Comet boys and girls heading to bowling state finals

By John Burbridge, sports@charlescitypress.com

FOREST CITY — How do you respond when you have a pack of hungry Huskies nipping at your heels.

“You’ve got to keep your composure,” Charles City junior Drew Mitchell said. “Not every shot is going to go your way. But this is a team sport. Guys are going to be there to pick you up, and you’re going to be there to pick them up.”

At the Class 1A Substate Bowling Tournament Tuesday at the Super Bowl, Charles City picked it up right from the start, taking the lead after the first round of individual scores (1,043) then following up with a 1,077 pinfall in the second round. The nearest competitor, Oelwein, was 64 pins behind going into the five-game Baker round.

If the Comets had given their coach Doug Bohlen at premature Gatorade shower at that point, he might have had a heart attack.

“Nervous? Sure I was nervous,” Bohlen said. “Especially after they later cut the lead to 22 pins.”

Led by Wil Eick and his big-breaking left-handed hook, Oelwein shot Baker scores of 224, 188 and 234, and seemed poised to upset the Comets for the second time in four days — the Huskies defeated Charles City in the final round of the District Baker Team Invitational held Saturday in Waterloo.

“In Baker games, anything can happen,” Bohlen said. “They strung a few Brooklyn strikes together … missing them just enough to get them.

“But you’ve got to give them credit. They seem to bowl their best at the end of the year.”

Yet the best was yet to come from Charles City. In the fourth Baker game, the Comets rolled a 237 to Oelwein’s 213. Then Charles City put the Huskies away in the fifth as Mitchell, Tyler Brockney and lefty Kaleb Ross fired three strikes in a row while Oelwein opened twice. Senior Brady Girkin almost made it four in a row, but left a solid 9 pin — really, the only true “tap” for right handers.

It didn’t matter at that point as the Comets finished with a 224, and won the tournament by 93 pins (3,185 to 3,092).

“They sure took care of business when they had to,” said a much relieved Bohlen, who will send two teams to the Class 1A State Finals next Monday (Feb. 22) at Val Lanes in Des Moines as the Comets girls team also won their Substate tourney, easily besting runner-up Oelwein 2,613 to 2,433.

“Our main objective was to try to be leading after the individual rounds,” said Charles City assistant coach Tyler Mitchell, who focuses primarily on the Comet girls team. “We’re a good Baker team, so I knew when we went into that round leading, we were in good shape.”

At the aforementioned Baker invite in Waterloo, the Comet girls were off when they got to the single-elimination bracket and were swept in the best-of-three quarterfinal series against Tripoli.

“We just worked on our spare shooting and team unity,” said Tyler Mitchell, older brother of Drew. “We still need to work on our spares. We got away with missing some here, but we won’t down there.”

Last year as a freshman, Macy Ross won the individual girls state title for the Comets. Drew Mitchell was state runner-up in boys singles, and the Comet boys finished third as a team.

“Since we both won the team events, all of us are going to bowling as individuals, too,” said Charles City senior Hunter Koebrick, who placed second to Eick in boy singles honors (480-456) at Substate, as  Mitchell (443) and Kaleb Ross (433) placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

“And if I finish runner-up again with one of my teammates beating me,” Drew Mitchell said, “that will be alright with me.”

Eick also earned high-game honors (275) after stringing seven in a row to start the second game of the individual round; Koebrick strung six to start his second game as his 264 was the next-best score.

Kacie Johnson of Oelwein earned girl singles honors with 409 two-game series, edging Charles City junior Mija Cotton (409). Ross placed sixth (370).

Senior lead-off man Brockney is looking forward to another shot at a state title.

“I feel we’re a much better team this year,” he said. “We have one of the highest team averages in our class, with only Maquoketa ahead of us.

“They’ll likely be down there, and we’ll be ready for them.”

Boys Team Results

1. Charles City — 3,185

2. Oelwein — 3,092

3. Tripoli — 2,819

4. North Fayette — 2,585

5. Forest City — 2,577

6. North Iowa — 2,236

Charles City Scores — Hunter Brockney 216-186 402, Tyler Brockeny 171-213 384, Kaleb Ross 225-208 433, Brady Girkin 184-202 386, Hunter Koebrick 192-264 456, Drew Mitchell 226-217 443.

Boys Singles — Wil Eick (OL) 480, Hunter Koebrick (CC) 456, Jaquar Espe (OL) 451, Drew Mitchell (CC) 443, Kaleb Ross 433 (CC), Spencer Armstrong (NI) 406.

Girls Team Results

1. Charles City — 2,613

2. Oelwein — 2,433

3. Forest City — 2,420

4. North Iowa — 2,383

5. Tripoli — 2,205

6. North Fayette — 1,592

Charles City Scores — Mija Cotton 191-212 403, Aryah Nelson 153-169 322, Madison Ross 162-173 335, Baili Girkin 143-156 299, Kate Sickman 184-165 349, Macy Ross 179-191 370.

Girls Singles — Kacie Johnson (OL) 409, Mija Cotton (CC) 403, Sydney Giesking (NI) 383, Jenna Haugen (FC) 375, Jenna Berschman (NI) 371, Macy Ross (CC) 370.