This is the Westwood High School girls bowling team, with head coach Barrie Rae at center in back, after winning the Upper Peninsula Bowling Conference title in the girls team finals held at its home River Rock Lanes in Ishpeming on Feb. 14. (Photo courtesy Facebook post by Kelly Milano)

ISHPEMING — Westwood High School came oh-so-close to bringing home a state championship over the weekend.

After qualifying through an MHSAA Division 3 regional in Cheboygan a week earlier, the Patriots’ girls bowling team worked its way through more qualifying at the D-3 state finals held in Jackson on Friday.

Westwood did well enough there to advance to match play and won its first two matches to reach the state championship match.

It was only then that the Patriots’ hopes for the title were dashed in a loss to a powerhouse team from Milan, a small community about 25 miles south of Ann Arbor and about that many miles north of the Ohio state line.

Both teams have made runs before for a state title, according to a story by MHSAA correspondent Jeff Bleiler on its website at www.mhsaa.com.

Milan finished runner-up two years ago, while Westwood was in the same position three seasons prior, losing out to Flint Powers Catholic that year.

Here’s part of the story highlighting the Patriots:

“Coach Barrie Rae, in his 16th season, said he was proud of his team, which loses seniors Averie Vial, Olivia Letson and Isabelle Moebius, but returns juniors Fara Bjork, Hailey Smail and Julianne Yohe.

“‘They started out a little slow, they knew it and they picked it up when they needed to,’ Rae said. ‘When it came to match play, they did what they had to do.

“‘They bowled as a team. When one girl was bowling bad, the other four picked her up and that happened all day long.'”

They were part of a contingent of four area teams from the Upper Peninsula Bowling Conference, joining Marquette, Ishpeming-Negaunee and L’Anse, that qualified out of their regionals for the state finals held at centers around the Lower Peninsula.

Team finals were held Friday and singles finals came on Saturday in each division.

Here’s a rundown, division by division:

Division 3

At the JAX60 center in Jackson, Westwood had a representative in all four tourneys held there — girls team, boys team, girls singles and boys singles.

But it was the Patriots’ girls team that made the most inroads toward a state title.

The five-girl team, usually bringing six or seven bowlers for any necessary substitutions, finished in a modest sixth place in the qualifying round that combined Baker-style bowling — where bowlers alternate frames to come up with a single-game score — and regular bowling, with each bowler rolling their own 10-frame games.

But that sixth-place finish out of 16 teams, all of whom had won or finished runner-up in a regional the week before, was good enough to advance as eight teams made it to the knockout rounds.

Westwood rolled an eight-game Baker total of 1,227 on games of 123, 136, 134, 165, 163, 160, 151 and 195, averaging 153.4 in this notoriously tough-scoring format. In fact, the final-game 195 was the fourth-highest Baker game among 128 bowled by all girls teams in Jackson during qualifying.

Then the Pats tacked on “regular” games of 774 and 765, though scores for individuals aren’t listed.

That gave Westwood a total of 2,766, a little over 200 pins behind top qualifier Milan, but more importantly, 79 pins ahead of the first team to miss the cut, Flint Powers Catholic with 2,687.

Making the cut was all-important, since qualifying scores were wiped out as the eight remaining teams were seeded for match play.

And the Patriots’ improvement through Baker bowling also proved important, since all remaining bowling left was in that format. Westwood only averaged 140 for its first four Baker games of qualifying, then improved that mark to a 167 mean for the final four.

The Pats were challenged in their matches, facing the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 seeds, winning the first two that each went the maximum five games.

In its opener, Westwood defeated No. 3 Flat Rock, winning 146-129 and 183-151 before losing 143-96 and 191-150 to even it 2-2. In the final game, WHS prevailed 161-138.

In their second match, the semifinals, the Patriots fended off No. 2 Armada, losing the opening game 182-139 before winning back-to-back to take the lead, 168-134 and 160-140. Armada took the fourth game by a single pin, 167-166, to again force a fifth game, which Westwood came out on top, 168-143.

Milan, coming in on a real heater, was a force the U.P. representative couldn’t overcome in the finals, losing in three straight, 173-162, 131-104 and 190-163.

The Big Reds not only posted the highest qualifying score by more than 50 pins, but Milan swept 3-0 through its first two matches, winning every game by at least 10 pins and half of them by 40 or more.

“To go 3-0 and not lose the whole way, that’s really difficult to do,” Milan coach Adam Gilles said in the MHSAA story on the finals. “Westwood went five games and five games, and that’s a lot of bowling. They get tired.

