Young Cougars look ahead after taking 12th
Reaching the second day of the IHSA state tournament was a significant accomplishment for the young Vernon Hills boys bowling team.
The Cougars were aiming to move a few spots up the leaderboard Saturday at St. Clair Lanes in O'Fallon.
But the pins were more stubborn than on Friday, and the Cougars finished 12th with 11,772.
Freeport captured the state championship with 12,938 pins followed by Salem (12,817) and Lincoln-way Central (12,743).
Salem's Alex Henseler won the individual championship by averaging 247. Henseler shot a 12-game total of 2,963.
On Saturday, Henseler tossed a 716 in the morning and followed with a 672 in the afternoon round.
The Cougars knocked down 2,836 pins in the Saturday morning round, including games of 963, 995 and 878.
"I'm not sure what happened," said Vernon Hills coach Ron Long. "We were not firing like we normally do."
In the afternoon round, the Cougars put some of their younger bowlers in the lineup and shot 2,774.
"We still gave everybody a chance to compete," Long said. "We're still a young team going into next year and lose only Jason Major. We've got some real good athletes on the team and the experience should help us in the future."
Major, a senior, started the day in sixth place and finished 22nd overall.
Major rolled games of 182, 211 and 164 for a 557 morning series. He fired a 647 -- including 256, 214 and 177 -- in the afternoon. His six-game total Saturday was 2,577.
Sophomore teammate Erik Hencier finished 26th with a 2,559. The consistent Hencier had a 648 series in the morning that included a 257 game, and he shot 647 in the afternoon.
Other scores for the Cougars included junior Brandon Knopoff 537 (three games); sophomore Alex Wong 368 (two games); junior Aaron Rose 562 (three games); freshman Nick Garpow 705 (four games); freshman Mason Madej 442 (three games); and sophomore Sean Hogan 497 (three games).
Lake Zurich senior Josh Zange moved up the ladder on the second day and finished 31st after starting in the 60th spot.
In Game 4, Zange strung 10 straight strikes before leaving a 10 pin, which he converted for a spare and a 288 game.
He shot 662 in the morning and a 663 in the afternoon for a 12-game total of 2,540.
"I had no bad shots in that game," said Zange, who reached the second day of the state meet as a freshman. "I was able to put it all together. I was consistent throughout the entire tournament in the low 200's and I was waiting for it to happen."
Deerfield's Alex Siedband finished 60th with 2,416.