The Wildcats traveled to Troy and Escape Lanes to face off against the Troy Athen Red Hawks. The Red Hawks only loss this season is when they visited the Wildcats at Collier Lanes earlier in the year. The match up on paper was close and it was even closer on the lanes.
The Wildcats jumped on the Athens team winning both baker games 234 to 193 and 223 to 125. Armed with a 10 to 0 advantage, the Oxford team headed into head-up play. The Wildcats and Red Hawks traded strike for strike and spare for spare and split the 10 matches. The Athens team won game one on the shots of Stephen Roslund’s 265 game. The Wildcats won 3 matches but lost the game 1005 to 961. The score now was 13 to 6 in favor of the Wildcats. The head-up matches in game two seemed to go back and forth from the start. Nate Alexander finally secured his match in the 10th frame with a spare and a strike. That gave the Wildcats 1 of the 2 points they needed for the win. The Wildcats would get the 2nd point needed in the last frame when Sr Captain Jacob Chouinard tossed a 9 count to win his match 193 to 190. Chouinard also won his first match 209 to 165. The final score was 15 to 15 but the Wildcats won the match due to the baker totals tie breaker rule. Also securing ever so important points today for the Wildcats were Eli Wright 188 to 173 and Jacob Kemenah 209 to 201.
“This was as tough a match as we have had in many years. We knew coming here wasn’t going to be easy and we’d needed to bowl well to beat this team. The toughness of our bowlers came through today and the hard work they’ve put in paid off. We have another tough one on Monday versus the Dragons.”
Today’s win runs the boy’s record to 14 and 0 in match play and secured the OAA Red Division Championship. It is the 11th year in a row the Wildcats have won the division.