A nice win to end a four game slump was just what the doctor ordered for the FHC boys and girls bowling teams. Unfortunately for head coach Terry Metzner and his band of bowlers, Grand Rapids Christian ripped that prescription to shreds with the flip of a switch. When asked about his thoughts on the match, coach Metzner replied with a statement similar to a disappointed parent.

“I wish there were good details to tell you, but it wasn’t a good day on the lanes. We need to start picking up our spares at a higher rate,” coach Metzner said. 

Without picking up their spares, both teams (boys and girls) were not able to capitalize on much-needed points for both the individual matches and baker games. As a result, the boys team lost by a score of 28 to 2, while the girls team lost by a score of 29 to 1. 

Being the unofficial captain of the team, senior Tommie Payne fully agreed with his mentor and coach. In fact, Tommie went as far as to say that “we played pretty badly, and we have to work on getting better at the smaller details.” 

In order to make resounding strikes and wins a habit, the boys team must follow the three c’s of bowling: continue, challenge, and conquer. Continue, as in persist, challenge, as in compete, and conquer, as in win. 

Hopefully these next few rest days will work their magic, as the boys and girls will face off with an absolute powerhouse of a program in Lowell who had their girls team place 4th overall at regionals and their boys team place 9th. Whoever the opponent may be, the boys team will be starving for production—out of every single player—that mirrors Tommie Payne’s 179 and junior Nicholas Walls’s 161 individual scores from Wednesday. In terms of the baroness bowlers, they desperately need a confidence boost to get the bad taste of losing out of their mouth. Maybe it will be freshman Emalea Rooke to lead the charge. Maybe it will be fellow freshman Megan Hackerd’s turn to lead it. All that matters at this point is who will decide—on each team—to bend the Red Arrow back towards Ada to show Lowell where the real bowling champions of West Michigan are bred.