Hodag boys’ bowlers win two, finish season at .500

With a shot at qualifying for the WiHSBC state tournament out of the equation, the Rhinelander/Tomahawk boys’ club bowling team looked to end its season on a high note on Sunday at 5-Star Lanes in Plover.

The Hodags did just that, defeating Wisconsin Rapids 8 1/2-1/2 and Stevens Point 5-4 to finish .500 overall in the District 9, Division 1 standings. 

The Hodags (5-5), who came in averaging 174.3 pins per game, bowled two of their best matches to close out the year. The team averaged 186.7 pins against Rapids. They followed that up with an 185.0 average against SPASH and rolled three straight 200-plus games to erase a 4-2 deficit and win the match. 

“The ultimate goal this time around was let’s just go have some fun,” Hodag coach Mike Bourcier said. “We knew the team was out of it, let’s shoot for trying to get back to even, get a .500 record finishing the year out, let’s just try to stay clean and have a fun time.”

Rhinelander dominated the match against Rapids, winning each of the first seven games by 30 or more pins. The Hodags took the eighth game 168-165 and the teams bowled to a 180-180 tie in the final game. 

“They came out of the box pretty decent, had some good games in there. My look at it is it’s what we expected out of the kids this year. They bowled well,” Bourcier said.

The Hodags and SPASH traded off the first six games in their match. SPASH took the first two, Rhinelander claimed the next two and SPASH took games 5 and 6 to go up 4-2. Rhinelander edged SPASH 203-199 to stay alive in Game 7, then threw five strikes in a row to close out Game 8 204-184 and set up a decisive finale. The Hodags finished with eight straight marks in the final game, including two strikes from senior Noah Pearson in the 10th frame, to secure a 208-192 win. 

Pearson finished the day by filling 32 of his 36 frames with 21 strikes. That moved his season-long fill percentage up to .7894, but it was unlikely to be enough to qualify for the WiHSBC state meet, with 14 eligible bowlers sporting percentages of .8000 or better with only a few results to finalize for the year. 

Keagyn Schoone was 31 of 36 with 18 strikes, Blake Klingen went 30 of 36 with 17 strikes, Dominic Hakala was 29 of 36 with 17 strikes and Jackson Fuss went 19 of 36 with six strikes.

“Great day by Keagyn. Blake bowled well, Dom. The kids all bowled well,” Bourcier said. “There was a lot of striking, a lot of good sparing happening. There were only four single-pin misses, which was good. A few of the games were close, but our kids came through throwing strikes at the end to pull every game out.”

Hodag girls drop final matches

The Rhinelander/Elcho high school girls’ team closed the year 0-10 with a pair of losses on Sunday. The Hodags felt to D.C. Everest/Wittenberg 8 1/2-1/2 and then to the Manawa co-op 7 1/2-1/2.

“It was a tough one for us today,” coach Cory Dellenbach said. “The girls seemed ready to go and had energy at the start of the first match, but just didn’t bowl very well.”

Junior Johanna Dellenbach went 24 of 34 on the day, and finished the year with a .7083 fill percentage. With a handful of still pending as of press time, it appeared that Dellenbach would finish fifth in the final conference standings, one spot shy of qualifying individual for the WiHSBC state meet, but earning a spot on the D-9 All-Star team for the Wisconsin All Star Team Challenge.

“We’re hopeful she lands in the Top 5 in the district and will go to the All Star Tournament on March 9 in Green Bay,” coach Dellenbach said.

The Hodags averaged 121.7 pins per game in the match against Everest, rolling to a 137-137 tie in Game 7. Rhinelander took Game 3 against Manawa 151-129 and tied the final game at 121.

“In the second match, the pins just weren’t falling our way and Manawa had a number that fell just right for them to win a few of the close games. Some key spare misses were a factor too in them,” coach Dellenbach noted.

Aubree Doppke was 22 of 34 on the day with seven strikes, Alyssa Habeck went 16 of 30 with sevens strikes, Emily Koniar was 10 of 24 with four strikes, Addison Habeck was 10 of 32 with five strikes and Katrina Roof was 7 of 26 with two strikes. 

The Hodag girls finished winless in District 9 competition for the second year in a row. 

“It’s not going to get easier next year as there are only two senior girls in our whole district this year,” coach Dellenbach said. “Over the offseason all the girls need to get into the bowling alley and get some bowling time in. They cannot come into the season cold-turkey like they did this year. When they do that it’s like starting over fresh again. Take advantage of summer tournaments open to youth, take advantage of open bowling times. It needs to happen.”

Middle schoolers pick up win

The Rhinelander middle school squad improved to 2-3 on the season, earning a 6-3 victory on Sunday. As the bye team in the league, the Hodags had to bowl against a target score determined by the league average, which came in at 115. 

Rhinelander did that six times, with a high game of 135 in Game 3. The Hodags averaged 120.1 pins on the day.

“The other middle schools kind of off-and-on struggled today,” coach Dellenbach noted. “For all of the other four it was their first time bowling at a location other than Dale’s Weston Lanes as we were at 5 Star Lanes in Plover. They learned that lane conditions are not the same from alley to alley and I think it surprised them. It definitely frustrated them.”

Eli Miller paced the Hodags, filling 13 of 18 frames with seven strikes, Natalie Dellenbach was 11 of 18 with three strikes. Logan Campbell had four fills, Brighton Walkowski and Charlotte Preuss beach had three fills and Silas Johnson had two fills. 

While the dual meet season is over for the high school squads, it will carry on into April for the middle schoolers. The team’s next competition is in Antigo March 10, followed by home matches at Hodag Lanes March 24 and April 14 to close out the season.

Rhinelander to host D9 singles tourney

While the team portion of the District 9 season is over, there is will one big tournament on the calendar for the Hodags, as they will host the D9 singles tournament Feb. 22-24 at Hodag Lanes. 

As of now, nearly 130 bowlers from D9 have registered and will compete for a purse of roughly $7,000, paid out in the form of scholarships. Bowlers will be placed into flights for the tournament, based on year-long fill percentage in the league. 

“It’s going to be good,” Bourcier said. “Being at home, the kids will have a great opportunity. They’re going to have the home-field advantage. They’re going to feel comfortable. It’s going to be a fun one. It will be a lot of excitement there.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].