Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/950172
28 UCW MARCH 7-13, 2018 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Open season may be a good thing for a hunter, but for a bowler it's about as bad as it can get. In bowling, going open means not knocking down as many pins as possible in a turn or frame of a game. Pine Forest bowling coach Heidi Henry said her boys team had a lot of open frames during the regular season that caused her squad to struggle. She repeatedly told her players if they could pull it together, nobody could beat them. ey finally proved her right in this year's state bowling championships at Fayetteville's B&B Lanes. e Trojans battled back from being third seed to defeat No. 2 Lakewood 292-202 and No. 1 Gray's Creek 295-241 to take the title. Henry praised the per- formance of junior Jacob Ezzelle in the champion- ship match as a key to Pine Forest's victory. "He had only one or two open frames during bracket play, which is really critical," Henry said. Ezzelle was bowling in the No. 3 position for the Trojans. "If he opened, that's an open in the middle of the game, which is essentially where it could hurt you the most,'' Henry said. Having Ezzelle avoid open frames helped set up the fourth and fifth bowlers in the Pine Forest lineup to perform with more confidence in the closing frames, to score well and have a good game for the team. Ezzelle has been bowling since he was a fresh- man, following in the footsteps of his brother who was also a member of the Trojan bowling team. He called bowling a serious sport that is also relaxing. While Ezzelle said he always had high hopes for a good season, he didn't think this year's Trojan team would make it as far as it did. "It was little things here and there that hurt us,'' he said of the team's regular-season problems. "I wouldn't say I was disappointed. I felt we could have done better.'' Ezzelle said the team went back to basics and focused on practice at an individual level to over- come its earlier mistakes. He thinks prospects for the future of bowling at Pine Forest look good. "We're losing one senior and we've got some young guys that are going to step up,'' he said. "I think we'll be fine.'' As for Ezzelle, he said he plans to listen to Henry, not be as hard-headed and keep practicing. With a core of veteran bowlers returning, Gray's Creek bowling coach Sam Bullard felt his girls squad had a shot at a good season. It just took them until this year's state championship competition at Fayetteville's B&B Lanes to realize it. e Bears topped Lumberton 295-241 in the finals to claim team honors. Bullard gave a lot of the credit to seniors Nicolette Kenton, Angel Pope and Jade Wilds. "ey stepped up a whole lot,'' he said. "ey came in big when they needed to come in big.'' Bullard said most of his veteran players are also league bowlers and get the benefit of year-round com- petition. "e year before last they came in runner-up in the state,'' he said. "I knew we would have a pretty good shot at it and just had to have things fall right.'' It looked like that might not be the case after Gray's Creek led the conference bowling race much of the regular season. But when the conference tournament was held, a different format was used from previous years, and Gray's Creek didn't adjust to it well. "It was just a format thing,'' Bullard said. "It caught us on a bad day. I think we could have pulled it out, but that wasn't the way it was.'' Terry Sanford wound up winning the conference tournament, but the Bears still managed to qualify for a bid into the state tournament. Bullard said Gray's Creek had a little bit of luck in the state tournament, with his team mostly hav- ing clean frames and picking up spares. "ey were making sure they were getting as many pins as they could and getting to that second ball,'' he said. Kenton and Pope were particularly impressive for Gray's Creek in the state tournament. "I got a few strikes and picked up most of my spares,'' said Kenton. "at was good." A league bowler, Kenton plans to continue competing at the intramural level when she enrolls in college. Pope has been bowling since the age of five. "e best thing was to keep my composure and bowl well for our team,'' she said. "I tried to get the best pin count as much as possible.'' Winning the state title meant everything in the world to her, she said. "I just really wanted to show how good we are, that we could actually win and put our names out there.'' Pope plans to enroll at Fayetteville State University and become a member of the school's bowling team. "When it comes to bowling, it's a fun thing to do,'' she said. HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS Trojans close openings en route to title by EARL VAUGHAN JR. Experienced Bears bring home championship by EARL VAUGHAN JR. EARL VAUGHAN JR., Sports Editor. COMMENTS? EarlUCWSports@ gmail.com. 910-364-6638. L to R: Jacob Ezzelle, Dominik Lipari, Noah Hash, Justin Turner, Kendell St. Peter, William Bonds, Coach Heidi Henry, Jonathan Henderson, Manager Nakeithia Butcher L to R: Shantell Jackson, Clarissa Rodriguez, Abagayl Gowen, Jade Wilds, Natalie Freeman, Destiny Delgado, Angel Pope, Nicolette Kenton, Ravyn Rozier Front: Coach Sam Bullard