“Our girls stayed warm, stayed loose, had fun. You’re just bowling with your friends like we’re at Station 300 (their local bowling center).”

The following day, team member Averie Vial bowled in the girls singles finals after she also had qualified in the regional singles tourney that had been held in conjunction with the team event in Cheboygan.

Vial built some massive momentum, qualifying in second place out of 56 finalists, all of whom had finished in the top seven in a regional.

She rolled 1,207, a 201.2 average for six games on lines of 185, 247, 192, 180, 201 and 202. Only top qualifier Maggie Smith from — you guessed it — Milan was ahead of her with 1,350, a whopping 225.0 average.

More importantly for Vial, she was 157 pins ahead of the first bowler to miss the cut in 17th place.

But with scores again zeroed out for match play, Vial had the unfortunate luck of running into one of the better scores in her first match to bow out. She lost to No. 15 seed Ashley Van Linden of Grand Rapids West Catholic in the two-game, total-pins format, 367-321. Vial rolled games of 159 and 162, while Van Linden had 156 and 211.

Van Linden would win one more round before bowing out in the semifinals as No. 11 seed Marielle Schafran of Grass Lake won the state title over Myla Upthegrove of Otisville LakeVille.

Even the high-scoring Smith of Milan only won one round before bowing out.

The Westwood boys team and one of its seniors made the state team and singles finals, too, in Jackson.

The Patriots team was fifth in qualifying with 3,216, rolling a Baker total of 1,413 on games of 167, 205, 160, 157, 189, 191, 171 and 173, then adding regular games of 883 and 920.

That was 232 pins behind No. 1 qualifier Adrian Madison, but also 162 pins ahead of the first team out in ninth.

Qualifying at No. 5, the Patriots went up against No. 4 Croswell-Lexington in the opening round and lost 3-0 on match scores of 195-123, 174-134 and 176-146.

In singles, Westwood’s Roman Yuhas qualified seventh with 1,243, a 207.2 average after rolling 176, 224, 221, 192, 194 and 236.

While that was 176 pins behind No. 1 qualifier Carter Ramage of Croswell-Lexington’s 1,419, Yuhas was also 45 pins ahead of the first bowler out in 17th.

Seeded No. 7, he faced No. 10 Michael Fitzner of Olivet in the first round of match play and lost 462-341. Yuhas rolled 169 and 172 while Fitzner had 241 and 221.

Division 2

These finals were held at Century Lanes in the Pontiac suburb of Waterford.

Ishpeming-Negaunee girls senior Sara Harvey was the only area competitor between her team and Marquette that qualified for match play.

In girls singles, Harvey qualified 14th in a field of 56 with 1,065, a 177.5 average as she rolled 169, 181, 160, 156, 249 and 150. The 249 was the second-highest game of the day and highest in qualifying.

She finished 185 pins behind No. 1 qualifier Noel Bunch of Flint Kearsley with 1,250, and also just six pins ahead of the first bowler out in 17th.

But Harvey, the No. 14 seed, bowed out in her first match to No. 3 Sara Augustitus of St. Clair Shores Lake Shore, 403-320. Harvey’s games were 149 and 171, Augustitus’ 191 and 212.

Marquette senior Hayden Schetter also took part in the girls finals, finishing 34th with 964 on games of 169, 167, 158, 182, 156 and 132, a 160.7 average. She finished 96 pins out of the last qualifying spot in 16th.

I-N was in the boys team finals, but struggled to 16th place with 2,733. A Baker total of 1,249 included games of 142, 153, 113, 166, 204, 120, 137 and 214, with regular games of 782 and 702.

I-N junior Killean Ryan was in the boys singles finals and finished 22nd with 1,160, missing the 16th-place cut by 50. His games were 190, 184, 193, 145, 203 and 245.

Division 4

At Skore Lanes in the Detroit suburb of Taylor, L’Anse made the girls team finals, with junior Kydan Dean making the boys singles finals.

The Purple Hornets girls were 14th of 16 teams in qualifying with 2,231, missing qualifying by 279 pins. Their 1,053 Baker total consisted of 98, 142, 119, 142, 133, 144, 124 and 151, with regular games of 621 and 557.

Dean was 47th in boys singles qualifying with 996, a 166.0 average after he rolled 191, 168, 223, 127, 137 and 150. He missed the 16th-place cut by 167.

Story contents based on an examination of the MHSAA website at www.mhsaa.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.