Hodag bowlers kick off season

The Rhinelander area high and middle school club blowing teams kicked off Wisconsin High School Bowling Club District 9 competition on Sunday with matches at Dale’s Weston Lanes.

Both the boys’ and girls’ high school teams suffered close 5-4 losses on the day. The Rhinelander/Tomahawk boys’ split their two matches while the Rhinelander/Elcho girls went 0-2. The Hodag middle school squad also dropped its opening match.

Hodag boys

It could not get much closer for the Hodags boys in their opening match against Marshfield/Spencer on Sunday. After rallying to win the seventh and eighth games of their match to force a winner-take-all final game, the Hodags ended on five straight strikes, but could not overcome a zero-count in the seventh frame as they lost 202-192 and dropped the match 5-4.

That was one of four games the Tigers won by 20 pins in the match. 

“We finished on a five-bagger and forced their anchor bowler to throw the second one in the 10th,” said Hodag program coordinator Mike Bourcier. “He got the first one, he needed the second one in the 10th and their anchor bowler smashed one solid. He carried well and threw a good ball. 

“I told the guys after we got done with that game, ‘Hey, this is how it is. There isn’t an I in this, there’s a we. We’re in this as a team. We all go down together. There were many frames in other games that we could have won them.’ We were in the position where we could have (won), which is good but the guys did well. We’ll learn from this.”

The Hodags were down 4-2 in the match after dropping Game 6 238-168, but rallied to take the next two games 200-178 and 177-169 to force the decider. 

Things were much smoother in the second match of the day as the Hodags cruised to an 8-1 win over Wausau/Mosinee. 

Sophomore Dominic Hakala had a breakout day for Rhinelander. He had only one open frame in the Marshfield match and overall filled 31 of 36 frames on the day with 18 strikes. He posted very similar numbers to anchor bowler Noah Pearson from Tomahawk, who went 31 of 36 with 16 strikes. 

“Dominic had a phenomenal first match, only one open, 11 strikes in that match. He had eight strikes to finish out,” Bourcier noted. “He got lined up and was rolling the ball really well. He started to get a little bit tired in the second match, the lanes got a little different but he started to getting a little lazy in his form. We got him back on track and he finished out the day strong. Overall, very happy for Dominic. He came through, kept his head high and bowled extremely well.

“Noah’s our anchor. Him and Dominic had the same (stats) for the whole weekend. Noah got a little tired in the second match … He knows, taking the leadership role, he puts the team on his shoulders. He knows he can do it and he can prove it. He won some of the games for us where we needed. He’s taken that role and the first meet with that role on his shoulders kind of drained him a little bit, mentally.”

Keagyn Schoone, a first-year bowler and senior out of Tomahawk, had a solid start, going 26 of 36 with 16 strikes. Blake Klingen was 21 of 36 with eight strikes and Jackson Fuss was 18 of 36 with nine strikes. 

“Jackson, being his first time ever, I was very happy with how he did,” Bourcier noted. “He met my expectations and in the second game he was throwing the ball a lot nice. Keagyn, overall, 10 opens, that’s not bad for his first meet. There’s still a lot of learning, but he gets the understanding of it. Blake, we’ve got to work on a little bit to get him back up.”

Overall, the Hodags posted nearly identical stats between the two matches. The Hodags filled 71% of their frames and averaged 173.1 pins per game against Marshfield. The team filled 70% of its frames and averaged 172.8 pins against Wausau.

Hodag girls

Rhinelander/Elcho opened its day with a 9-0 loss to Antigo and then fell 5-4 in its second match of the day against Merrill/Tomahawk. 

Rhinelander filled 51% of its frames in the opener against Antigo while averaging 127.3 pins per game. Rhinelander has some close calls against one of the top girls’ teams in D9, dropping four games be fewer than 20 pins, including a 170-165 loss in Game 6, which proved to be its highest game of the match. 

“Opening the season against Antigo is always tough being a Division 2 powerhouse every year,” coach Cory Dellenbach said. “Our girls did well against them in the first outing. Last year we struggled to score over 100 in games, but this year we surpassed that and made some of the games close.”

Rhinelander led 4-1 in the match against Tomahawk, posting a high game in Game 2 with a 174-172 win, but the Hodags ran out of steam with a 21-pin loss in Game 6 and an 18-pin loss in Game 7 before falling to break 100 in the final two games of the match. 

“It was heartbreaking to finish like that, but I think it will give the girls determination they need the rest of the season,” coach Dellenbach said. “It shows them that we can hang with other teams in our District if they put in the work. We have to get more consistent with our bowling and making sure we’re picking up the spares where we can.”

Johanna Dellenbach paced the Hodag team, filling 24 of her 36 frames on the day with 12 strikes. Addison Habeck was 21 of 36 with 10 strikes while Alyssa Habeck was 19 of 34 with six strikes. 

Freshman Aubree Doppke was 14 of 28 with four strikes, Katrina Roof went 9 of 22 with four strikes and Emily Koniar was 8 of 24 with five strikes. 

“Aubree, one of our two former middle schoolers who moved up this year, came out strong in that first match today, seeming to hit every spare she had out there,” coach Dellenbach noted. “It was great seeing her start her high school bowling career that way.”

Middle schoolers

The Rhinelander middle school team fell 9-0 to Antigo in its opening match on Sunday. The Hodags, with a young squad, broke 100 only twice in nine games. 

Natalie Dellenbach led the Hodags with 12 fills and three strikes. Logan Campbell had four fills, Eli Miller had three fills while Silas Johnson and Charlotte Preuss had one fill each.

“We have three bowlers who are coming in with virtually no experience. Charlotte and Silas had never been in junior league or organized bowling before and Logan had little experience on the lanes without bumpers,” coach Dellenbach said. “Logan is one of those kids who usually doesn’t show a lot of emotion, but he was pretty happy with his first strike in the first game.”

Up next

All the teams are off until Dec. 10 when they will bowl again in Weston. The Hodag boys will face Stevens Point and D.C. Everest, the Hodag girls’ will take on the Manawa co-op and Amherst/Stevens Point and the middle schoolers will face D.C. Everest No. 1.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at jeremy@rivernewsonline.com.