April 8, 2021 at 8:30 a.m.
Hodag middle school bowlers in the midst of condensed season
Hodag middle school bowlers in the midst of condensed season
The Hodags' first match in the Wisconsin Middle School Bowling Club District 9 season was March 24. The final matches will take place this Sunday. That's six matches in 19 days.
A combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and working around schedule conflicts of players, coaches and venues has caused the time crunch, but coach Mike Bourcier is simply happy there was any season whatsoever.
"It's a struggle, but we're doing it and it's a good learning experience," he said.
Typically, the middle school programs in District 9 have tagged along with their high school counterparts, following a similar November-February schedule. But that went out the window this year due to the pandemic and the district was left to try to fit in some sort of schedule between the high school state meet in early March and the middle school state meet on May 1.
But between other youth tournaments, bowling center availability and the Easter holiday, the Hodags are only bowling two of their matches on their originally scheduled dates this year.
That meant three matches in five days from March 24 to 28. The team then bowled the day before Easter and will have a pair of matches this coming week.
"We're kind of under the gun here to get them as best we can," Bourcier said. "I'm extremely happy with them, how they've progressed from Day 1 to now. I wish I had more time with them. I just don't have that much practice time that we can schedule with them with everything else going on this year."
Overall, the team finds itself 2-2 through its first four matches - with wins over Antigo and Wittenberg-Birnamwood. That's with a team that has only three returning members from last year's team and two members who are new to competitive bowling.
Two of the three returning bowlers, Alex Hall and Blake Klingen, have led the team so far. Hall has filled 72.2% of his frames through four matches, which is currently second best in the Hodags' division and eighth best overall in District 9. Klingen, meanwhile, leads the team with 31 strikes in 72 frames and is fourth in the division with a 69.4% fill rate. Johanna Dellenbach (51.4%) rounds out the trio of returning bowlers.
"Alex, my eighth grader, he'd be my best bowler. He's got the most experience along with Johanna. Alex has got a little more ball motion," Bourcier said. "Blake's been doing well, doing a lot of practicing. He's my next strongest bowler there. Johanna, she's improved each week."
Nathan Lavender and Dominic Cooper round out the team and, so far, are filling about 30% of their frames. But, Bourcier said, for those two it's more about learning the game than results at this point.
"Both kids have an drive to learn. They want to learn a new skill. That's half the battle. They want to be there," he said. "When you see a smile on their face when they do something and they see it, that's part of the reward. They're learning and they want to learn. That's a good thing."
Merrill
The Hodags started this unusual season in an unusual way, bowling a virtual match against Merrill on March 24. Rhinelander took what would have been a typical Wednesday night practice and used it as an opportunity to record scores against its first opponent.
"The Merrill one was a different one for all of us, bowling it virtual. I don't care for that, but I understand the situation that we're in. That was going to be the best scenario to try to make this match happen," Bourcier said. "We set a goal for them. We're like, 'Hey, we don't really know where this team is sitting, so let's try to hit a 120 average. Let's try to hit 120 each game to start with.'"
The Hodags met that goal, averaging 126.2 pins per game but, once Merrill's scores rolled in, they found they lost the nine-game Baker series, 6-3.
Rhinelander actually held an early 2-1 lead in that match, with narrow wins in Games 1 (142-138) and 3 (137-236), but Merrill won five of the last six. That include a 174-150 win in Game 8 to clinch the match.
"Not knowing how we did until after we were done, I thought the kids did well," Bourcier said. "You look at all the scores. Our high game was also Merrill's high game. They had a 174 to our 150. I was happy with the kids, averaging 126 for the day. I was good with that."
Hall and Klingen led the way in the Merrill. Hall filled 13 of his 18 frames while Klingen was 11 of 18. Both recorded five strikes.
Antigo
Two days later, Rhinelander headed to Antigo for leg two of its whirlwind start of the season. The team's average shot up roughly 16 pins and the Hodags came out on the good end of a 6-3 result.
Ahead 3-2 after five games, Rhinelander reeled off three straight wins to claim the match - including scores of 188 and 182 in Games 7 and 8.
"The kids didn't let me down at all," Bourcier said. "It was pretty exciting. There was a lot of cheering, smiles. There was a lot of good vibes seeing that they can do that."
Hall went 13 of 18 with three strikes while Klingen was 11 of 18 with seven strikes. Dellenbach, Lavender and Cooper had nine, eight and seven fills, respectively.
SPASH
The team completed its three-match in five-day stretch at home March 28 against a big, imposing Stevens Point team.
The Panthers had the game to match. They had two scores in the 210s, averaged 175.7 pins in the match and shutout the Hodags 9-0.
Rhinelander had a few close calls - losses of 179-168, 157-150 and 147-144 in Games 1, 4 and 6 - but was simply outbowled.
"When we stand up for the national anthem you can tell, all these eighth graders are standing at like 5-5 to 5-10 and here's our kids. The highest might be 5-7 or something like that and then we go down to 5-foot. It just looked like the David and Goliath," Bourcier said. "They looked pretty strong. They're throwing the ball great. They have speed on the ball. They're turning the ball. The balls are going down there and smashing the pocket and blowing pins away. Our kids, if they're throwing at 15 MPH, we're throwing at 10 MPH. When our balls hit, it's more of a tumbling effect. Still pretty good, but not as powerful."
Klingen went 16 of 18 on the day with nine strikes, Hall was 12 of 18 with four strikes and Dellenbach was 11 of 18 with five strikes.
"Blake had a phenomenal day," Bourcier said. He bowled really well. A single pin was one of his opens and then a three count. Alex, we've got to get him a little fine-tuned but both of them are sitting pretty good."
Wittenberg-Birnamwood
Just 11 days after its first home match of the season, the Hodags had their last home match this past Saturday. It was also the team's best performance to date.
The team averaged 156.3 pins per game, flirted with a 200 score in Game 6 and edged Wittenberg-Birnamwood 5-4.
"Great day by the kids," Bourcier said. "Overall, a 156 average on the day. They're showing improvements. The practices are working and you can see them gelling more as a group, too. They're acting more as a team and you can tell they're getting more comfortable bowling with each other."
Momentum was not going Rhinelander's way after a few big games by the Chargers early in the match. Wittenberg had just come off a 227-126 win in Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead in the match. That's when the Hodags responded with their best game of the season. The team marked in seven of the last eight frames - including four straight strikes from the sixth through the ninth - to win 198-143 and earn a tasty reward from their coach.
"I told them 190 or better and we have a pizza party, so I owe them a pizza party on Wednesday," Bourcier said.
The momentum carried over as Rhinelander took Game 7 178-125 and Game 8 142-118 to clinch the match.
The team had four bowlers fill more than half of their frames on Saturday. Hall was 14 of 18 with nine strikes, Klingen was 12 of 18 with eight strikes. Cooper and Dellenbach were 10 of 18 with seven and four strikes, respectively.
Up next
The team plans to bowl its last two matches this Sunday in Weston. The Hodags face D.C. Everest in a regularly scheduled match, and then will post scores for a second match scheduled for April 18. The team cannot bowl that day due to a schedule conflict, so its results will be compared, virtually, to an opponent to be determined.
District 9 has not year heard confirmation from the Bowling Centers Association of Wisconsin how many teams and individuals will qualify for the WiMSBC state meet. That event will be held May 1 at Dale's Weston Lanes.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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