LINCOLN — Anyone care to argue as to where the bowling capital of Nebraska happens to be?
After Tuesday night, there shouldn’t be any more discussion about it — it’s right here in Wayne.
The Wayne High bowling teams showed the rest of the state how the Blue Devils roll, coming away with championships in the Class B team competition of the Nebraska State High School Bowling Championships Tuesday night at Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln.
For the Wayne High girls, it was the next verse of the same song. After winning single-class titles in 2021 and 2022, the Blue Devils found themselves in Class B and came away with another state title in a four-game win over Hastings.
The Wayne High boys, meanwhile, made an amazing comeback to claim their first NSAA-sanctioned high school championship. They lost a four-game series to York in the winner’s bracket final, then survived a five-game thriller against Lexington to get a rematch with the Dukes.
Wayne won the first series in four games, yet found themselves down 2-0 in the winner-take-all finale of the double-elimination tournament. They faced adversity as well as you could possibly do it, coming back to win the last three games for a 3-2 victory and their first Class B championship in NSAA competition.
THE BOYS STARTED OFF Tuesday’s Class B team competition as the No. 2 seed in Class B and made quick work of Omaha Skutt (3-2) and Seward (3-1) to put them in a matchup with top-seeded York. The Dukes sent Wayne to the losers bracket with a four-game win in the Baker-format dual, meaning Wayne had to beat Lexington to get a second chance at York’s top-seeded squad.
Wayne survived in a close five-game battle with the Minutemen to advance to the finals, and they may have been a little rusty early on as York recorded three strikes in the first five frames to build an early advantage.
Wayne drew even with York at 111-111 by the seventh frame, but opens in each of the last three frames gave York just enough of a window to finish with a 157-144 win.
After that, it was all Wayne.
The Blue Devils bounced back with a solid second game that saw them get marks in seven frames compared to just two for the Dukes, resulting in an easy 168-106 win to even the best-of-five series at a game apiece.
York’s bowlers struggled in the third game with four splits, three coming in the final three frames. Wayne, meanwhile, finished strong as Jaden Dramse, Alex Rodriguez, Calvin Starzl and Brogan Foote all picked up marks to finish off a 187-127 win and give them momentum for the final game. They finished spares by Rodriguez and Foote and strikes from Starzl and Shayne Geidner for a 158-146 win and a 3-1 series, handing York its first loss in the double-elimination tournament and setting up a winner-take-all five-game series.
At first, it looked as if the top-seeded Dukes would run away with the title. As it was in the previous series, York started strong and cruised to an easy win (174-150), then held on late for a 161-156 win to give them a two-game lead and needing just one more to take the title.
The Blue Devils, though, had other plans.
Wayne had seven marks in 10 frames in the third game, closing with strikes by Rodriguez and Starzl and a 10th frame finish with a spare and strike by Foote to cap a 172-128 win.
In game four, the momentum had clearly fallen in Wayne’s lap and they took full advantage, opening with consecutive strikes by Dramse, Geidner, Rodriguez and Starzl. Foote came up a pin short of making it five in a row, but converted a spare to make it 126-81 after five frames.
The 213-155 blowout tied the match and York simply didn’t have an answer for the surging Wayne team. The Blue Devils never trailed in the finale and had open frames only in the eighth and 10th frames, finishing it off with a 176-139 win and laying claim as the first Class B state bowling champions in Nebraska.
AS TWO-TIME CHAMPS, one might think the Wayne High girls might be the ones carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, but they certainly bowl like it.
The girls got off to a great start with three-game sweeps of Humphrey-Lindsay Holy Family and Howells-Dodge, then held off a pesky Waverly team in five games to find their familiar spot in the championship finals.
Hastings came back from a loss to Waverly with wins over Hartington-Newcastle and the Viqueens to get to the finals, and may have still had some momentum going in the first game as they rolled to a 187-149 win over the Blue Devils, handing Wayne its first loss in the championship finals after three-game title sweeps in 2021 and 2022.
The Wayne girls responded in the second game and put together a solid effort for a 168-137 win, getting two strikes from Joslyn Johnson and strikes by Lindsay Niemann and Nina Hammer to even the match at a game apiece.
The next two games were real nail-biters, though, as the two teams went back and forth over the next two games.
Hastings led during the early stages of the third game before spares by Jersi Jensen and Riley Haschke and a Johnson strike put Wayne ahead 110-97. Hastings kept it within a handful of pins, but Jensen responded in the 10th with a strike and a spare to close out a 148-145 win to give Wayne a 2-1 advantage.
In the fourth game, once again the Tigers and Blue Devils traded leads and kept putting pressure on the other side.
Wayne had four marks in the first five frames with a Niemann strike and spares by Haschke, Hammer and Jensen. Haschke again spared in the sixth and Niemann struck in the eighth, but an open by Hammer in the ninth left Hastings with a three-point advantage.
Jensen came through with a key strike to open the seventh while Hastings managed a spare. Jensen hit nine pins and cleaned up a spare for a 159, and Hastings’ fifth bowler followed a spare with seven pins to end the fourth game in a 159-159 tie.
The two teams had a roll-off to break the tie. Jensen and Niemann both matched their opponents’ rolls, but Haschke hit nine pins to her opponent’s seven, giving Wayne the game, the series and their third straight state title.
Class B Boys State Bowling
Bracket Results
First Round
(1) York def. (8) Humphrey-Lindsay HF, 3-1
(4) Lexington def. (5) Northwest, 3-1
(3) Seward def. (6) Elkhorn North, 3-0
(2) Wayne def. (7) Omaha Skutt, 3-2
Winner’s Bracket
York def. Northwest, 3-2
Wayne def. Seward, 3-1
York def. Wayne, 3-1
Loser’s Bracket
Lexington def. Humphrey-LHF, 3-0 (H-LHF eliminated)
Elkhorn North def. Omaha Skutt, 3-1 (Skutt eliminated)
Lexington def. Seward, 3-0 (Seward eliminated)
Northwest def. Elkhorn North, 3-0 (Elkhorn North eliminated)
Lexington def. Northwest, 3-2 (Northwest eliminated)
Wayne def. Lexington, 3-2 (Lexington eliminated)
Finals
Wayne def. York, 3-1 (York’s first loss)
Wayne def. York, 3-2
Class B Girls State Bowling
Bracket Results
First Round
(1) Wayne def. (8) Humphrey-Lindsay HF, 3-0
(5) Howells-Dodge def. (4) Omaha Duchesne, 3-2
(6) Wavelry def. (3) Hartington-Newcastle, 3-2
(2) Hastings def. (7) Arapahoe, 3-0
Winner’s Bracket
Wayne def. Howells-Dodge, 3-0
Waverly def. Hastings, 3-2
Wayne def. Waverly, 3-2
Loser’s Bracket
Humphrey-Lindsay HF def. Omaha Duchesne, NA (Duchesne eliminated)
Hartington-Newcastle def. Arapahoe, 3-2 (Arapahoe eliminated)
Hastings def. Humphrey-Lindsay HF 3-1 (H-LHF eliminated)
Hartington-Newcastle def. Howells-Dodge, 3-2 (H-D eliminated)
Hastings def. Hartington-Newcastle, 3-1 (H-N eliminated)
Hastings def. Waverly, 3-1 (Waverly eliminated)
Finals
Wayne def. Hastings, 3-1
