The Oxford Wildcat bowling teams participated in the Oakland County Bowling tournament two weekends ago, the boys in Royal Oak at Astro Lanes, and the girls at Cherry Hill Lanes in Clarkston .
The girls battled with a young team and secured the number 7 seed out of the 19 teams trying to qualify. In Round 1 they beat OAA rival Clarkston with a two-game baker total of 314 to Clarkston’s 253. The next round the Lady Cats found themselves bowling Farmington Hills Mercy. Mercy had bowled well all day and was the number 2 seed. The Wildcat girls lost to Mercy 352 to 293. Mercy went all the way to the finals where they lost to eventual champion Lake Orion. Macey Strevel led the way for the Wildcats with games of 181 and 196. Kiley Penzien also had a solid game of 192.
“This was a good day for the girls. We are young and we got valuable experience out of today. We are happy with the effort and learned where we have to go to get to the top,” said ‘Cat coach Claude “Jr.” Lafnear.
The boys started very slow with a team game of 844 which found them the 16th seed out of the 28 teams participating. They rallied in Game 2 with a 1041 and jumped to the 6th spot and stayed there most of the day. The last set of bakers the boys moved into the 5th spot to enter match play against the 12th seeded Brandon Blackhawks. The Blackhawks jumped on the Wildcats wiping them in game 1 229 to 189. The Cats got up off the mat in game two and beat the Brandon team 237 to 154 in Game 2 to move on 426 to 383. In round two the Wildcats found themselves down 12 after Game 1 to Holly. Once again Oxford rallied in Game 2 to win the match 368 to 344.
The semifinal match pitted the Oxford Wildcats against the OAA rival and number one seeded North Farmington Raiders. The Cats jumped on the Raiders 433 to 352 to advance to the finals. On the other side of the bracket, Novi beat the Farmington Falcons with a second game of 242 to advance to the finals winning 412 to 383.
The Oxford Wildcats continued to bowl well in the finals with games of 184 and 181 to Novi’s 151 and 157. The Wildcats of Oxford found themselves Oakland County Champions 2022. This is the 4th time in the last 5 events the Oxford team has brought home the county crown.
“I am so very happy for these boys,” Lafnear said. “They have been through so much the last 60 days and for them to smile and be this happy is just special. They have bonded and worked so hard to get through everything, I couldn’t be happier or prouder of them. We got behind several times and fought back like the Champions they are. Today was a very special day for all of us and we are truly grateful for everyone’s support. Special thanks to Coach Steve Burgess and Fred Heichel for their efforts today as I was home watching with Covid. Also special thanks to the parents for streaming the events so I could watch.”
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On January 13, the Ravens of Royal Oak visited Collier Lanes. The Ravens are young and improving but were no match for Oxford yet.
The boys won 26 to 4. The boys took Game 1 of bakers 206 to 143. The teams tied in Game 2 which gave the Cats an 8-2 lead. In Game 1 of match play the team swept all five matches to seal the win. Leading the Wildcats was Jr. Zander Brown’s 233, Followed by Sr. Blake Denning’s 226 and Jr. Jason Paslean’s 226 and 208. In game 2 the Wildcats won 3 of 5 matches and the game 962 to 901.
The boys are now 4 and 0 on the season.
The Lady Cats had an easy time of it as well winning 30 – 0. The girls won both baker game with 141 games and swept all 10 matches with solid team games of 734 and 804. The girls were led by Jr. Macey Strevel’s 183, 154, Sr. Ashley Bales 164,161 and Jr. Tessa Bonk’s 173.
“Both teams are starting to round into shape. We are starting to get more consistent and the numbers are going up. Tonight was a very solid performance by both squads,” Lafnear said. “We feel strongly that we can win both OAA Red titles and that’s our goal. We will be entering into matches with other OAA Red teams soon and we’ll need to be on top of our game.”