MOJAVE INVITATIONAL

champs Brandon Allred & Jordan Ferrer

After an exhausting day of down to the wire matches, Brandon Allred and Jordan Ferrer captured their first JBT SW "majors" in the Mojave Conference Invitational, hosted by Gold Coast.

Scratch qualifying was highlighted by Jerimiah "Bear" Wiltfang's first career 300 game, propelling him to the non-exempt lead, while Heather Brown captured the 16th and last finals spot with a 490 2-game last chance squad set.

In the finals, Brandon Watts was the only one of the exempt bowlers to not bow well in the triple-elimination matchplay, bowing out in round three (but not before winning ANOTHER Storm bowling ball in the raffle).  Number 2 seed Steven Black had two losses in his first four matches, but righted the ship in time to make the final eight, while Wiltfang, Allred, DJ Sloan, and #1 seed Nathan Panaligan reached that round with only one loss each.  In the ensuing matches, Black eliminated Tom Anderson, Josh Blanchard eliminated BJ Baker, Panaligan dealt Sloan loss #2, and Allred escaped over Wiltfang by one pin to send Jerimiah to the two-loss line.

In round 7, Allred beat Panaligan to become the only one-loss bowler, while Sloan eliminated Wiltfang, and Black eliminated Blachanrd.  In round 8, Sloan beat Allred to stay alive, while Black eliminated Panaligan in a very important match for Bowler of the Year purposes.  

This set up a semifinal match between Sloan and Allred, which resulted in a big 245-200 win for Brandon, advancing him to the title match against Black.  In the finale, Allred maintained his momentum, while Black couldn't find the same look he had in reeling off the last five wins in a row.  Allred won the match 212-179, good for third title of his JBT SW career and by far the most lucrative, with a $715 winner's scholarship paycheck.

In the handicap division, Brandon Dauphinais led qualifying at a very nice +132, while Sam Cefalu was the winner of the Last Chance squad to grab the #16 seed for the triple-elimination finals.  This bracket went fairly close to form, with exempt players #1 Taylor McKenrick, #2 Nick Lamek, and #3 Ferrer all undefeated through three rounds, while Dauphinais was the only surprising early elimination, ousted in three straight.

All top-5 exempt bowlers made it to the final 8, as well as Cefalu, Ryan Yadao, and Sean Huggins, who blistered through the first 5 rounds undefeated.  In round six, Ferrer handed #11 Huggins his first loss, McKenrick eliminated #4 seed Maddie Pellegrino, #5 Nick Seghetti ended Lamek's run, and Cefalu dispatched Yadao to keep the dream of a #16 seed winning alive (it's happened only once before).

In round 7, Huggins handed McKenrick her second loss, while Cefalu eliminated another bowler, this time ending Nick Seghetti's day.  In round 8, Huggins defeated Ferrer to send him to the brink of elimination, while McKenrick stayed alive by eliminating Cefalu in an exciting match.

This set up a semifinal match between McKenrick and Ferrer, neither of which have a JBT SW victory despite their impressive point totals.  McKenrick's short count on her tenth frame fill ball allowed Ferrer to go spare-strike for the win, and he did exactly that for a 206-205 win, eliminating McKenrick.  

With only one loss, Ferrer would next have to defeat Huggins twice to capture the win.  Jordan remained in control for the whole first match, winning 217-194 to set up one final game for the title.  This game remained close the whole time, coming down to a tenth frame. After opening in the ninth, Ferrer came up with a clutch triple to force Huggins to mark for the championship.  Sean threw a great first ball but left a 7-pin, and unfortunately for him he was unable to convert the spare, giving a shocked Ferrer a 202-191 win, his first JBT SW title, a $680 scholarship windfall, and me a headache as Bowler of the Year is now a very tight 3-way race.

Gold Coast, and all Coast centers, have been a tremendous supporter of JBT SW events throughout our existence, and did another fantastic job hosting our most prestigious event of the season.  In all, 78 qualifiers shared in a huge $6,340 in scholarship awards, pushing us over the $150,000 mark in scholarships awarded THIS SEASON ALONE!  Be sure to visit our website, www.jbtsw.com, for the complete results and statistics.

The JBT SW Mojave Conference returns for its third season in September, but there's still lots of JBT action through the summer in nearby areas, and the national JBT Las Vegas Open in August, so don't miss any of the action!  

For more info, feel free to write us at jbtsouthwest@aol.com.