BATON ROUGE - At the end of play this Thursday, the final power rankings will be calculated and there will be a bracket for two boys/coed and a girls’ division that will determine the road to the 2025 state high school bowling championships.

And, on the girls’ side, there may be some volatility that could still take place.

Up at the top, the two-time defending champs, Dutchtown, remain No. 1 with a power ranking of 13.75, with 2022 state champion Denham Springs at 13.70. Those two undefeated teams meet on Tuesday at Premier Lanes in Gonzales.

There is a quarter of a point in the power rankings separating the top five teams.

At the playoff cut line, St. Joseph’s Academy is 15th (9.50) with a 7-4 mark. Central Catholic at 4-3 is 16th at 9.36. There is a bit of a gap between No. 16 and No. 17, but I believe St. Joseph’s has one match to play this week and a win would make sure they are around for the playoffs.

The team to watch may be Academy of our Lady at No. 19. At 5-4, they will need to win their match with No. 4 St. Scholastica to have any chance to make a big jump.

In boys/coed Division I (5A), Brother Martin has wrapped up its season at 12-0 and has moved to No. 1 after a dominating win over Jesuit (now No. 4) last week, but No. 2 Captain Shreve (10-0) has two matches left and could pass them for No. 1 seed.

Locally, great seasons for East Ascension and Catholic of Baton Rouge. Both are 9-1 with matches this week to play. EA is eighth and Catholic No. 9. St. Amant at 7-2 is 12th and Dutchtown No. 13.

The drama will be at the bottom where Parkway of Bossier City (7-3) is No. 16 at 10.80 and defending champs, Denham Springs, is No. 17 at 10.77 with an 8-3 record. Denham Springs needs a final win and then see what happens for their chances to continue.

In Division II (4A and below), University Lab at 8-0 and No. 2 is in great shape with Madison Prep (9-1) in eighth. St. Michael the Archangel is No. 16 at 8.77 (6-5 record) with maybe enough cushion to hang on to the final spot.

The playoff brackets will be announced next Monday with first and second-round matches to be held the week of March 31. The state semifinals and championship in all three brackets are April 9-10 at Premier Lanes in Gonzales with singles on April 11 at All Star in Baton Rouge.

Meanwhile At The River Center

One thing bowlers who shoot very good scores in the opening few weeks of the USBC Open Championships at the Raising Canes River Center have to wonder is whether or not their score has any chance to stand up for five months.

While the scores right now may not look like ones that will stand up, there have been several good ones that give you a thought that scores will be good for much of this event.

Friday, Terrence Syring of Essexville, Michigan, the 2010 regular singles winner, put his name on top with a 756 set on games of 243-245-268. Cassidy Schaub of Nova, Ohio is the all-events leader in the top division at 2,158 (239.7) average, which is a pretty good score to say the least for nine games.

The defending singles champion in that division, David Adam from Maryland Heights, Missouri will be in action Monday night at 7:45 p.m.

Out On the Pro Tour

The first two nights of the World Series of Bowling on the PBA Tour had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows when it came to bowling scores.

In the Nevada Classic Saturday night in the semifinal match at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, EJ Tackett and Ethan Fiore put on a show in a one-ball sudden death rolloff that didn’t end until the seventh frame of the rolloff. It was the longest rolloff in PBA history. The two rolled 13 consecutive strikes before Fiore left a blower seven pin to give Tackett the match.

But Tackett was spent by then and Andrew Andersson won his first singles title since 2018 with a 237-181 score.

While there was lots of excitement in that Saturday show, Sunday could only be called an ugly bowling show in the Scorpion (oil pattern) championship as Rasmus Edvall ran the stepladder as opponent after opponent made multiple mistakes. In the end Edvall beat Malaysia’s Rafiq Ismail, 224-171, to win the title.

The WSOB events continue through Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT on FS1 with the first of two back-to-back majors decided on Saturday in the PBA World Championship at 2 p.m. CT on FOX Sports.

The field is down to 16 in the World Championship and all the stars are still in play to make the stepladder finals with Tackett, Jason Belmonte, Jesper Svensson, Anderson, Kyle Troup among the qualifiers.

Back with you next Monday to set the high school playoff brackets.

                                                                    Until then, good luck and good bowling,

                                                                                                                   Kent Lowe