LAURINBURG — Putting two of its strongest games of the season on the board Thursday, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ bowling team moved up in the standings.
Capping their 15-match regular season, the Raiders defeated current Sandhills Athletic Conference leader Southern Lee High School, as well as Pinecrest High School.
Earning a total of nine points between the two matches, Richmond moved up the SAC standings one spot into third place. Also helping the Raiders was Hoke County High School’s drop from second to fourth place.
“We entered the last two regular season matches of the season with a plan knowing that we had to not only win both matches, but try and win big,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “The guys were prepared and executed that plan, which proved to help move us up in the standings.
“It was a great team effort today, but especially from Landon Taylor and Jabari Douglas,” he continued. “I switched around the lineup a little bit to match who was bowling best, and both of those guys did a great job closing out frames and setting the tone.”
Season-highs for Raiders in win over Southern Lee
Beginning the meet with Southern Lee, the Raiders bowled a season-high in strikes, total pin count, game average and single-game score.
Richmond defeated the Cavaliers 4-1 behind game scores of 155-170, 226-167, 201-199 and 226-187. Taking three of the four games, the Raiders tacked on the fourth point in the standings by winning the final pin count 808-723.
Averaging 202 pins per game, Richmond closed 34-of-45 frames (75.6%), its second-highest mark this season. The Raiders combined for 24 strikes and 10 spares.
Taylor led the way for the team, rolling a single-match season high eight strikes against the Cavs. He closed out two more frames via a spare to go 10-for-12 (83%). Moving to the anchor spot in the lineup, Taylor had three consecutive strikes in the 10th frame of the second game.
Three of Richmond’s other four bowlers finished with a closing percentage north of .750. Douglas was nearly perfect in the match, going 7-for-8 (88%) with five strikes and two spares.
Juniors Azariah Daniel and Owen Hancock were both 6-for-8 in their frames across the four games. Daniel had four strikes and two helpers, while Hancock added three strikes and three spares.
Senior Landon Summerlin ended the match 5-for-9 (55%), adding to the big lead with four strikes and a spare.
Richmond sweeps Pinecrest in finale
Keeping the momentum going against the Pinecrest Patriots, Richmond controlled the match from start to finish for a 5-0 win.
Scores in the sweep were 155-111, 159-101, 147-108 and 164-132 for a final tally of 625-452. Richmond connected for 16 strikes, 10 spares, closed 60.5% of its frames and averaged 156.3 pins per game.
It was Douglas who took the lead on the scoresheet this time, as the senior bowled a single-match season-high six strikes in the win. Adding a spare while also bowling one game in the anchor spot, Douglas went 7-for-10 (70%).
In the 10th frame of the fourth game, Douglas rolled consecutive strikes and was one pin shy of the turkey.
Taylor and Summerlin each rolled three strikes in the win, with Taylor adding three spares and Summerlin contributing two more. The two combined to close 11-of-17 frames against the Patriots.
Daniel (two strikes, three spares) and Hancock (two strikes, one spare) rounded out the team’s efforts.
The Raiders (8-7) will enter the SAC championship tournament as the No. 3 seed and will start against No. 4 Hoke County. The match will be Thursday at the Sandhills Bowling Center in Aberdeen.
