CANYON LANES

champs Matt Cormack and Michael Unger

   Matt Cormack and Michael Unger captured JBT titles in exciting Southern California Conference action at Morongo Casino's Canyon Lanes.

   No 300 game has yet been bowled at the spectacular new center, and lots of bowlers had a crack to be the first, with Cormack's 299 opening effort proving to be the closest call.  After briefly losing the lead, he ended up qualifying first for the stepladder finals.

  The scratch finals opened with Matt Jones squeaking by Arizona's Kyle King 203-180.  26-time winner BJ Baker then defeated Jones 227-201, then followed with a 259-198 walloping of Jeff Spiesman to get to top seed Cormack.

  Matt won his first JBT title on Super Bowl Sunday, and is now 2-for-2 on that date, as a ninth frame Greek Church from Baker gave Matt the edge for a 223-206 win and his 4th career JBT title.

    On Super Sunday, no adjective was better to describe Unger, who after a string of forgettable JBT results, destroyed the field en route to the top seed.  His 5-game qualifying score (+288) and his 330 game with handicap were both the 5th best efforts ever in our 500+ event history.   

   Four other handicappers fought it out for the right to dethrone Unger, beginning with Chris Tucker, who opened the stepladder finals with a 203-180 win over Drew Stern.  Tucker then snuck by Kyle Frederick 204-198, before red-hot Eddie Sayles beat Tucker 244-221, to reach the title match.

   No opponent could have been scarier for Unger than Sayles, who has already won three times in So Cal this year.  However, Eddie's carry suddenly disappeared, as he left a solid-8, solid-9, solid-10, and two 7 pins in the title match, while Unger kept on doing what got him to the top seed, giving Michael a 229-203 win and his first career JBT title. 

   Big thanks to Mr. Randy Johnson and everyone at Canyon for a great job hosting our Tour- if you haven't seen this beautiful new center yet, please check it out soon!  Over $1,900 in scholarships were awarded to bowlers of all ages and averages.  Want in on the fun?  Come on down to the next JBT event, it's as simple as that!   Approximately $300,000 is expected to be awarded this season alone, and much more information can be found at the best website in junior bowling, www.bowljbt.com.