Top senior bowlers in Vermont were ranked after the state bowling competition over the weekend. They are (left to right) Will Hughes (S. Burlington), Josh Kennedy (Fair Haven), Will Patnoe (Craftsbury Academy), Orion Casavant (Essex) and Blake Bliss (Randolph).
COLCHESTER – The Craftsbury Academy (CA) bowling team wrapped up their impressive inaugural varsity season with a nail-biter of a loss to third-ranked Windsor in the quarterfinal round of the Vermont High School Bowling State Championships over the weekend.
Weather moved Saturday’s scheduled matches at Twin City Lanes in Barre to Spare-time Lanes in Colchester this past Sunday. The sixth-seeded Chargers received a bye in the first round and lost to Windsor 39-29 in a bowl-off after both teams tied after the fourth game. Top seeded Brattleboro and second seeded Essex squared off in the championship match, with Brattleboro claiming the state title with a dominating performance. Their head coach, Will Bassett, was also named Coach of the Year. Charger head Coach Connor Bean, who is also the VPA co-director of high school bowling, will become the sole VPA director going forward with George Rooney of South Burlington stepping down. Bean is also the athletic director at CA and helped create the 12-team high school bowling division in Vermont that included the Charger team. CA had four runner-up finishes throughout the season and finally got over the hump with the program’s first title last month. CA’s Will Patnoe set the single-game school record earlier this season and finished with an 181 average as one of the top five seniors in the state. Jacob Marquis finished with a 163 average for the Chargers as one of the top five freshman in the state.
The high school bowling season will officially wrap up this coming weekend as Patnoe and his Vermont teammates square off against the top seniors from New Hampshire in the Senior Classic at Maple Lanes in Claremont, N.H.
Five freshmen bowlers in the state were ranked after the state bowling competition over the weekend. They were (left to right) Connor Fredholm (Hartford), Jordan Tucker (Essex), Leah Rodgers (Randolph), Jacob Marquis (Craftsbury Academy) and Jayden Blake (Essex).
Strong Leads Rice to Division I Finals
SOUTH BURLINGTON – Jackson Strong and his Rice Green Knights boys’ hockey team are headed to the Division I state championship game after a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over fourth-seeded South Burlington over the weekend.
Strong, a senior, is the son of Hazen Union alum Jeff Strong and grandson of legendary Wildcat coach Jack Strong. Strong is a multi-sport athlete at Rice Memorial, being named to the Vermont All-State soccer team this past fall and was also named the Division I boys’ hockey Player of The Year this past week by the coaches. Rice and second-seeded Essex will square off for the state championship on Wednesday night at 7 p.m., at Gutterson Fieldhouse. Rice is the top-ranked team in Division I with a 13-4-3 record and split their two games against Essex in the regular season.
