Bowling is a civilized sport. There’s very little finger pointing, tongue wagging or boasting.
So, when one of your friends, who happens to roll for one of your toughest competitors, tells you to beware before a meet, you know you’re going to get that team’s best shot.
Jefferson senior Dan Healy received just such a friendly warning from Waterloo East’s Jeff McCann before Friday’s Mississippi Valley Conference meet (Dec. 3) at May City Bowl. McCann rolled doubles with Healy in national competition last summer.
“Last week (McCann) told me we better be ready for a butt-whoopin’,” Healy said. “We got a big target on our backs most of the time.”
East hit the bullseye. The Trojans roared past the J-Hawks, 3498-3192.
Healy rolled a 280 high game and 513 series and the J-Hawks’ also got solid performances from Tory Youker, James Bruce and Michael Kilts.
But East had five bowlers roll series between 432 and 470 en route to a conference-high score.
“We get everybody’s best shot,” Healy said. “The guys from Hempstead, who was here bowling against Xavier, came up to us and said their goal is to beat us.”
Jefferson trailed by 76 pins after the first round but was outscored 1231-1001 in the Baker round, where all five bowlers alternate frames in a five-game series.
“We were high in the conference last week with an 1133 – which is really, really good — I mean that will usually last until somebody breaks it with an 1177,” Jefferson Coach Virg Cerveny said. “But a 1234? That is just unreal.”
Cerveny said the bowlers on East’s squad have been rolling against the J-Hawks for the “past three or four years.”
“They have a bunch of good kids and they just smoked us today,” he said. “I knew before the season started that they were one of the best teams in the conference.”
The J-Hawks (1-1) rolled a 3284 last week in a win over Xavier. East (2-0) improved nearly 500 pins from the 3025 it recorded in its win over Kennedy.
Jefferson’s next match is Friday against Washington at May City Bowl.
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