Bowlin’ Bulldogs sweep all 3 in victory over Ottawa at Streator Elks

STREATOR – The Streator boys bowling team, despite some struggles, built off its fourth-place finish at the Sycamore Tournament on Saturday by capturing all three games and posting a 2,616-2,060 victory over rival Ottawa on Wednesday at the Streator Elks.

The balanced Bulldogs were led by sophomore Anthony Dominic’s 541 three-game series (which included a 199 high game). Senior Adam Jakupcak followed with a 536 (200), senior Ben Pond with a 531 (208) and senior Kevin Scott with a 506 (183), while junior Brady Grabowski rolled a 502 (193).

“I can’t complain about how we’ve started the season,” Streator coach Nancy Longnecker said. “We struggled a little bit across the board today, but a win is a win. We say it every year, but spares are a very important part of bowling, and we’ve struggled now each time out in that part of the game. If we had done a little better job of picking spares up on Saturday, we would have moved up to third in Sycamore.

“I try to instill that every spare means something. Now today I saw some of them really getting down on themselves after not picking up a spare. You’re not going to get them all, but we’ve just in the first two times out missed way to many one-pin spares. We’ll keep working on that facet of the game, and hopefully by the time postseason rolls around we’ll be right where we need to be.

“Every boy on this team has things he needs to keep working on; we are far from how I know we can bowl. Today all of them had their ups and downs, but I know they all will continue to work on their game, and I expect the scores to increase and be more consistent as the season rolls along.”

The Pirates were paced by junior Nelson Brandt’s three-game 508 (which included a 179). Following Brandt were junior Sean Miller’s 449 (158), senior Dustin Gende’s 392 (139) and Colin Sheridan’s 389 (142). Sophomore Aaron Goff had a two-game total of 200, while junior Nolan Alexander registered a one-game 122.

“Nelson Brandt led the team last year, and I expect him to be our top guy again this season,” Ottawa coach Mark Andrews said. “The rest of the guys are really just trying to find their way right now. There will always be ups and downs during a season, especially early, but some of the boys’ mechanics and swings are just a little off. I know they will all get there, but right now it’s a struggle for some of them. It’s hard to start off a season slow, but hopefully like last season, we’ll be bowling our best at the end of the season.

“We are a little short in experience, with some of them having only a half of year or year of bowling under their belts. All of them are trying hard, and we will keep teaching them along the way. I expect us to improve as we go, and with that we will grow as a team throughout the season.

“The team aspect is important in bowling. You need teammates that will pick you up after a tough shot or will give a pat on the back after a good shot. I feel we have kids like that, but we just have to keep working on the things we’re struggling with and try and improve each day.”

Ottawa will host La Salle-Peru on Thursday at Dettore’s Town Lanes, while the Pirates and Streator will compete in the Lee Lohman Invite in Geneseo on Saturday.

In the JV match, Ottawa took all three games and defeated Streator, 1,748-1,202. Evan Spencer led the Pirates with a three-game 343, while Nolan Alexander had a two-game 296, Landon McAlpine a 268, Robbie Burke a 243 and Dakota Bowers a 238. The Bullpups were led by Izak Gallick’s 270, followed by Jaxin Goodrich (246), Damarius Porter (243) and Jason Russow (238).