COLUMBUS — Oak Hills faced a familiar foe but the Highlanders were anything but comfortable on the lanes Saturday.

Fairmont, which finished third in the Southwest District tournament, eliminated Oak Hills, 3-1, in the semifinal round of the boys state bowling team championships at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl Saturday.

The Highlanders, who finished the tournament in fourth place, could never get comfortable on lanes 11 and 12.

“We were on one of the worst pairs in the house,” Oak Hills coach Kurt Francisco said.

Both teams struggled early as Oak Hills topped Fairmont 147-123 in the opening game.

“On lanes like that you really have to be more accurate and if you’re not, you pay for it,” Fairmont coach Rex Wolfe said. “The good thing about match play is you don’t have to have a great score, you just have to have one pin more than the other team.”

While the Firebirds were able to make some adjustments, posting games of 200-162 and 201, the Highlanders continued to struggle, finishing the match with 152-151 and 132.

“We were lucky to qualify to match play after having one of our worst Baker games ever, so I’m glad we made it this far,” Francisco said. “I’ll take it, but I feel like we let some people down.”

Oak Hills was in fourth place after the first three games of qualifying but dropped to seventh after Baker play.

Their 125 Baker game put them in jeopardy of missing the cut as they were just nine pins above Beavercreek, which missed the cut.

The Highlanders had their work cut out for them in the opening round of match play as Champion pushed them to a fifth game. Oak Hills sped to a 211-147 win to advance to the semifinals.

Canfield, in its first state appearance, went on to beat Fairmont, 3-1, to capture the state team championship title.

SINGLES SUCCESS: Versailles junior Michael Davidson and Fairport Harding senior Cody Zalar took home the gold and silver medals with scores of 664 and 645, respectively, Saturday.

Oak Hills sophomore Brandon Combs posted the highest individual score among all area state qualifiers with a 589, 20th overall, helping boost the Highlanders into seventh place after six games of qualifying. Teammate Kyle Helmes was close behind with a 584, 23rd overall.