The Reeths-Puffer boys bowling team obviously never tossed in the towel.
The Rockets entered the season with a skilled and experienced lineup, and very much expected to contend for the O-K Green conference championship.
That never came to pass, however. R-P had a season full of ups and downs, finished the dual match season with a 5-4-1 conference record, and was tied for third place in the O-K Green standings.
But there was still one more conference event to go, and the Rockets were ready.
They finished in second place at the O-K Green Postseason Tournament on Friday in Grand Rapids, beating out four other teams.
All-Conference bowler Liam Copenhaver
That allowed R-P to finish in second place overall in the final conference standings, behind champion Jenison.
The overall standings are based on a rather complicated formula. One-fourth is based on the O-K Green Preseason Tournament, where the Rockets finished second. One half was based on the regular season matches, where R-P finished third, and another 25 percent was based on the postseason tournament.
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Jenison won the postseason tournament with 3,688 points, followed by Reeths-Puffer with 3,200, then Byron Center (3,008), Mona Shores (2,915), Caledonia (2,822) and Muskegon (1,767).
The Rockets needed to finish ahead of Mona Shores on Friday to take second place overall, and they did that with ease. The Sailors finished in third place in the final conference standings.
“We did not get as many wins in the regular season as we would have liked, but our strong conference tournament finishes carried us to the overall second place finish,” said R-P head coach Craig Alderink. “I was hopeful that we could compete with Jenison for the championship, but they were just a little too strong for us and ran away with the title again.”
All-Conference bowler Tanner Bahr
R-P’s top bowler on Friday was Liam Copenhaver, who finished with a 594 series. Karsen Boeskool rolled a 539 series, Ryleigh Beebe came in at 518 and Tanner Bahr had a 508.
Copenhaver, Bahr, Boeskool and Carter Hekkema made the All-Tournament team, which was selected based on bowlers’ two best games in the preseason tournament and two best in the postseason tournament.
Copenhaver and Bahr earned first team All-Conference honors, based on their season averages. Beebe and Boeskool were honorable mention All-Conference.
“Congratulations to our five seniors on their conference awards,” Alderink said. “This was a very successful season for them individually.”
The Rockets will compete in regionals, the first step of the MHSAA state tournament, on Thursday and Friday.