After going 2-0 and starting the season off strong, the boys experienced their first and hopefully last defeat of the season.

Wednesday afternoon, the boys traveled to Spectrum Lanes [the home lanes of Byron Center] where they faced off against Byron Center—one of the biggest and toughest competitions in their conference this year. In the previous article, coach Tarabek stated that this game was going to be a mental challenge and test the boys to an extreme they haven’t experienced yet. He circled back to that statement by saying, “It was their toughest challenge to date but they performed very well. The team spirit seemed to be positive although we lost the attitude.”

For the most part, the team played really well but not enough to come out on top. In Tarabek’s eyes, two players stood out the most: Peyton Price and Owen Milanowski. He said, “Peyton paced the team and when Owen was inserted [in the game] he did his best to keep things going.”

Peyton had major competition and despite his best efforts, his opponent was skilled and sadly lost by 22 pins in the first game and 10 pins in the second. Although Peyton bowled extremely well, as he broke 200 twice, he commented on his unfortunate individual loss by saying, “The loss showed me that in order to make it to states individually, I need to work hard. It will be a challenge to get there but it is a challenge I am willing to take on.”

At Spectrum Lanes, there was a total of three games going on. Next to FHC’s lanes, East Kentwood was extremely loud and it influenced the boys’ performance. Every time a bowler on East Kentwood’s team got a strike, the bowler would yell, “here comes the…” and the rest of the team behind that bowler would respond, scream at the top of their lungs, “BOOM!” This cheer was distracting; however, the boy’s thought it was funny so they began to copy their chant which in turn, boosted the FHC’s energy.

This loss to BC wasn’t a great reflection of the talent this team possesses; however, it served as an opportunity to know what they need to work on for future games. Coach Tarabek said, “The big thing continues to be filling frames and missing spares. Those aspects of the game need to improve if the team has any thoughts of winning the OK White Conference and doing well at regionals.”

Overall, the boys performed well but in the next match, they will perform even better. The boys’ next game is next week at Park Center lanes on December 27. They will face off against multiple opponents in the Christmas Baker Tournament.