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NILES — For the first time in school history, Brandywine will be hosting the Division 3 Regional Bowling Tournament this weekend at Joey Armadillo‘s.

“This to me is a great honor for our athletes, Brandywine and Joey Armadillos,” said Brandywine Coach Pepper Miller. “We never have this opportunity in our corner of the state. Thank you to all who are helping put this together from my bowling kids, parents, Brandywine staff and, of course, a huge thank you to Mark and the whole Joey’s crew. Also a big thank you to my assistant coaches Jeff Miller and Herb Tittle.”

Due to current Michigan Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 guidelines, spectators will not be allowed to attend the regional. Each participating athlete can have one person attend.

To help compensate for that, the regional will be streamed live both Friday and Saturday using three cameras. Go to Brandywinebobcats.org for the links to the tournament. Under the “Athletics” tab there will be three links — “Bobcat Athletics 1,” “Bobcat Athletics 2” and “OnBase Productions.”

Brandywine will be competing against Brooklyn Columbia Central, Coloma, Comstock, Constantine, Grass Lake, Hillsdale, Hopkins, Jonesville, Lansing Catholic (boys only), Leslie, Michigan Center, Napoleon, Olivet, Parchment, Quincy and South Haven.

Earlier this month, the MHSAA announced format changes to the state bowling tournament.

Regionals will remain a two-day event, but instead of the team competition on Friday and singles competition on Saturday, the MHSAA has decided to have the boys compete on March 19, and the girls compete on March 20.

Instead of bowling separate competitions to decide the finals qualifiers, all regional participants will bowl four games on their designated day, with their scores determining the state finals qualifiers.

There will also be no Baker games at the regionals. Instead, 20 regular games will be bowled, four each by five bowlers or subs. A bowler must roll four games in order to qualify for the finals.

Two teams and 10 individual singles will advance to the state finals March 26-27.