Sophomore Andrew Powell found his rhythm early as the Rochelle Hub varsity bowling team battled in the IHSA Freeport Regional at Four Seasons on Wednesday afternoon.
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, below, or purchase a new subscription.
Please log in to continue |
FREEPORT — Sophomore Andrew Powell found his rhythm early as the Rochelle Hub varsity bowling team battled in the IHSA Freeport Regional at Four Seasons on Wednesday afternoon.
Although the regional tournament was postponed twice due to weather conditions, Powell and the Hubs were ready to roll, with the sophomore right-hander firing a 238 in the opening game. Powell followed with consecutive scores of 186 and 248 to conclude the first half of the event with a 672 series, which ranked third among all active players in the 14-team regional field.
Powell carried his momentum into the second three-game series, where he bowled a 217 in the fourth game before a tough fifth game resulted in a 162. But a ball change enabled Powell to recapture his striking form, with the sophomore shooting a 203 in the sixth and final game. The change proved fruitful for Powell, whose final score of 1,254 resulted in not only a ninth-place finish individually, but an at-large sectional qualifying bid for the second consecutive season.
“I haven’t bowled very well over the last few weeks, but I was happy that I was able to bowl my average today and move on to sectionals,” Powell said. “I wasn’t really pulling the ball too much and I was throwing the ball in the right spots. The ball did what I needed it to do and it worked out for me… What I learned last year was to not get mad at myself after shots I knew I could’ve made better and to focus on making my spares. I’m gonna go out there and do the best I can.”
Powell led Rochelle (10-7, 5-3 Interstate 8) to seventh out of 14 schools in the regional meet. The Hubs totaled a final series score of 5,640, falling roughly 100 pins short of earning one of the four sectional qualifying berths as a team. Senior Sam Tracey finished in 24th place with a series score of 1,143, while junior Logan Frye took 29th place with an 1,115 series score.
“The kids came out and bowled as well as they bowled all year long,” head coach Jim Lyles said. “We missed a few makeable spares that probably cost us a chance at sectionals, but we were solid as a team and when one guy was down, another guy to two picked him up. I couldn’t ask for more than that and I thought we fared better than we have over the last few years.”
Senior Jon Alanis finished with a 1,068 series and sophomore Levi Waddle added a 1,060 for the Hubs, who will advance one individual (Powell) to the IHSA Jefferson Sectional at Cherry Bowl in Rockford on Saturday afternoon. Tracey’s high score was 228, while Frye posted a high score of 203. Alanis rolled a high score of 195 and Waddle notched a high score of 190.
“I thought the kids stayed pretty positive throughout the tournament,” Lyles said. “Sometimes we’ll miss a few spares or leave a split after a double and the kids will get down on themselves, but for the most part, they stayed positive… The main takeaway for our kids coming back next year is that they need to make their spares. All of our kids can strike, but they need to make their spares and I thought each kid missed three or four spares today that were makeable.”
