WILMINGTON — Whether it was the uncertainty of facing a nonleague opponent, or just some possible rust from the holiday break, the host Greeneview Rams boys and girls high school bowling teams were pretty quiet as Wednesday’s Jan. 2 match with Valley View initially began.
The Rams’ good fortune and the decibel level within Royal Z Lanes both rose as the teams headed into the Baker Games, however. Greeneview ended up claiming boys and girls varsity wins over the Valley View Spartans.
With chants of “We want another one, just like the other one!” with each strike a Rams athlete would toss, Greeneview got really vocal in support of each other during the wins.
The Rams girls won their second consecutive match, and second of the season, 1,709 to 1,640 over the girls from Germantown.
The Rams boys found themselves down by almost 140 pins after the opening two games of Wednesday’s match, but the team swept all four Baker Games to rally to a 2,238 to 2,196 win.
Third-year coach Steve Debord said he’s really enjoying this season, and adds that the bowlers are steadily improving.
“Oh yeah, it’s a lot of fun coaching these kids, I have fun with them,” he said. “Earlier in the year, I would kinda see how they would bowl and I would give them little goals to shoot for. They might not realize they are improving, but they are. And the girls team has really improved a lot this year.”
Debord said he’s got quite a mix of bowling talent this season.
“I only have one senior boy (Adam Schornak) and two junior boys, and I’ve got two senior girls (Jackie Kasner and Anna Willingham) and I’ve got six freshmen girls … so they’re pretty new,” he said with a chuckle.
In Wednesday’s matches with Valley View, Schornak turned in the day’s top single-game score with a 248 in the second game of the competition. He finished with a match-best 373 series, just ahead of freshman teammate Braedan Brennaman, the team’s top bowler, who turned in a 372. Steven Ross tossed a 205 game to start the day off, and finished with a 357 series. Brysten Boiser had the Ram boys’ other two-game series, a 250, while Darian England (95) and Sam Warner (133) had single-game contributions early, and rotated into the Baker Games as well.
In the girls matches, Willingham led the way with a 306 series. Leadoff bowler Lauren Reagan rolled a 241 two-game series, Kasner rolled a 239, and Emily Crum tossed a 229, with early single games rolled by Ruth Coe (92) and Breanna Pugh. Catie MacAuley also competed for the Rams. The Ram girls held a slim 36-point lead heading into the Baker Games, but won three of those four to record the win.
Debord said the team’s enthusiasm has been a work in progress for the past three years.
“That first year, they wouldn’t chant at all. Second year, they kind of worked at it but they wasn’t real good at it. Then this year, they’ve really come a long way,” he laughed. “And that’s all because of the three seniors (Kasner, Willingham and Schornak), they’ve helped them along.
“… These kids are pretty close, though. It’s really been a lot of fun to be their coach.”
The Greeneview boys have now evened their overall record at 7-7. The Rams girls are enjoying their two-game winning streak and are now 2-11 overall. The boys are back in action on Monday, Jan. 7 on the road against Madison Plains, but since Madison Plains does not have a girls team, the girls will join the boys in action on Wednesday, Jan. 9 when both teams will return to Royal Z Lanes to take on Greenon.