SAM'S TOWN BOWLING CENTER

champions Joe Branson & Kyle Bridgman

Joe Branson and Kyle Bridgman captured JBT SW titles in exciting Mojave Conference action at Sam's Town Bowling Center.

The scratch division finals opened with Christian Jensen making his trip from Arizona a success with a 220-208 win over Brandon Allred.  Jensen continued to bowl well in round two, ending a fine day from Ray Griffith with a 235-182 victory.  Scratch division points leader Nathan Panaligan then took over in the semifinals, upending Jensen 257-211 to advance to the title match.

After a 197 start, Branson, visiting us from Wichita, Kansas, averaged 242 the rest of the day.  The title match wasn't as high scoring, but he still had enough to defeat Panaligan 218-194 to capture his first career JBT SW title.

There's no point in trying to sidestep around the trouble that unfortunately developed in the handicap division.  Our top qualifier and winner of the final match was discovered to have inaccuracies on his scorecard after the event was over.  I will use this platform to briefly discuss this.  First of all-- if you're trying to alter your scorecard, YOU WILL BE CAUGHT.  Since so much is always going on at our events, you might be lucky enough to get away with it once, but if you keep it up, you will be caught.  We take this more seriously than any other infraction because it is DISRESPECTFUL- and that's the nice word for it.  Who is it disrespectful to?

    1) The tournament directors and our Tours.   Nothing is more important than the integrity of our events, and we will not have someone altering scorecards affecting what we feel is a high level of integrity.

   2) Your parents, etc.  Most of you have parents, etc. who spend a LOT of time and a LOT of money to help you participate in these events. 

  3) Your fellow bowlers.  Why give up your good name few a few stupid pins in a junior bowling tournament?  Altering scores on purpose affects every other bowler in the tournament.  If, as in this case, you are caught after the fact, how do you feel about what you did to the 9th place finisher's chances to win that tournament?  And what should he or she feel about you?

  4) Most importantly, YOURSELF.  I'm going to sound like an old fart now, but oh well:  The one thing you have in this world that nobody can touch, no matter what happens, is your HONOR.  It is the most sacred thing you have within yourself.  Once you violate it, it is hard to get it back.  Only you know exactly what you did, and you are the one who gets to live with it.

That said, we'd like to congratulate Kyle Bridgman, who because of the disqualification now earns the title, the first of his JBT SW career.  In previous matches, it was all Kyle as well.  He won round one of the finals with a 218 game that defeated Logan Kennedy and Amanda Voight.

In a very high scoring round two, Kyle's 275 was enough to beat Joshua Parz' 262, and Hawaiian Jordan Ono's 236.  In a much lower scoring but tense semifinals, Bridgman rolled a 184 to get by Philip Stephens (176) and Ryan Jacobson (158), which unbeknownst to him turned out to be a title-winning effort.

Everyone who finished in the top 5 qualifies for the 2006 JBT SW Mojave Invitational Tournament, the regular season's year end event, featuring a guaranteed minimum $1,000 first place scholarship in each division.  Top season-long point scorers also qualify for the 2006 JBT SW Touring Players' Championship, featuring a guaranteed minimum $2,000 first place scholarship per division! 

Thanks to everyone at Sam's Town for another great job hosting our Tour. 91 entrants shared in $1,900 in scholarships awarded.  Please continue to help spread the word about the terrific benefits of bowling JBT SW events!