O’Fallon boys bowlers win three SWC matches, girls win tourney title

The O’Fallon Township High School boys bowling team dominated three more Southwest Conference opponents in as many days to run its perfect record to 6-0.

“The boys are still undefeated and are bowling very well as a team early in the season. They have good team chemistry early,” O’Fallon boys coach Mike Imes said.

First, on Tuesday, Dec. 5, the Panthers beat visiting Edwardsville 37.5 to 2.5. Next, on Wednesday, Dec. 6, O’Fallon pinned a 37 to 3 loss on host Granite City. Finally, on Thursday, Dec. 7, the Panthers bested visiting Alton 38 to 2.

In the win over Alton, seniors Mark Hoerner and Hayden Juenger led the team to a the victory, but all five O’Fallon bowlers topped a 600 series.

Hoerner, the leadoff bowler, fired a 727 series that featured a pair of 239 games before he closed with a 249 game. Juenger, the fourth bowler in the lineup, rolled a 690 series with high games of 256 and 248.

Also bowling well for the Panthers were Matthew Doyle (677), Donny Richards (622) and Eli Rosenberg (616).

The O’Fallon junior varsity team has won four straight matches after losing its first two matches early in the season. Against Alton, Ryan Komm rolled a perfect 300 game, and Jordan Peacock had a 277 to lead the JV team to the win.

Against Granite City, the Panthers had four bowlers shoot better than a 600 series, led by Doyle and Rosenberg.

Doyle was the top bowlers with a 746 series on strong games of 258, 266 and 222. Rosenberg added a 696 series on games of 225, 234 and 237.

Also adding 600 series were Juenger (657) and Richards (605).

In the victory over Edwardsville, Doyle and Hoerner showed the way.

Doyle bowled the top series at 680 with best games of 258 and 223 while Hoerner finished with a 653 series with top games of 258 and 213.

Lady Panthers also keep winning

After racking up three more conference wins over Edwardsville, Alton, and Granite City, the OTHS girls traveled to Joliet to take home the title of the gold division at the Plainfield North Strikefest.

O’Fallon won the team title of the 44-team event with an overall pin count of 5,947, which was 184 pins out in front of runner-up Harlem (5,763).

Rounding out the top five teams were Hoffman Estates (5,714), Lockport (5,680), and Minooka (5,674).

“The tournament is viewed as one of the best tournaments in the state of Illinois with a lot of top-notch bowling schools attending,” O’Fallon girls coach Garrett Spencer said. “This win marked the third straight tournament championship for the girls. I was really proud of how the girls represented their school on Saturday. It really shows that we can bowl against anyone and be successful. We bowled really well as a team and had three girls finish in the top 10.”

Mary Orf led the team with a six-game series of 1,252, which is a hefty 208.67 average. She was followed by Laruen Tomaszewski with a 1,244 (207.33) and Natalie Heltne 1,228 (204.67).

In addition, Hayleigh Williams, Madion Thornton, and Grace Braswell all posted 200-plus games to help the team win the tournament title.

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 11:58 AM with the headline "O’Fallon boys bowlers win three SWC matches, girls win tourney title."