I don’t know about everyone else, but king of the hill was a game often played in my childhood. On days like today where an extreme amount of snow would fall, the plows would often pile all of the snow in the middle of the cul-de-sac creating a mountain of ice. Where I grew up, there were 3 or 4 different cul-de-sacs on my walk home from school and all of the neighborhood kids would gather at these locations after class for a friendly game of king of the hill. It was a game where one kid would stand at the top of the snow mountain while all other kids would try to dethrone them. It was truly a game of survival.
This past weekend was the annual King of the Hill tournament at North Hill Bowl in Minot. The format was simple, all bowlers would bowl 6 games with the top 16 advancing to a double elimination bracket to determine a winner. Following the qualifying round, Matt Smallin lead the way with a 1422 6 game block (237 ave). The cut to the top 16 was 1252 (208.66 ave) shared by both Wade Scott and Lance Gehring. Gehring and Scott both fired games over 230 the final game to edge out fellow competitor Blake Wallstrum by a single pin.
In the bracket portion of the tournament, eventual champion Wade Scott took the scenic route to the finals after suffering a loss in the first round. Scott would eventually meet up with the lone undefeated player in the bracket, Aaron Petrowitz, who sneaked into the bracket following back to back 265 games to finish qualifying. Wade Scott would defeat Aaron Petrowitz twice in a close final round where both players had chances to win the tournament.
It was great to see so many players come back from potentially tournament killing moments to end up cashing or winning the event. By the end of the day, Sunday, the tournament had truly lived up to its name. It was a day of survival.
Congratulations to the King of the Hill champion, Wade Scott! This is the third KOH title for Wade. For his efforts, Wade also received a paid entry into the 2017 CMA Memorial Shootout in January along with the tournament prize money.
Thank you to Jeff Kragh, Rory Selk, and the entire crew at NHB for running another great event. We will be back at North Hill Bowl in a couple weeks for the annual NDBPA State Scratch Team event which is a favorite among many in the state.
Be sure to tune into our Facebook page as we will announce a contest for an Ebonite Gamebreaker 2 Phenom today (11/28) and a Turbo 3 ball tote on December 12th. Lots of great prizes to give away so make sure you hit the like button so you don’t miss anything!