Teams’ outlooks

Fitch

Coach Dino Balkan said his boys would like to make another run at the state title. The team consists of seniors D.J. Learn, Corey Cox, John Greenlund, Chris Mauro and Tim Ponzi and juniors Kyle Sharisky, Matt Cox and Kyle Condrick, who leads the team in average with 226 (including a 300 game), followed by Cox’s 219 average, Sharisky’s 208 and Learn’s 205.

“The boys know it will take a team effort to repeat our accomplishments from last year,” Balkan said. “Reaching the state finals last year was new and exciting to them and finishing fourth was even better. With so many strong teams in our area it will take every strike, spare and total pin-count to advance to districts.

Howland

The girls team — led by Hannah Vandergrift and Kelly Dungan — wrapped up a 17-5 season. Said coach Anthony Bernard: “At the beginning of the year, the goal was to be a qualifier to the district. Now, leading up to sectionals, the team is trying to improve to reach this goal. If the seniors come out strong at sectionals, the teams goal should be met.”

The boys team went 8-14.

“This year has been very tough for the boys as they are a young group trying to learn how to win in an extremely difficult division,” Bernard said. “Likewise, sectionals will prove to be a tough tournament with so many quality teams in the area.”

Boardman

The boys finished the regular season 13-5 and won the Federal League and are looking forward to capping off their season with a return to Columbus. Top bowlers are: sophomore Jake Wagner (211 avg.), junior Jonathan Tiberio (209), senior Dylan Langer (208), sophomores Nick Tancabel (206), Kevin Hynes (202) and seniors Robby Childs (199), Brandon McClain (195) and Cory Winebold (189).

Lowellville

“The boys team has gained some experience against some good teams on different lane conditions and the girls are vastly improving with a very young team, lead by a very talented senior girl,” coach Mike Dohar said of Kristen Zurcher.

Staff report