MENDOTA — The Oregon boys bowling season was kicked off with a nearly perfect 299 game in the first game of the season at the Mendota Invite on Saturday, Nov. 9 at IV Super Bowl in Peru. Junior RJ Keene rolled the 299, leaving a solid 10 pin in the final shot of the first game as part of a 1,131 team game.
Oregon was in second place as a team after the initial 4-game individual format behind last year’s 13th place IHSA finishers from Morton High School. After an additional 10 baker format games, Oregon was still in second place with a 5,923-score entering the stepladder finals. Unfortunately, the Hawks dropped the semifinal match play contest to LaSalle-Peru and finished in third place on the day.
Individually the Hawks were led by third-place medalist, senior Gavvin Surmo, with a 915 series (264, 204,191,256) followed by Keene in sixth place with a 840 series, Ethan Smice in 10th with a 817 series, Caleb Brooks with a 748 series and Matthew Stahl with a 723 series.
The JV boys finished as champions following an exciting 2-1 match play stepladder finals with tournament leader Morton. Oregon’s JV also entered the stepladder finals in second place behind Morton, but the JV Hawks were able to defeat both LaSalle-Peru and Morton enroute to the tournament win.
The JV was led by Caleb Ehrler in second place individually with a 754 series (200,156,190,208), followed closely by Zakk West in third place with a 735 series, Ivan Hernandez 670 series, Wyatt Dunbar 595 series and Diego Hernandez 576 series.
