UPDATE (Mar. 7, 2018):

The Boys team finished 9th at Regionals with Nate Curl finishing the highest at 14th in singles.  The girls finished 6th in the team event with Gracie Hatfield leading the way at 12th and Mandi Daniels finished in 22nd in singles.

ORIGINAL TEXT:

The bowling regular season has ended, and the playoffs are underway. Coming out on top seemingly every time are the Portage Northern Bowling Huskies. Led by Coach Michael Schneider, both the girls and boys teams recently secured wins over Three Rivers to win the Southwest Michigan Conference Championship.

Gallery • 3 Photos

The team celebrates after their win. Left to right are Max Mayer, Brandon Paddock, Collin Empie, Adam Rowlson, Nate Curl, and Cris Smith. In front are coaches Richard Teusaw and Bill Tomlinson. Photo courtesy of Michael Schneider.

Coach Schneider had some words on how the Huskies have done so well this season: “For our boys, an awesome core of 4 returners who went to State last season (Nate Curl, Cris Smith, Adam Rowlson, and Max Mayer), and Brandon Paddock, our first year, was an awesome addition (this season). For the girls, teamwork with the 5 girls we had come out. Our new addition Mandi Daniels was a solid spare maker as a freshman, and Gracie Hatfield and Emily Bright our juniors having solid seasons.”  Junior Emily Bright agrees: “The biggest contribution to this season were the new bowlers that joined this season. Though few, they really helped us excel and have such a wonderful season.”

The boys finished the season 8-1, and the girls 7-2. Both teams suffered losses to the out of conference Sturgis and the girls were also defeated by Otsego. The boys were defeated by a score of 24-6. Coach Schneider has a theory on what may have caused the loss: “Home field advantage for the boys. Oil plays different in every house, even with the Allen pattern. They knew the shot, and had the advantage in that aspect over us.”

For readers who don’t understand the oil patterns referenced by Coach Schneider, oil patterns differ from lane to lane. The thickness of oil varies in different parts of the lane. The Allen pattern is a standard oil pattern. For the girls, the final score was 26-4. Coach Schneider: “Sturgis has a  team with 5 girls capable of dropping a 200 game at will. we didn’t have the girls to match up against that much firepower.”

However, the loss didn’t deter the Huskies, and both the boys and girls bowling teams handily defeated Three Rivers, and are looking to compete for the regional title. The teams are excited, and ready for the challenge. Both the boys and girls have worked hard to put together a stellar season, and are continuing that trend in the postseason. Boys team member Cris Smith thinks this team has something special: “…we bowl individually but we need everyone’s mental game to be in it or else we all fall apart. We are a loud team and we use our loudness to keep our mental game up.” This team has shown that they are special, and they are ready to go far.