Rolling along
LH bowling team flourishes in inaugural season
Kenny Riddell was a three-sport athlete who earned all-section honors in football, basketball and baseball his senior year at Laurel Highlands and went on to play college basketball at Waynesburg and then at California University of Pa.
Since then the 2004 Laurel Highlands graduate has gone on to coach a variety of sports while teaching at his alma mater, including boys and girls basketball, football, baseball and cross county.
One feat had always eluded him, however.
无毛视频淭hrough all that I无毛视频檇 never won a section title,无毛视频� Riddell said.
He finally fulfilled that aspiration this year as head coach of a team in its inaugural season.
Meet the Laurel Highlands boys bowling team, winners of the Southeast Section title in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League (WPIBL).
The Mustangs finished first in the six-team section with a 9-1 record, beating out Connellsville, which also was 9-1, on a tiebreaker.
Not bad for a first-year team.
The Mustangs无毛视频� starting five were junior Aiden Milsom (198 average), seniors Jack Johns (198), Gavin Ainsley (192.7) and Roman Haskins (188.9) and junior Danny O无毛视频橬eal (186.6).
Riddell looked back on how the idea of a bowling team at Laurel Highlands came to fruition.
无毛视频淚t all kind of started in my classroom,无毛视频� Riddell recalled. 无毛视频淚无毛视频檓 a bowler and I was just talking with some of my students about it. A few of them said that would be really cool if we had a school team. They ended up looking it up online. This was about four years.
无毛视频淚t got off the ground with just an in-house spring league, all LH kids. We got a really nice turnout, anywhere from 35 to 50 kids. We started off at Mount Vernon and did that for about three years but then they closed.
无毛视频淎fter that I was wondering do we even want to keep doing this? Then the kids who were seniors this year asked if we could try and get in on the WPIBL, which is not part of the WPIAL but is a part of the PIAA. I said alright.无毛视频�
Riddell pushed forward.
无毛视频淚 had been thinking about doing that for years and then I finally said let无毛视频檚 give it a shot,无毛视频� he said. 无毛视频淓ven though I know we无毛视频檙e not going to get a whole ton of funding for this, I thought that无毛视频檚 OK, we无毛视频檒l fundraise ourselves, we无毛视频檒l figure it out.无毛视频�
Not long after the team was formed and ready to compete.
无毛视频淚 give all the credit to the kids and their parents,无毛视频� Riddell said. 无毛视频淭hey did a great job of getting the money we needed to get in the league. The guys at Manor Lanes put up the entry fee money and we got in a section with Connellsville, Norwin, McKeesport, Belle Vernon and Yough. It was a really competitive section, especially between us and Connellsville. Belle Vernon was really good also.
无毛视频淲e ended up squeaking it out and winning the section our first year in the league.无毛视频�
League matches consist of three games with five bowlers from each team.
无毛视频淵ou get two points for every game you win and one point for total pins,无毛视频� Riddell explained. 无毛视频淭hat无毛视频檚 the tiebreaker. You bowl everybody twice. You have five bowlers and you can sub out at any time, but you just can无毛视频檛 reinsert until the next game.
无毛视频淚t was a cool experience. We just took it one game at a time. We were very senior heavy so we无毛视频檒l be losing a lot going into next year.无毛视频�
The Mustangs followed a solid regular season with a strong showing in the postseason.
无毛视频淭hey did just a phenomenal job,无毛视频� Riddell said. 无毛视频淲e won the section and made the WPIBL playoffs. We didn无毛视频檛 make it to the finals but we had an automatic bid to the next round, the Western Pa. Regionals and placed third there. That earned us the bid to states. There were only six teams from Western Pa. there. We competed out in Lancaster and did pretty well, finished eighth overall in the state. The boys just bowled their butts off.无毛视频�
Riddell lauded his bowlers.
无毛视频淲e had two senior captains, Jack Johns and Gavin Ainsley,无毛视频� Riddell said. 无毛视频淛ack is one of those smooth lefties that makes something really hard look really easy. Gavin is our anchor in every sense of the word. He无毛视频檚 a great bowler, but more importantly, he无毛视频檚 the rock of our team. You can无毛视频檛 tell if he threw a great ball in the pocket or a nasty split. It无毛视频檚 the type of mentality that you wish everyone has.
无毛视频淎iden Milsom was our lead-off guy and he really set the tone for us. If he was on, we had a pretty good shot at winning. Roman Haskins and Danny O无毛视频橬eal round out our varsity roster and both are more than capable of popping off a 250 game at any time.
无毛视频淎nother senior, Jacob Johnson, literally never bowled before we started practice in November. Just an incredible athlete that continuously got better and better every time he threw. Anthony McCoy is our final senior and he was another one that was capable of doing great things when he got going.
无毛视频淟ast but not least, (junior) Lucas Deguia was another one that we talked into bowling last minute and continuously improved every match. Now, he is going to be heavily relied upon going into next year. We expect big things.无毛视频�
Riddell had plenty of coaching help along the way.
无毛视频淚 fancy myself a decent bowler and I did my best, but those guys from Manor Lanes were a huge help,无毛视频� Riddell said. 无毛视频淛immy Yex, who we met at the bowling alley once we started practicing, is a great bowler that provided the boys with expert advice on how to approach each shot that they took. His patience, guidance and dedication were instrumental to our success.
无毛视频淚n addition, Dave Show and his son Tyler Show from Manor Lanes were critical to our success for not only the use of their facility, but their expertise and direction that was given to the boys free of charge.
无毛视频淚无毛视频檇 also like to thank the LHSD administration for their support as we started something from scratch. Also, a special thank you to Jason Scott for not only supporting us as a sponsor, but donating a vehicle for us to use.无毛视频�
Riddell started bowling himself as a youngster.
无毛视频淚 bowled when I was a kid and then when I was in college,无毛视频� Riddell said. 无毛视频淭hen I started coaching basketball and doing all that kind of stuff, then had kids and bowling kind of got away from me.
无毛视频淚 got back into it about four years ago because my dad无毛视频檚 a bowler also. I got into his league and thought it was fun. I carried a 205 average when I left Mount Vernon after they closed. I went to Yough this year which is Connellsville无毛视频檚 home turf and I want to go to Manor next year.
无毛视频淚 have to throw out some credit to Connellsville无毛视频檚 head coach, Joe Soltis. He bowls in the same league as I do. He kind of gave me the push I needed to get this team going.无毛视频�
Riddell sees a bright future for the bowling team.
无毛视频淚 think we无毛视频檙e going to be pretty good next year, too,无毛视频� he said. 无毛视频淲e have a pretty good freshman coming up. It无毛视频檚 too much fun not to do it. It无毛视频檚 a blast.无毛视频�
Now when Riddell walks by the trophy case at Laurel Highlands, he can finally be proud to know there will be a piece of hardware in there for a section championship that he played an integral part of winning.