Rams’ Bowling Rolls at Janus School
January 3, 2018
On December 13, the bowling team played the Janus School at Clearview Lanes, Janus School’s venue. Coach Joel Logan’s team won all three of the games in that match, taking their second win of the year and advancing to 2-0* on the season.
Logan’s constructed lineup was: sophomore Colt Merrifield, junior Takoda Stike, sophomore Jordyn Bruening, junior Michael Zabkowski, and senior David Drake.
Most of the time, a team will put their best bowler in the last position of the lineup.
“I wanted my students to perform what we practiced. Breathing on every shot to stay loose, clearing their minds after every frame and approaching every full set of pins like a new event,” Logan said.
In the first game, Merrifield scored a 165, Stike threw for 138, Bruening bowled an 83, Zabkowski scored a 95, and Drake’s total was 216. Those scores totalled for a 697 for the first game.
On the other hand, the Janus School bowlers bowled a 79, 42, 80, 81, and 101. Janus School’s grand total for the first game was 383.
In the second of three games, Logan substituted juniors Alexander Repetto and Karen Burns for Bruening and Zabkowski.
Also in the second game, Merrifield scored a 146, Stike bowled a 143, Repetto scored a 111, Burns threw a 91, and Drake’s total was 179.
Janus School’s bowlers threw a stronger second game than their first scoring a 78, 89, 78, 132, and 98.
The Rams’ total was 670, and Janus School’s total was 475, and since the Rams won two out of the three games in the match, that second game gave the Rams the match win.
“The Janus School was greener to the game than our team. Our sweep was a certainty and I knew it going into the match after watching the opposing team warm up. I was proud that my players were focused, did not take the other team for granted, and still improved by posting better scores than the previous match,” Logan said.
Finally, for the third game, Logan substituted Zabkowski back in for Repetto.
In that third game, Merrifield bowled a 139, Stike scored a 176, Burns threw a 124, Zabkowski bowled a 107, and Drake’s total was 216.
However, Janus School’s bowlers threw a 69, 108, 83, 162, and 120. The Rams’ total was 762 and Janus School’s total was 542. That gave the Rams their third win of the match, and a sweep win against Janus School in the first match of two between the two schools this year.
Looking back at the game, Merrifield said he didn’t know what to expect coming into this match since he never heard of the Janus School before.
“Spare making is an issue that beginning bowlers struggle with. All but one of our ten person team are new to competitive play this year,” Logan said.
Merrifield also agreed that spare making is key to better games in the future.
The one person that isn’t new to competitive play this year is Drake, the team’s best bowler. Drake went to the Junior Gold national scholarship “invitation only” tournament this past June.
Logan was able to give more information about that tournament, “(David) competed in Junior Gold, a national scholarship ‘invitation only’ tournament that players had to win local tournaments to be qualified to complete. The top boys and girls played for major scholarship money in each age division and the championship matches were last summer. Each winner secured a spot in the USBC (United States Bowling Congress) Junior team USA. Those players represent the nation in international tournaments across the globe. David did not advance beyond the qualifying rounds this year; however, it was a major tournament and earning a spot in the tournament was a major honor.”
The Rams’ next competition was on December 16 in the Snow Roller tournament. In the first round, the Rams will face off against Bellefonte.
*- Accurate as of December 13th