Monroe County will be well represented this Saturday at the IHSA boys bowling sectional to be played at Bel-Air Lanes in Belleville.

The Columbia boys bowlers placed fourth in regional play this past weekend at West Park Bowl, which was just good enough to advance to the sectional round as a team. Joining the Eagles are three bowlers each from Waterloo and Gibault, who advanced as individuals.

Playing without their leading bowler, three-time state qualifier Cam Touchette, it took a total team effort for Columbia to advance.

“Cameron is done for high school bowling, unfortunately,” Columbia head coach Keith Jeffery said. “But we still have depth. The biggest key was to get the team to think more as a team. We have the talent, but needed some outward focusing.”

Columbia’s Brandon Perjak was in the running to advance as an individual but his scores were starting to fall off in the regional, Jeffery said.

“I substituted for him the last game, thereby eliminating his chance to advance individually.  I tried to fire the team up, letting them know we needed to step it up the last game, overcome the 35-pin deficit and qualify as a team so Brandon’s sacrifice would not be in vain.”

As it turned out, the Eagles picked up 74 pins to surpass Belleville West and advance as a team.

Cade Stein led the way for Columbia with a total of 1,284 pins, followed by freshman Justin Budde at 1,257, Perjak at 1,031, Hayden Erpenbach at 976 and Sean Jerome at 813. Nathan Bostick added a 644 total and sophomore substitute Stephen Auer bowled a 187 in his one game.

The top four teams and top 10 individuals advance out of the regional, with Waterloo’s Andrew Reifschneider, Zack Reichert and Ryan Matzig and Gibault’s Connor Meehan, John Harbaugh and Matt Wolf doing just that.
Reifschneider rolled a total of 1,326. Reichert rolled a 1,254 and Matzig rolled a 1,221. Meehan totaled 1,301 pins, followed by Harbaugh at 1,223 and Wolf at 1,213.

Waterloo coach Matt Beck was happy with the performance of his entire team as well as the three advancing individuals.

“Their focus and determination are clearly evident, as everyone could see at Saturday’s regional,” Beck said, adding that Waterloo’s six-game total of 993 at the regional was 100 pins above its team average for the season. “As the oil pattern on the lanes began to break down, we stayed ahead of the transition very well and were able to make great shots all day.”

Gibault head coach Tom Fanara said that although his team finished seventh, he was proud of everyone’s efforts.

“Special recognition to Riley Menard, who started the second game with the first nine strikes, then a stubborn seven pin stopped his perfect game. Riley finished with a 279 game, which is high for the team this year,” Fanara said.