Staff report
BELLEFONTAINE — The Sidney High bowling teams opened their seasons on Friday in a four-team competition in Bellefontaine.
The Sidney boys took first with 2,768, Bellefontaine was a close second with 2,698, Mechanicsburg placed third with 2,240 and Ben Logan was fourth with 2,267.
For the Jackets, Josh Abbott had 415 on games of 230 and 185, and Matt Elliott had a 380 on games of 219 and 161. Lucas Finke had a 363 on games of 180 and 183, and Sean Martin a 346 on games of 172 and 174.
Austin Simon bowled one game and it was a good one, a 246.
Sidney totaled 1,927 in regular games and an 841 in baker.
“I thought the boys did really well,” said Sidney coach Trent Knoop. “We were down going into the baker games. We shot an 841 in the four baker games to come up victorious. I was very happy with Lucas Finke and Damion Phillis during baker. They came in and performed very well in crunch time.”
• The Sidney girls came in fourth out of four teams with a 1,970. Mechanicsburg rolled a 2,327, Bellefontaine 2,249 and Ben Logan 2,151.
Sidney was led by Jenna Beatty with a 344 series on games of 197 and 147. Kathryn Saunders rolled a 306, Allison Ickes 287, Bethany Yinger 256 and Cameron Fogle 227.
Sidney had 1420 in regular games and 550 in baker.
“I was happy how the girls fought all day,” Knoop said. “We started off slow with the first game, but we came back with a solid second team game. We tried to make up ground in baker, but it was a little late. We will continue to work on some fundamentals, and spare shooting, but they’ll be okay.”
Both the junior varsity boys and girls were victorious. For the boys, Jaxon Rickey shot a 367 series in his first high school match ever.
Sunday
On Sunday, the Sidney teams competed in the Kickoff Classic in Columbus, bowling three regular games and two baker games.
After those games, the field was cut to the top 16 for head-to-head match play, best three out of five.
“It was a roller coaster day for the boys,” Knoop said. “We had a great start to the day, but each game got a little worse. We were in 15th place going into the two baker games, and we shot a 190 and a 155. So I knew we were on the bubble after those two games. We ended up qualifying 16th, which made it to match play. We were paired up with the number one seed, Wapakoneta. We bowled Wapak last season, and they beat us up pretty good, so we wanted revenge, and we wanted to show them we could compete with a team as good as they are. We beat them 3-1 in bakers, hen got paired up with St. Henry in the next round and lost 3-1.
“It was an overall good day for the boys,” he added. “We missed way too many spares during the team games. We will continue to work on those and correct them. I also loved the intensity the boys brought against Wapak. We truly had the will and mind to win that match. We need to continue to have that same desire against everyone we face. I can’t wait to see what the season will hold for these boys. All eight boys got playing time, and I thought they all made big time shots for the team. It was a good team success.”
Austin Simon led the team with a 572 series. Josh Abbott had a 560 series, and Lucas Finke had a 534 series.
• The girls stuggled as a team and did not make the top 16 for match play.
“We put ourselves in a bad spot to start with a 667 team score,” said Knoop. “We did manage to go up every game after that. Just tough to finish when we put ourselves in a big hole. It was awesome seeing them continue to battle though. It shows the girls have fight, and a will to get better.”
Heather Gold bowled excellent, shooting a 567 series, and ended up making the all-tournament team. Jenna Beatty also bowled well, rolling a 526 series.
