Cougars' Knopoff knocks down plenty of pins
Erik Hencier had a bowling tip for his Vernon Hills teammate Brandon Knopoff, saying "This is your oil pattern."
Knopoff responded by throwing the final 9 strikes in his opening game Saturday en route to a 270 - which was just the beginning.
Knopoff didn't stop there, keeping his consistency going by shooting above 200 for the next five games, including the high game of the sectional at 279.
Knopoff shot a career-best 738 over his final three games and knocked over a meet-best 1,424 pins.
"It's still unreal, it's crazy and consistent bowling," Knopoff said. "It goes to all my work in practice. Lately, I've been working on my release and it was perfect for these conditions. I was able to get a lot strikes."
Knopoff's big day helped Vernon Hills capture the Lake Zurich sectional title with 6,395 pins, among the state's best team scores. Second-place Deerfield (6,062) also earned a state spot at Brunswick Deer Park Lanes. Loyola (6,042) took third, Streamwood (5,822) fourth and Lake Zurich (5,810) fifth.
Individually, Austin Wells (second with 1,338) of Lake Zurich and Stevenson's Paul Ritt (third with 1,309) earned at-large berths and will join Vernon Hills and Deerfield this weekend at the IHSA state tournament at St. Clair Bowl in O'Fallon.
"I was hoping we'd go as a team, but going as an individual is good too," said Wells, who had a high game of 256. "Strikes kept coming and I never felt like I was out of it."
The Cougars, who led from start to finish, smashed a school record with 1,173 pins in Game 1.
"Over the last couple of tournaments we've started out like that," said Cougars coach Ron Long, whose team eclipsed the 1,000 mark in five of its six games. "It made a big difference and sparked them. It's always good to be in the lead. You don't want to be behind. I think it kept us loose. We were able to build on it and pull away from the other teams.
In his first three games, Hencier (1,299) shot 238, 236 and 247 for a 721 series and fourth place overall. Other Cougars scores included Alex Wong (1,243), Chris Weaver (1,241) and Aaron Rose (1,188).
Deerfield, making its first trip to state, needed to overcome a 102-pin deficit in its final game to catch Loyola. The Warriors did it by throwing a 1,035, while Loyola hit 913.
"I think our conference had a bearing on it," Deerfield coach Peter Cullen said of the Northern Illinois conference. "I knew anything was possible. I tried to instill in them all season, 'Don't let up and don't let down.' "
Deerfield was led by Garrett Eischen (1,260), Zach Cole (1,251), Ryan Kaplan (1,220), Jacob Elbaum (1,179) and Ethan Jacobson (1,152).
Stevenson sophomore Ritt shot five of six games over 200 and finished third overall.
"I was just trying to pick up every spare that was possible," Ritt said. "I wanted to make good shots and have clean games. I never thought of going to state and going this far."