CLINTON TWP. — The Oxford bowling program got back to competition on Jan. 4 after the holiday break at Imperial Lanes with the boys varsity team finishing second out of 28 teams.
The girls varsity and both junior varsity teams also had strong showings, said head coach JR Lafnear, with the girls JV winning the tournament.

“L’anse Creuse North hosted a strong field of bowling programs in a team event consisting of 13 baker games,” said head coach JR Lafnear. “A baker game in bowling is where each of five team members bowls two frames to complete a game. A tough format to test the depth of your team.”
All four teams breezed through the 13 qualifying games to make it to match play, consisting of the best 2-of-3 games to advance.
“The varsity boys started slowly but got hot in qualifying to earn the 6th seed. In match play the Wildcats split the first two games with Roseville. The chance to move on came down to a third game and the Wildcats won 192 to 112,” Lafnear said.
The next round for the boys team was against Dakota High School and again it went to a third game with Oxford pulling out a win 189 to 166. The next round paired the Oxford boys against Anchor Bay, the team that knocked the Wildcats out of the Bowl Swami event a few weeks ago. The Wildcats returned the favor, sending Anchor Bay home in two games 233-169 and 194 to 179.
The Oxford team then faced Troy High School in the finals, where the Wildcats got a flurry of splits and fell short of bringing home the title, finishing in second place.
The varsity girls team earned a number eight seed and faced off against the number nine seed from Lake Orion. The teams split the first two games and it came down to one game to advance. Oxford won the decisive game 169 to 152, advancing to meet Utica High School.
The girls bowled well but fell short 194 to 180 and 220 to 168. They finished in the top 8 out of 21 tough teams, Lafnear said.
JV

After qualifying matches, the Oxford JV girls were seeded number one and went on to win the championship. The Wildcats beat L’Anse Creuse in three games, then defeated host L’Anse Creuse North in the finals.
The JV girls averaged over 152 on the day and this is back-to-back titles in this event for the team.
The JV boys bowled well and earned the number two seed but got upset in the first round by the 15-seeded Livonia Stevenson team.
“All teams took a positive away from today. The teams here are strong and you have to be at your best to win this event. This is the perfect type of event to get us ready for the meat of our season. We have five matches and Oakland Counties (tournament) in the next two weeks,” Lafnear said.