by Nick Archacki, staff writer
After a rough start to the season, the Saegertown bowling team has advanced to the Ven-Craw quarter-finals by placing sixth of eight teams that could’ve advanced to the first round of playoffs. Saegertown was able to maintain its sixth place position with the help of a fourth place finish in the final regular season match at Buffalo Street Lanes in Franklin.
The teams that have made this years playoffs are Cranberry Maroon (No.1 seed), Conneaut Lake Blue (2), Meadville Red (3), Conneaut Lake Silver (4), Cambridge Springs Blue (5), Saegertown (6), Oil City Blue (7) and Cranberry White (8).
“It’s been a pretty tough year for us I’d say because we lost two seniors that helped us win the last two championships and losing that kind of talent has been hard for us to adjust to,” senior Michael Costello said. “Although, I’m very thankful that our two new bowlers, junior Scott Proper and eighth grader Alex Kightlinger, joined the team to fill our lost spots this year. They’ve both improved greatly from the first day they joined, and they deserve so much credit for being on our team and helping us make the playoffs.”
The Ven-Craw league competed in ten regular season matches between Nov. 2017 and Jan. 2018. The Panthers ended the regular season with a cumulative season total of ninety-five points, earning a spot in the playoffs by over twenty points.
In the individual standings, sophomore Nick Archacki and senior Michael Costello earned first and second of the eighty bowlers in the Ven-Craw league this year. Archacki won high average honors for the fifth consecutive year with a 212.58 average over eighteen individual games while Costello’s average was 208.00.
Moving forward, the Panthers have the opportunity to claim their place in the finals of the Ven-Craw league playoffs for the fifth consecutive year. “I believe we can do it again (win a title),” senior Michael Costello said. “We just have to have fun and psych out our competition. I believe we can three-peat and be the greatest team the Ven-Craw league will ever see.”
The quarter-finals will be held at Seneca Lanes on Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. The Panthers will face the Meadville Red team.
