Mira Mesa Bowl

champs Kevin Jones and Kayla Goad

        It was all treat and no trick on Halloween for Kevin Jones and Kayla Goad, as they both put on great performances en route to exciting victories in exciting JBT Southern California Conference action at San Diego's Mira Mesa Bowl.

        Riley Dempsey opened the scratch division stepladder finals with a 227-193 win over Mario... er... Travis Hewitt.  Dempsey then got by Wesley Low 228-215, who settled for back to back 4th place finishes on the weekend.  The next match was a thriller, as Joes' tenth frame double forced Dempsey to do the same.  Riley's first shot struck, but the second left a 4-pin, and Kevin earned the 201-195 win to reach the title match.

        Top seed Derek Acuff, in his first year of scratch competition, came oh-so-close to victory last time in So Cal, and found himself in another great battle against Jones, as both bowlers started with the front four strikes.  With a chance to lock out Derek in the tenth, Jones threw a great shot but got 'tricked' with a pocket 7-10, now giving Derek a chance to double to win.  This time Acuff got tricked, though, leaving a ringing 7-pin on the first ball, and Kevin won the 245-236 thriller for his first career JBT title.

        Goad essentially won SIX matches to win the title.  She was more than 100 pins out of fifth with two games to go, then shot 244 and 240 scratch to jump to the #4 spot.  She then lapped the field in the stepladder, starting with a 242-198 win over Mr. Sunday, Isaiah Cleveland.  She then edged fellow Arizonans Alexis Atkin 230-224, and Cortez Schenck 198-173, to reach the title match.

        Top seed Jonathan Braun's day was as roller-coaster as his armswing, with incredible highs (233 and 255) and some lows as well.  Unfortunatley for Jon, the current Rookie of the Year, the title game was one of the lows, and Kayla was the wrong person to do that against, as she remained red hot in a 248-181 win, and the third title of her JBT career.  She also had the produce sponsor clean sweep, as she won with an Ebonite ball (as did Jones) for an extra $100, and wore an EFX bracelet for another $25 bonus.

        Thanks to John Balla and the fantastic Mira Mesa crew for always making is feel so welcome.  Over $3,000 in scholarships were awarded this weekend alone, so if you want a piece of this fun, come on out to the next JBT, its that simple!