Vernon Hills rolls ahead to state

Vernon Hills' boys bowling team hit the lanes on Saturday having had excellent practice sessions over the previous few days.

They kept the ball rolling in sectional action.

"I so proud of this team," Vernon Hills coach Ron Long said. "We got a little serious with them on the last day of practice. Then they came out bowling three games of 1,150 and better.

"They were ready to go here today."

The Cougars had their minds set on a return trip downstate, to St. Clair Lanes in O'Fallon next weekend for the state tournament, and they got it.

Vernon Hills went on to win its first-ever sectional with 6,018 and ended up 85 pins better than the other qualifying team at the site, New Trier.

Deerfield ended up third at 5,712, Lake Zurich (5,708) picked up fourth and Stevenson (5,616) ended up fifth in the 10-team field at Brunswick Zone Hawthorn in Vernon Hills.

Lake Zurich's Josh Zange and Deerfield's Alex Siedband advanced as individual qualifiers.

The Cougars finished second to New Trier in the Northern Illinois Boys Bowling Conference and turned things around in the sectional.

"It's big and great. I thought we had a chance at conference, but the sectional is sweeter," Long said. "It's something I've always wanted because it goes on the wall at school, and it represents us as a team forever."

Vernon Hills has a third-place trophy from a couple of years ago at the state tournament, but the Cougars are hoping for more this time.

"This team can do a lot (at state) and there's improvement already," Long said. "We're going down there with more experience than it looks."

Jason Major, a Vernon Hills senior, he had top honors over 6-games at 1,341. Major rolled 673 for the first three games and 668 over the last three, his highest a 258 and lowest was 181.

"I had one bad game after my third game and was depressed after that," Major said. "At the break the coaches (Bill Spigner and Long) asked if we really wanted to go to state, and we had to get our act together. So we stayed focused over the last three games.

"Once I found my mark, I just got into a zone."

Vernon Hills (3,015) was in third place, chasing Deerfield (3,119) and New Trier (3,047), after the first three games.

The Cougars made their move into first place with a 1,091 in game four and followed up with games of 969 and a 943.

Eric Hencier shot 1,228, Aaron Rose 1,199, Alex Wong 1,180, Brandon Knopoff 892 for five games and Mason Medej rolled one game 178.

Lake Zurich's Zange, a senior, put together games of 229 and 259 in his last two and tossed a 1,293, which was good enough for the last individual qualifying spot.

"I knew I had it in me and I knew I had to start scoring," said Zange. "I hit the last 5 strikes in the final game.

"I had to push myself the whole season to make myself better and did things on my own."

Siedband (1,322) became Deerfield's second bowler ever to reach state. He rolled an incredible opening set 263, 268 and 232 for a 763 series and threw 191, 155 and 223 over the last three.

"I felt like I always had it in me to do it," Siedband said. "I wanted to continue bowling and had to keep my composure to make it."