Kahok boys bowlers head into the postseason

By Mark Jurgena

Collinsville’s boys bowling team had their struggles at the Panther Team Challenge at St. Clair Bowl Saturday however they saved their best performance for their final round.

However, in the Baker format, only the top eight schools moved on to the match play finals and since Collinsville sat in tenth place their day was uncharacteristically finished.

It was a difficult day on the lanes for the Kahoks as they found themselves in 11th place after the first series and could only move up one spot the rest of their day.

“As a group, it just wasn’t clicking,” said CHS coach Sean Hay. “That’s one of those moments where you pause what’s going on. In basketball, it would be a time-out, and in football would be a time-out. So I pulled them aside to ask what was going on, what was the issue. But at the end of the story they decided to take ownership of what they were doing.”

After that, the Kahoks fired their best game of the day with a 929 set.

“They clicked as a team and it was a personality that I had not seen from this group the entire time I’ve coached them,” said Hay. “So for the last two games of the tournament, on a nasty shot, they bowled really well.”

Belleville West 33 CHS 7

The Maroons have come on strong over the Holidays and that trend continued on Jan. 4 at Camelot Lanes as they gained a season split by beating the Kahoks in their own house.

Cole Buckman led CHS with a 636 series including games of 245 and 202.

Brandon Campbell was right behind him at 634. He fired a high game of 257 and a 202 game as well.

Ben Sloan had a high game of 215.

CHS 21 Belleville East 19

Collinsville had a big third game to wrestle the match from the Lancers on Jan. 3.

In that final set, the Kahoks outbowled East 1002-931.

Mason Foley and Brandon Campbell both won their matchups with identical 222 scores, while Cole Buckman won his with a 197. 

Ben Sloan and Jacob Taylor contributed huge pinfall numbers to the team score to nab the match victory.

Campbell had a big 677 series on the day adding scores of 244 in his second game and 211 in his first one.

Buckman had a high game of 224 while Taylor’s high total came in his second game with 213. Foley added a score of 211 to his total.

Upcoming Schedule

The boys faced Edwardsville and O’Fallon earlier this week, however details of the matches were not available when the Times-Tribune went to press.

Saturday they begin their postseason at the Salem Regional tournament.