Cody Schaffer rallies to win Louisiana match games title

BATON ROUGE – Brother Martin senior-to-be Cody Schaffer has a pair of team state championships with the Crusaders’ bowling team, but he claimed the biggest individual title of his career Sunday when he rallied to win the boys classic division of the 53rd annual Louisiana Youth Match Games Tournament at All Star Lanes.

In the same facility where the Crusaders won their third state title in four years in April, Schaffer defeated East Jefferson’s Adam Atkins 256-213 in the final game to overtake Atkins for the title.

Schaffer – who entered the final game down by 39 pins – averaged 229.2 for 10 games of match play and won six matches for a total score of 2,472, 34 pins ahead of Atkins. Christian Kelch of Pearl River, who was tied with Schaffer for second entering the last game, was another 28 pins behind in third place.

Kelch was the early leader after starting with games of 279 and 278, but Schaffer, who was in fifth place at the halfway point of Sunday’s action, averaged nearly 240 for the final five games.

Schaffer and Kelch ranked 1-2 in average among New Orleans prep bowlers in 2018. Atkins is also among the top junior bowlers in the metro area, but East Jefferson does not field a bowling team.

Including Schaffer’s title, metro New Orleans area bowlers won three of the four championships Sunday. In the boys regular division – for bowlers with averages of 159 and below – Joshua Freeman of Archbishop Shaw claimed the title, while Paytin Lee of Pearl River won the girls regular division, for bowlers with averages of 149 and under.

The other winner was Bailee Chapman of East Ascension, who claimed the title in the girls classic division.

The USBC-Louisiana Youth program awarded more than $5,000 in scholarships to 22 finalists in the four divisions.