A Warwick High School sophomore qualified for the state championships and reached the semifinals of the Boys Eastern Pennsylvania Regional High School Bowling Championships at Leisure Lanes in Lancaster on March 6, 2015.
“It feels really good,” he said after rolling a five-game 1,141 series that left him tied for eighth. “I’ve never gotten this far in regionals. It’s pretty great.”
The top 12 qualifiers advanced to the state tournament.
Bouncing back
“I did pretty well,” he said of his qualifying series. “I had a really low game close to the middle, but I picked it up after and I qualified.”
He opened with a 234, then rolled a 278, just one strike short of what would have been his third perfect game in two weeks. After dipping to 161, he bounced back with 234 in each of his final two games.
After some confusion over official scoring, it was announced that he had finished qualifying tied for eighth.
Bracket play
The top 12 boys then moved to bracketed play after an afternoon break that allowed the top girls to arrive from their regional tournament at Dutch Lanes in Ephrata.
In the first round, the Warwick sophomore beat three opponents with a 257, edging a Conrad Weiser bowler by two pins. In the quarterfinals, he defeated fourth-seeded Central Dauphin 246-205. His run ended in the semifinals, where a Middletown bowler beat him 191-157.
Bracket results determined medal positions for the regional tournament but had no bearing on the state competition.
Teammates in the field
Two other Warwick bowlers competed in the individual regional. One placed 17th in qualifying with an 1,105 series, including a 245 game with nine strikes. Another finished 81st out of 177 competitors with a 942.
Team regionals
A few days later, the Warwick team ended its postseason with a 19th-place finish at the Eastern Pennsylvania Regional Team Championships at Leisure Lanes. Six Warwick bowlers combined for 3,722 pins in a format that included a three-game series and two Baker sets.
Warwick’s top scorer in the three-game series rolled a 586, followed by the state qualifier with a 578 and another teammate with a 573. Hazleton won the boys team title, and Pennsbury won the girls championship.
A breakout season
The regional run came on the heels of a Lancaster-Lebanon League individual championship that included a perfect 300 game, followed by a district title. At the state championships at Dutch Lanes later that month, the sophomore went on to finish 11th among the state’s top 24 bowlers.
High school bowling in Lancaster County
Lancaster County is a hotbed of high school bowling, with Leisure Lanes and Dutch Lanes regularly hosting regional and state events. The Lancaster-Lebanon League’s teams, including Hempfield, Penn Manor and Warwick, have been among the strongest in Pennsylvania. Hempfield finished as the state team runner-up that year, losing to Neshaminy in the final Baker game.
Individual qualifiers
Individual bowlers qualify for states based on their scores in regional competition, often across several games. The format rewards steady averages over a single big game, so qualifiers tend to be the most consistent bowlers in their region. For many, the state tournament is the highlight of a high school career.
Lancaster County bowling
The county’s bowling centers host leagues for every age, and many high school bowlers start in youth leagues years before joining their school teams.
Family members and coaches typically make the trip to cheer on qualifiers.
Reaching the state tournament is a reward for long hours on the lanes and a season of steady, consistent bowling.
This article was originally published in March 2015.