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After finishing in seventh place in the qualifying round Friday in the MHSAA Division 3 Boys Bowling Team Finals at Airport Lanes in Jackson, the Redskins won their quarterfinal match over Vandercook Lake, 2179-2145. In the semis, they met New Haven and held a lead going into the fifth of six Baker games. Sandusky lost that game, 199-158, and then dropped the final game, 205-196, and were on the short end on the final score by just 20 pins, 2055-2035. New Haven went on to defeat Essexville-Garber for the State championship.

“I thought the boys did excellent. They bowled very well,” said Del Shea, Sandusky coach. “We were so close. We just had that bad fifth game, but you’re going to have that with such a young team.”

Shea had no seniors on the team this year, usually starting two of three juniors, two sophomores, and a freshman.

In the qualifying round to make the top eight teams, among 18 competing, junior Matt Smith and sophomore Matt Arnold turned in the top individual series for Sandusky.

“Matt Smith did real well, but everybody bowled well,” said Shea. “Nobody really stood out, but nobody bowled bad.”

Sandusky girls reach playoff round

The Lady Redskins, who had just one starter back from last year’s State runner-up team, turned in a strong performance on Friday at Airport Lanes, finishing seventh in the 18-team qualifying round.

They met No. 2 seeded Rogers City in the quarterfinals and just missed an upset. Sandusky took a five pin lead into the final Baker game of the match before Rogers City rallied to win, 1813-1789.

Sandusky coach Gordy Williams said he could not be prouder of his team’s effort.

“It says a lot about the fortitude of these young players. It was a young team and an inexperienced team, so I think this was a pretty good achievement.

“We had no depth, just five girls,” he added. “All five girls knew they had to pick up the slack.

Amber Snyder, a junior, was the only other veteran player back for Sandusky besides senior Melanie Ball, who went to win the State Singles title on Saturday. Snyder rolled a key 212 game in the last regular game in the qualifying round.

“That helped us make it into the playoffs,” noted Williams.

“We won a Regional (fourth straight), and as a team we did what we had to do (Friday),” he added. “We came up short (against Rogers City), but, overall this year, we had a very good showing.”

Cros-Lex boys miss cut

In the Division 2 Team State Finals at Battle Creek, the Cros-Lex Pioneers failed to advance to the top eight. The Pioneers were 11th among 18 teams, netting a pinfall of 3,984, 88 pins from eighth place.