The 2025 NDBowling.com Classic was held this past weekend at Sunset Lanes in Moorhead, MN. The Classic has graced the Red River Valley for over 30 years as one of the premier scratch events in the High Plains.
This season, the tournament featured a split squad format to accommodate additional bowlers after the tournament had sold out the past 2 years. Each squad featured 60 players bringing the total entries to 120 instead of usual full field of 96. All bowlers would bowl 8 games with the top 30 scores advancing at days end.
The first squad kicked things off on Saturday morning at 9 am. The tournament was held on a custom 42 foot pattern with a 2.97-1 ratio and just shy of 30 mls of oil. The pattern offered up a moderate scoring pace, but it kept players honest as they progressed across the 24-lane center.
2023 Classic Champion, Doug Wagner Jr., popped off a 300 game in game 8 of the morning squad to not only lead the early shift, but would go to bed Saturday evening with the overall tournament lead as well. Scoring proved to be a little better for the morning squad as 17 players advanced compared to 13 from the evening squad. The cut to the top 30 was +37.
Qualifying Scores:
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On Sunday, the top 30 players returned for the 4-game advancers round with pins carrying over from qualifying. Following game 4 on Sunday, the top overall 12-game score would advance to the stepladder final as the #1 seed and the lowest 5 scores would be eliminated. The remaining 24 players would be placed into a bracket with the top 8 receiving a first round bye. Matches would be 2 game total pins until 4 undefeated players remained. Those 4 would then join the #1 seed in the stepladder finals on NDBowlTV.
Zach Andresen made the biggest move on Sunday by using the left side of the lane via back up ball in an effort to stay out of trouble and fill frames. The pattern played pretty tricky on Sunday and Andresen’s plan paid off with an automatic bid to the stepladder finals as the high 12-game score.
After 3 rounds of bracket matches were conducted, Scott Endersbe, Jerad Schmitt, Chris Charles and defending champion Lucas Finley were the remaining undefeated players that would advance to the stepladder finals.
The final bracket results also decided the NDBowling.com Player of the Year Race. Josh Kragh was able to finish higher then both Randy Peterson and Tayler Wallstrum to earn his first NDBowling.com Player of the Year honor. We will have more on Kragh’s record breaking season next week on NDBowling.com.
NDBowlTV Results:
Finley def. Charles 213-193
Schmitt def. Finley 222-186
Schmitt def. Endersbe 194-183
Andresen def. Schmitt 185-168
You can watch the entire NDBowlTV show HERE
Andresen showed off his versatility in the final match by using both the left and right sides of the lane to take down Fargo-Moorhead local Jerad Schmitt. Schmitt entered the 10th with a chance at the title but was unable to convert. The win gives Andresen his first Glen Hains Memorial Trophy and 2nd NDBowling.com Major Title. Great bowling, Zach!
Big shout out to Darin Sundstrom, Lonnie Thielbar and the entire crew at Sunset Lanes for hosting the event. Also, big thank you to Ryan Krabbenhoft and Country Titan Games for helping raise over $4000 in added prize money. Thank you to all 120 bowlers for supporting this event and mark your calendars for the 2026 NDBowling.com Classic being held February 28th and March 1st next season.