The Reeths-Puffer boys bowling team is finally reaching its very significant potential, at the most important point of the season.
As a result, the Rockets are Division 2 regional champions and have qualified to compete in the state finals.
The Rockets, with an experienced and skilled starting lineup of seniors, had some bumps in the road in the regular season and underachieved.
They started to show real signs of life at last week’s O-K Green Postseason Tournament, however, when they leapfrogged their way into second place in the final conference standings.
The Rockets ham it up with their regional championship trophy.
Then R-P put it all together on Thursday, easily winning the regional championship by beating 12 other teams at the Division 2 tournament at the Westgate Bowl in Grand Rapids.
The Rockets had a final score of 3,491, well ahead of second-place Cedar Springs, which totaled 3,323.
Sparta finished in third place with 3,297, with Northview (3,276) and Greenville (3,267) rounding out the top five.
R-P will now compete in the 16-team Division 2 state finals on Feb. 27 at the Century Bowl in Waterford.
“We started the season very strong in December, but then struggled a bit in January and early February,” said R-P head coach Craig Alderink. “The team finally bowled yesterday like I knew they were capable of all season long. All five boys bowled well. It was a complete team performance.”
R-P bowler Carter Hekkema
Ironically, the Rockets gained their biggest edge in baker games, the area they struggled with the most in recent competition.
There were eight baker games in the tournament, and R-P gained a lot of points over second-place Cedar Springs in three of them. R-P had a 232-167 advantage over the Red Hawks in the second baker game, a 217-166 edge in the third and a 201-174 advantage in the seventh.
“Our team had struggled with their baker games in recent weeks, so it was a huge boost to start out strong in the first four bakers,” Alderink said. “We followed that up with four more solid bakers and had a nice lead going into the regular games.”
There were two regular games, and the Rockets bowled extremely well in the first one, totaling 1,015 pins, which was 117 more than Cedar Springs. They went on to roll a nice 944 total in the second regular game to sew up the championship.
“In the first regular game, we were matched up with Sparta, which was in second place at the time,” Alderink said. “Our boys rolled the tournament high game and increased their lead by over 100 pins. We were then able to finish it and clinch the victory with a really nice final game.”
R-P bowler Karsen Boeskool
In the end, it all added up to a great day for a Reeths-Puffer team that kept battling all season and finally put it altogether, despite the earlier frustrations.
The five Rockets who bowled on Thursday were seniors Tanner Bahr, Ryleigh Beebe, Karsen Boeskool, Liam Copenhaver and Carter Hekkema. The other team members are Knox Estepp, Colten Geisler, Peyton Estepp and Sean Brennan.
“I told the boys at the beginning of the day that our goal was to average 190,” Alderink said. “I knew this was a difficult, but attainable goal. We ended up with an average of nearly 194, over nine pins per game better than the second-place team.
“This was our best and most complete day since winning the 2025 GMAA championship.”