Vikings Bowling Season Opener Success against West Allegheny!!!

The Hopewell Vikings Bowling Team started off their regular season with a matchup against West Allegheny Indians at Kennedy Lanes on Wednesday.

The Viking Boys won a decisive match 7-0 to start their season. Vikings were led by senior Captain, Daniel Earley, with a career high 287 game and career high 651 series. Earley threw 13 strikes in a row in the match, including 10 straight to open the second game, falling just short of a perfect “300” game in a moment that had all in attendance on their feet and exploding with applause with every strike. Earley was followed closely all night by several other Vikings contributing career best performances. Sophomore Aidan Heppner shot a career high 592, sophomore Ayden Gault made his varsity debut and shot a career high 527, junior Brayden Mowry broke 500 for the first time in his varsity career with a career high 518. The match also saw the varsity debut for two freshmen Vikings – Max Butter and Nolan Huoy also contributed to the Viking win in their first match as Vikings.

The Viking Girls lost a close match 2-5 to start their season. This may seem like a defeat, but this is the first time the Viking Girls have scored a win in their first match of the season in any of these young women’s careers at Hopewell.  This is a terrific start for a ladies team that struggled to field a full team in the early part of last season. The Vikings were paced by senior Captain, Jenna Willy shooting a 390 and senior Captain, Marissa Platko contributing a 318 series. Special congratulations go out to senior Desiree Shepherd who celebrated her first game of breaking 100! Sophomore Danica Jackson made her Viking debut. The Viking women came within 11 pins of winning the match and will look to improve on that result as the season progresses.

In JV action, the Vikings won a decisive 7-0 match and were paced by seniors Jack Meyer with a 437 series and Cade McIlvain with a 425 series. The match featured the Vikings debut of several bowlers with very bright futures for the team.

All in, the Vikings had 23 bowlers participate in the opening match with a few more bowlers unavailable. It’s a huge win for the bowling program to see this many students participate.

Seniors Daniel Earley and Jenna Willy were the recipients of the weekly MVP award. The Vikings will be in action next week on Wednesday vs. Montour at Crafton-Ingram Lanes and Thursday vs. Quaker Valley for their home opener at Sheffield Lanes.

Roll Vikes!