MERRIMACK, N.H. — The way Stevens High bowling coach Shawn Wadsworth sees it, his Cardinals may have won the NHIAA state team championship at home on Saturday, not Sunday in the final two rounds at Merrimack Ten Pin.
The COVID-19 pandemic left the Cardinals with weekly geography-based competition with Keene and Hillsboro-Deering this winter. Stevens could handle H-D but could never solve the Blackbirds … until Saturday, when the Cards earned a three-game quarterfinal sweep of Keene at Maple Lanes to advance to Sunday’s final four.
Stevens dismissed Raymond in the best-of-seven Baker semifinal on Sunday, 4-1, then nearly let a two-game lead slip in the finals before topping Hollis-Brookline, 4-3, for the program’s second state team title in three years.
“It was mostly getting over that Keene hurdle; they were really strong all year long, the best in the state all year long,” Wadsworth said of Keene. “We seemed to not get over that hump; we’d get close but can’t finish. By winning (Saturday), that was big for the team. That was the first time all year long that we actually bowled as a team.”
The Cards took command of the Raymond semifinal early, winning the first two games, 170-160 and 162-124. The Rams got one back, 178-162, but Stevens closed them out with 147-146 and 137-120 decisions.
The Hollis-Brookline match got off to a similar start, with the Cardinals owning a 3-1 lead, including a 210-111 rout in game 3. The Cavaliers powered back to even with dominant 253-101 and 218-139 contests, only to have Stevens take the decider, 213-158.
Wadsworth credited senior Clayton Wadsworth, who is also his nephew, and junior Alexis Corliss for keeping the squad calm and working as a unit when it mattered most.
“They kept us focused,” the Stevens coach said. “They all listened well to the coaching we were putting out. It was definitely a grind; it was not easy.”
But it was rewarding, particularly for Corliss, Clayton Wadsworth and senior Bryce Weymouth, who were also on the Cardinals’ state title team in 2019.
Said Shawn Wadsworth: “It was a really about the team today.”
LANGDON, N.H. — A 13-4 second quarter allowed the host Wildcats to eliminate the Cardinals (4-6) in an NHIAA Division III quarterfinal on Sunday.
Freshman Kiley Bundy paced Stevens with 11 points. Fall Mountain put the game away by shooting 6-of-9 at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to advance to a Thursday semifinal at Trinity High School in Manchester.
“Not the way we wanted to go out,” Stevens coach Ivy Condon said, “but getting playoff experience for these girls was huge for us. Hopefully this will lead to great things next year with this group.”
Stevens loses just one senior, Abi Faro, to graduation.