Bowlers ready for the home stretch

by Eric Keppeler
Grand Island Dispatch, February 2, 2007

Craig Davis knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

The Grand Island varsity bowling coach has seen first hand just how loaded with talent the Niagara Frontier League can be, and he knew his Vikings would have their work cut out for them at last week’s NFL Individual Championship at Parkside Lanes in North Tonawanda.

Ultimately, he was correct, although he was rewarded with a couple of good individual performances from his team in a field that included 48 doubles teams.

“We didn’t do quite as well as I had hoped, but we didn’t do badly,” Davis said. “It’s tough because the tournament is a doubles format and the bowlers with the highest averages are paired up with the lowest averages. So a couple of our bowlers weren’t able to place because they weren’t consistent as a team.”

But Davis isn’t making excuses. His team just didn’t bowl as well as he’d expected.

The top finisher for Grand Island came in the girls bracket, as senior co-captain Stephanie Cope wound up in third place with her doubles partner. Sophomore Joe Khreis held the top spot for the boys, finishing in fourth place with his partner.

Individually, senior co-captain Jessica Coughlin had the sixth-highest single game of the tournament among the ladies with a 208. The highest set among any Grand Island player belonged to sophomore Jason Davis with a 599.

The season itself has been progressing nicely for the Vikings, and Davis figures that it will only get better when the playoffs begin. As a Class B school going up against much bigger squads from Class A almost every day in the NFL, the Vikes will be primed and ready when sectionals roll around and they get to contend with schools their own size.

So far in the NFL, the Vikings are holding their own as the boys are 6-5 and the girls check in at 4-7.

“That’s kind of surprising,” Davis said. “The girls were 8-6 last year, but their average across the board is about 30 pins higher this year. So I guess I’m disappointed that we’re not winning, but they’re bowling much better.”

The boys already have far surpassed last year’s win total, when they struggled through a 3-11 campaign. They have a shot this year at finishing with as many as eight or nine wins, which Davis says is even better than he’d hoped.

All in all, the Vikings will be battle-tested when sectionals begin. The Grand Island girls will be looking for their second straight Class B championship, while the boys hope to continue their trend of improvement.

“I think the girls have an excellent chance to repeat as sectional champions,” Davis said “The boys will have a tougher road because Lew-Port (currently leading the NFL) also is in Class B, but don’t count us out just yet.”

The regular season in the NFL closes out Tuesday. Sectionals are the following Thursday and Friday, Feb. 15 and 16, at Thruway Lanes in Cheektowaga.