The Oxford boys bowling team remains undefeated after resounding victories over Lake Orion and Troy Athens. Photos provided by JR Lafnea.

Girls lose in tiebreaker to LO

OXFORD TWP. – The Oxford boys and girls bowling teams are some of the strongest in the area and showed their grit in tough matches against rival Lake Orion on Dec. 15.
While the girls lost in a tiebreaker, the boys thrashed the Dragons 22-8.
The boys varsity team also devastated an undefeated Athens High School squad in a league matchup on Dec. 18.
Oxford vs. Athens
The Troy Athens boys varsity and JV bowling teams visited Collier Lanes on Dec. 18 looking to challenge the Wildcats in the run for an OAA title.
The Athens varsity squad was 4-0 on the season; however, the Wildcats had other ideas.
The Oxford boys won both baker games, 193-144 and 202-175, and then won 8-of-10 matches.
“Junior Nate Alexander led the way with outstanding games of 257 and 238. He was followed closely by Sophomore Matt vonKnorring, who had games of 238 and 215,” said coach Claude “Jr” Lafnear. “Jacob Kemenah also had a high score of 252 in the win.”
The final score in the match was 28-2. The boys are now 6-0 on the season and 2-0 in the OAA conference.
The JV boys also dominated winning 29-1. Garret Kutchey led the way with a 203 game.
Oxford vs. Lake Orion
The Wildcats and Dragons both call Collier Lanes their home, and the friendly rivalry is normally a fun night and a very close match, Lafnear said.
The match on Dec. 15 night was no different.
The Wildcat girls and the ladies from Lake Orion battled until the final frame, finishing tied at 15. The newly installed tiebreaker is Baker game totals. The Dragons won both Baker games and were declared winners of the match. 

“The Wildcats won 5-of-10 matches and both team games but struggled out of the gate in Baker games,” Lafnear said.
Senior Haley Verbeke won two points for the Cats with games of 171 and 151. Freshman Phebe Coffman’s 145, freshman Elleanna Ford’s 147 and sophomore Kaitlyn Mcfadden’s 128 also won points for the Wildcats.
“On paper this was going to be a very close match and it turned out to be just that. We made far too many mistakes and really had to battle because of them. It was very encouraging to see how well the girls responded after going down 10-0. The girls will continue to work on their spare shooting and we’ll be ready for the rematch in February,” Lafnear said.
The varsity boys split baker games winning 192-183 and losing 221-161.
“Finding themselves down 6-4, the boys turned up the heat. The Wildcat boys swept the Dragons in all five matches in game 1 and shot a strong 1,017 team game,” Lafnear said.
With a 13-6 lead the Cats continued to bowl well, winning 3-of-5 matches in the second game to close out the Dragons, 22-8.
The Wildcats were led by freshman Eli Wright with games of 224 and 209, each a come-from-behind victory.
Also bowling well and winning two points was Jr Jacob Kemenah with games of 179 and 226, and Matthew vonKnorring with games of 179 and 226. Jacob Chouinard’s 234 and Garrett Kutchey’s 182 also won points for the Cats.
“This was a very steady performance by the entire team. Their attention to the details and their focus was nice to see. The Lake Orion team is much-improved and we knew they would be tough to beat and we were ready for the test,” Lafnear said.