OTTUMWA — In the first three meets of the season, the Centerville bowling teams were progressing in the right direction.
Then came the holiday break. Then came another unexpected break due to the winter storms that blew through the state wiping out meets and practices throughout the middle of January.
As a result, the Big Reds and Redettes have only had a limited amount of time on the lanes. While the weather has shaped up over the past couple of weeks, time is getting short for all area bowling teams with the state qualifying meets coming up in less than two weeks.
"We're kind of on the wrong kind of slide here," Centerville head bowling coach Alex Belloma said. "We were going up, up, up before Christmas. Since Christmas, we've been going down, down, down."
The Big Reds proved this week, however, that strides can be made quickly with more time on the lanes. The Centerville boys went from rolling a 2,066 on Monday during a triangular at Flamingo Lanes, finishing second to Fairfield, to a second-place finish at Champion Bowl on Tuesday at a triangular hosted by Davis County producing a team score of 2,329 improving by nearly 300 pins in the span of 24 hours.
"We had just one practice before we showed up in Fairfield," Centerville senior Michael Starr said. "When we bowled below 2,100 at Fairfield, it was not a good look. Once we got here (to Champion Bowl), it was a lot better day."
It wasn't just the Centerville boys that showed improvement this week. The Fairfield girls posted their best score of the season, posting a score of 1,765 on Monday allowing the Trojans to edge the Redettes by 139 pins with four consecutive strikes to close out the first baker game and key strikes thrown in the third baker game allowing Fairfield to earn their first win since beating a short-handed Washington squad in their season opener.
"We've tried to improve in bakers with both the boys and girls this season," Fairfield head bowling coach Chad LaRue said. "The baker games are what's going to get you to state. Grace Forrest was amazing for us. Eleanore Houston did really well. They just had that confidence coming in. That really helped them through this."
Fairfield came out on top on Senior Day against Centerville and Washington. The Trojan boys rolled a 2,427, led by a 202 average from Ethan Cass, with senior Dalton Drish joining the mix during the baker rounds as Fairfield continued to build on its lead highlighted by a 237 score in the third baker game.
"The team has improved so much over the past four years," Drish said. "We've all grown together. I wasn't bowling well at the start of the season, but I've seen a lot of improvement. I give a lot of credit to my teammates for pushing me and my mom for getting me the help I needed."
The Fairfield girls, meanwhile, carried a 55-pin lead after two individual rounds against the Redettes before more than doubling the advantage with a 153 opening baker game. Centerville used a 135 in the second baker game to cut Fairfield's lead down to 90 pins before the Trojans responded with slim advantages in the next two games before posting a 109 baker game to clinch the win.
"It's always fun and exciting, especially when everyone is happy and everyone is up cheering each other on," said Houston, the lone senior on the Fairfield girls bowling team. "The emotion hasn't really hit me yet. It'll probably really hit me later. As the season has progressed, we're getting more consistent. We're focused on improving and having fun.
"I didn't think there would be as much involved with bowling until I went out for the sport. It's not just a matter of throwing the ball. You have to put in a lot of work to get those pins down."
Noelle Craver led the Centerville girls both at Fairfield with a 279 two-game series total and a 259 total on Tuesday at Champion Bowl. The Redettes were just 62 pins off their total at Flamingo Lanes, posting a 1,566 in Ottumwa earning a split at Davis County's home triangular edging West Burlington by 47 pins rallying past the Falcons in the baker games while finishing 779 pins behind the Davis County girls.
The Mustangs also had Senior Day success on Tuesday as both Davis County teams swept Centerville and West Burlington. Kaden Haskell, one of the Davis County senior bowlers honored on Tuesday, led the Mustang boys to a team score of 2,581 with a two-game series total of 407 including a 225 opening game.
"I've come really far in this sport. This sport has almost given me a family and a second home," Haskell said. "We try to come together and have fun. This is one of the best teams we've had since I've been bowling. I feel like we have a chance to make it to state."
Nevaeh Link led the Davis County girls on Tuesday with a 361 series total. Both Mustang teams improved their scores on Wednesday back at Champion Bowl against Pella with Taylor Bridgeman's 191 average leading the Mustang girls to a score of 2,348, beating the Little Dutch by 428 pins, while the Mustang boys posted a score of 2,699 pulling away from Pella for a 165-pin win highlighted by a program-record 236 average by Jordan Twedt.
Davis County and Centerville will meet again on Saturday when the Mustangs serve as the visitors for the Big Reds and Redettes' Senior Day at Mama Dawn's Bowling Center starting at 11 a.m. Fairfield and Davis County will then meet on Monday afternoon at Champion Bowl for a dual coming just one week before the Mustangs host their 1A state qualifying meets in Ottumwa while Fairfield and Centerville head west to compete at Alley Bowl in Osceola.
"There's a lot of prep that we still need to do, but it's kind of a relief to know we'll be at home this year for state qualifying," Link said. "You don't have those long bus rides. We're going to be more energized when we get here. We're going to have more of our community here to support us. It gives us a lot of hope this year.
"We've improved a lot this year. We're hoping to continue raising the standards of our program."
