On Friday, October 18, the boys bowling team faced off against Francis Lewis High School at Jib Lanes. With the final score of 2-1, Townsend Harris earned its first victory of the season.
After a season of consecutive losses, the team was desperate for a victory. With victory in mind, the team entered the game confident in their skill. Freshman Devesh Permanan attributed the team’s confidence to the equal level of skill between Francis Lewis and Townsend Harris. Junior Christopher E also added that this time the team was going win after having forfeited their first game.
The Hawks also had a special guest join them today in their game. Former bowling captain and THHS alumnus Andrew Eichenholz was present at the game, lending his support and knowledge to the team. By the time the games began, the team was bubbling over with anxiety and confidence.
The starting lineup for the Hawks this game were junior Caleb Hong, sophomore Brian Bayalon, senior John O’ Neil, and senior captain Daniel Wuest for Team A. Team B was composed of freshman Kennis Kong, freshman Devesh Permanan, and junior Daniel Sarabia.
At the end of the first frames, both Team A and Team B were off to a strong start. Both John and Kennis began each of their games with strikes. Kennis later earned another strike for Team B. Daniel Wuest took over as the leading scorer of Team A. Despite struggling these past few games, Daniel helped give Team A a 261-233 lead by the end of frame five. Team B, on the other hand, began to struggle and fell behind 188-254 at the end of the fifth frame.
As the two games continued, Team A showed great resolve as each frame was marked with at least one strike for the team. Team B fell flat and began to fall behind as the game progressed to its conclusion. The notable players of the night included Kennis for his consistent performance throughout Game B and the entire Team A who piggybacked on each other’s success for a strong game. The final score of Game A was a rousing 593-459 win while Game B ended in an unfortunate 381-455 defeat. Tied at a game apiece, the teams began the deciding Game C.
Team A was selected to complete Game C due to their outstanding performance in Game A. The Hawks started off the first frame strong with both Caleb and Daniel earning the first two strikes for the team. From the first frame on, Francis Lewis never earned a lead. Mediocre performance from their anchor and starter resulted in a hefty 263-251 deficit for Francis Lewis by the end of frame five. From frame five the Hawks were never without at least a single strike in each of their remaining frames. After Caleb’s double in the tenth frame, Daniel closed Game C with a strike and a spare. With a final score of 590-522 in Game C, the Hawks earned themselves their first victory of this season.
Aside from winning the game, three members of the team also shattered their career highs. Daniel earned himself a record high score of 205 with his exceptionally strong performance in Game A. Caleb broke his personal record not once, but twice in one game with the scores of 150 and 168. John was also able to break his career high by scoring 146 in Game C. Daniel later recounted his high score as something he didn’t see coming until the final frame where he realized his score was 187 with an unresolved strike.
The Hawks were ecstatic over their first victory and celebrated with pizza. In the end, Caleb summed up the groundbreaking match in one simple sentence, “It was fun.”
