Girls team clips the Dragons
OXFORD TWP. — It’s always a tough match when the Oxford Wildcats and Lake Orion Dragons face off on the bowling lanes. And for the boys varsity teams, both were heading in the match undefeated on Friday at Collier Lanes.
“The match would hold bragging rights for the two programs. Both programs have respect for each other and most of them have bowled together in the past,” said Oxford head coach JR Lafnear. “The highlight of the night was the varsity boys match. Both teams are undefeated on the season and have very talented rosters.”
The Wildcats jumped on the Dragons in the first baker game 253-201. In the second baker game, the Lake Orion team won 205-184.
The Wildcats headed into match play with a 6-4 lead. In the first match play game, the Dragons dominated the Wildcats led by Gage Boyer. Boyer had the first 11 strikes enroute to a 297 game. He was supported by teammates Austin Barthel’s 245, Kris Tubbs 241, and Henry Williams 213. The Dragons score of 1,159 had the Wildcats behind by a score of 11 ½ to 7 ½.
Needing to nearly sweep the Dragons in the next game, the Wildcats mounted a charge. Oxford secured victories in game two by Dom Kempen (213-190), Nate Alexander (205-159) and late frame heroics by Dominic Hambly (224-221), Lafnear said.
The match would hinge on the match between Dragon Henry Williams and Wildcat Matt vonKnorring. vonKnorring trailed most of the way but was charging with strikes in the 8th and 9th frame to tie up the match. In the deciding 10th frame, vonKnorring threw a good shot for an 8 count then spared and struck. This meant Williams would need to mark to win the game and the match. Williams was up for the challenge a tossed two strikes to close out the match, final score 14 ½ to 15 ½.
The two teams will match up again on February 10th.
“Going into this match this is what I expected. A tough, high-scoring match that would go down to the wire. They made fewer key mistakes than we did and deserve the victory. I’m extremely proud of the effort we had tonight, especially after Lake Orion shot lights out in game 1,” Lafnear said. “It would have been easy to fold but we fought to the end. They are a good team and we knew that going into the match. We have three matches next week and will need to shake this off and take care of business next week if we want to win the OAA red division.”
Girls Varsity
The Oxford girls varsity team defeated the Lake Orion girls team 25-5, taking both baker games and five matches to secure the victory. This runs the Oxford teams record to 4-0 on the season. The lady Cats were led by Emaleigh vonKnorring’s 179, Maya Vetch with 169, Elleanna Ford with 167 and Phebe Coffman’s 166.
“The Girls need to continue to improve. They are winning but aren’t hitting on all cylinders yet. They are working hard and I’m confident they will keep improving,” Lafnear said.
JV
Both schools were able to have two boys JV teams face off. The Wildcat JV teams dominated winning the first match 27-3 and match two 22-8. Bowling well for the Oxford JV teams were John Bianchi at 219, Ryan Curtis with 194, Gavin Mlynarek with 191 and 225, Kellen Rummel at 214 and184, Aiden Burkhardt with a 199 and Joey Watson with games of 211 and 187.
“It was fun to see all these boys being able to compete tonight. They work as hard as anyone and deserve this opportunity. We have some young, talented bowlers and these matches are important for their development,” Lafnear said.