close
close

Coleman completes his comeback for the ages with victory in the York County Match Play

Barry Sparks
| For The York Dispatch

play

It was a comeback for the ages.

Josh Coleman, ranked 44th after the first day of qualifying, finished the 2024 BowlerMaxx York County Match Play Championship with an insurmountable lead of 159 pins heading into Sunday's final match at the Lion Bowl.

There was nothing Paul Wolfram, who was second, could do to displace Coleman. Wolfram won the championship match 237-181, cutting Coleman's final lead to 73 pins.

Coleman, a 38-year-old right-hander, shot to 13th place out of a record field of 77 bowlers on the second day of qualifying at the Suburban Bowlerama. The top 16 bowlers advanced to match play.

After eight match play games at South Hanover Lanes on Saturday, Coleman moved into second place by winning seven of his eight games. He took over first place after the second game on Sunday when he defeated Shane Bunnell 289-218. As Coleman focused on making every shot and hitting a balanced shot, he increased his lead and was averaging .247 by his final game.

“I was emotionally drained by the time I got to the final game,” the New Oxford resident said. “I'm glad that I had already secured the win at this point. It was just a matter of filling frames. It’s a relief to finally win.”

Coleman's victory is a lesson in not giving up.

“I thought I was done after finishing 44th at the end of the first day,” he said. “It was disheartening to bowl so poorly at the Hanover Bowling Center, my home. But I went into the Suburban Bowlerama with the mindset of having nothing to lose. I started with 279 and 267 games and that boosted my confidence. And so on. “In this game, confidence is everything.”

Coleman, one of the area's best bowlers, has been chasing the BowlerMaxx York County Match Championship title for 15 years.

“I struggled in this tournament,” he said. “For the last few years I haven’t made it into the top 16 to qualify for match play. This is one of the most difficult tournaments to win as the field is extremely competitive and you have to bowl at four different centers.”

“You know it’s tough when the county’s top two bowlers (Adam Baer and Jerred Poff) didn’t qualify for the match play this year.”

Coleman, who took home $1,200 for the win, wants to enjoy the experience.

“That’s the last item on my wish list,” he said. “I got to the point where I would have been fine, but I would have been disappointed if I never won the tournament. Winning the title hasn’t really dawned on me yet.”

Here is the final result:

  1. Coleman (+1,474)
  2. Paul Wolfram (+1,401)
  3. Shane Bunnell (+1,309)
  4. Eric Smith (+1,302)
  5. Cody Bell (+1,281)
  6. Dan Breen (+1,211)
  7. Jeremiah Mann (+1,193)
  8. Gage Shultz (+1,170)
  9. Mike Spangler (+1,161)
  10. Drew Coyle (+1,124)
  11. Dave Gerhart (+1,102)
  12. Chris Green (+1,003)
  13. Scott Schnur Jr. (+908)
  14. Andrew Carl (+827)
  15. Jimmy Plessinger (+817)
  16. Jeremiah Reichert (+696)

Tags:

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *