled a good game, Brewer fell short of the title but did secure runner-up in the Region 5 Boys Singles Championship.

Because of their top four finish, both Brewer and Brann will advance to the state singles competition next month.

In the girls division after the first three games, Pendleton had two Ladycats place in the top eight: Maddie Crawford seeded second and Kree Brewer seeded third. 

 Once the two additional game scores were added, the Ladycats made school history by having two bowlers in the region top four, with Brewer seeding first and Crawford seeding third.

Both bowlers moved on to compete in the stepladder, with Crawford facing No. 4 seed Reiley McMahon from Newport Central Catholic. Crawford quickly took control of the game, beating McMahon 205-148.

Crawford moved on to face No. 2 seed from Simon Kenton’s Lily Bauer. Continuing on her winning streak, Crawford won 199-156, which moved her to the semi-finals against her teammate, No. 1 seed Kree Brewer.

Both Ladycats bowled well, but Brewer took the win 180-153 to become the Region 5 Girls Singles Champion, with Crawford the runner-up. Both will compete at the state singles competition next month.

In the girls team division, the Ladycats seeded fourth out of seven teams.  

The bowlers who represented Pendleton were Maddie Crawford, Aliyah Webster, Brooklyn Wrobleski, Emma-Lee Chappell, Dara Morton and Kree Brewer.

With the format being the first team to win three baker games out of five moving on, the Ladycats met No. 5 seed Highlands in the first round of the stepladder. The Ladycats wasted no time in moving on to the final four by beating Highlands in the first three baker games.

Next, Ladycats took on Newport Central Catholic, which won the first two baker games. The Ladycats fought back and took game three 190-136, however they were not able to secure the fourth game win and were eliminated from the competition.

In the boys division, the Wildcats entered as three-year Region 5 defending champions. The team consisted of Bradley Brann, Braden Brann, Chance Enzweiler, Karson Enzweiler, Adam Straus, Colton Webster, Leroy Bryant and Kyan Brewer. 

After the seeding round, the Wildcats found themselves seeded No. 2 out of nine teams.

In the first round, the Wildcats met Dayton. Dayton took the first baker game, 198-144, but the Wildcats came back strong to take the next three baker games, 224-173, 213-127 and 170-159.

The semi-finals match against the Campbell County Camels proved to be a tough one for the Cats. Pendleton took the first baker game, 212-170, only to lose the second baker 201-213. The Wildcats rallied again to take the third baker 205-159 but the Camels fought back and took the fourth baker 196-182.

With the fifth baker game deciding who would win the round and move on to the finals, both teams were ready to do battle.

As the pins flew, scores climbed, the crowd yelled and the Wildcats began to inch away from the Camels to win the game 232-202.

In the final match Pendleton went up against Scott. The Cats came out strong taking the first baker 195-168, with Scott taking the second 147-145. Determined to keep their winning streak alive, the Cats took the next two baker games 185-136 and 211-155 to become the Region 5 Boys Team Champions for the fourth year in a row. 

The Wildcats will compete in Louisville at the state championship next month.

Pendleton County sent two unified teams to bowl at the regional level. PC 1 Jordan Ewers and Kyan Brewer seeded first and PC 2 Dylan Beckett and Maddie Crawford seeded 10th.  Both Pendleton County teams received byes in the first round.

In the second round, PC 1 rolled over Highlands 6, 144-70, while PC 2 beat Dayton 1, 96-66, to move on to the third round.

In this round, PC 2 fell against Dayton 7, 97-111, and was eliminated from the tournament.

PC 1 faced Highlands 2, winning 169-64, moving them into the final four.

Ewers/Brewer continued on their winning streak, taking down Simon Kenton 3, 123-114, in the semi-final round.

With the crowd cheering, PC 1 continued to send pins flying, beating Dayton 7, 174-99, to become the Region 5 Unified Champions.

Ewers/Brewer will compete next month at the state level in Louisville.