ABERDEEN — Thursday was a tale of two matches for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ bowling team.
Competing in their seventh Sandhills Athletic Conference dual-meet of the winter, the Raiders split their two matches with Union Pines High School.
The meeting with the Vikings was also senior night, as the Raiders recognized two seniors — multi-year starter James Eason and first-year bowler Tobey Lunceford.
In the opening match, Richmond secured a 4-1 victory. But the Raiders followed that with a 4-1 loss to Union Pines despite some close games and strong performances.
“The guys started really well today and made the pins fall when they needed to,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “Landon Summerlin had a great day and he stepped up and bowled part of the second match in the anchor spot for the first time. We just came up a little short in the second match.
“Senior night is always special and we had two great seniors this year,” he added. “James has been with the program for a couple of years and has been one of our leaders this year. Tobey was a great addition this year and I wish them both luck on their future endeavors.”
Between the two matches, the Raiders had a combined closing percentage of .655 (57/87). Summerlin was nearly perfect, setting a new personal best .900 closing percentage (18-of-20).
Also setting season-best numbers were Lunceford (33.3%) and sophomore Hayden Wheeler (70%), both of whom made their first appearances.
Smooth sailing for Raiders in first match
Using five bowlers, the Raiders won three of their four games to begin the day and added another point by total pin count. Scores were 202-149, 136-162, 174-133 and 147-143 for a final of 659-587.
Richmond rolled 16 strikes and 11 spares, closing 27-of-43 frames (62.8%). The Raiders averaged 164.8 pins per game in the win.
Eason and Summerlin had matching lines of five strikes and two spares apiece, with Eason bowling in anchor (7-for-11). Summerlin went 7-for-8 in his frames, missing a perfect tally by one pin in his first frame.
Wheeler impressed with a .750 closing percentage (6-for-8). He had three strikes and three spares.
Juniors Jabari Douglas (50%) and Landon Taylor (37.5%) also contributed to the win. Douglas had a strike and three spares and Taylor added two strikes and a spare.
Richmond edged by single-digit pins in second match
Trying to complete the comeback in the second match, Richmond came down to its fourth game but fell short by five pins. Game scores were 148-162, 217-156, 175-194 and 125-158, which resulted in a 665-670 loss.
Despite rolling a team season-high 21 strikes, Richmond only picked up nine spares. The Raiders closed 30-of-44 frames (68.2%) and averaged 166.3 pins per game.
Summerlin bowled the first game in the No. 4 slot and had two strikes before moving to the anchor. He finished the match by closing nine of his final 10 frames (11-for-12 overall), which featured a duo of turkeys in the 10th frame in the second and third games.
Eason also kept the Raiders in the match, closing 7-of-8 frames with three strikes and four spares. Taylor added six closed frames in eight tries, which included four strikes and two spares.
Rounding out the closed frames were Wheeler (1-for-2), Douglas (3-for-8) and Lunceford (2-for-6), which were both strikes for the senior.
The Raiders (9-5) will wrap up their regular season next Thursday with one match against Scotland High School in Laurinburg at 4 p.m.
Below are photos from Thursday’s bowling senior night taken by sports editor Kyle Pillar.
