Rolling along
LH bowling team flourishes in inaugural season
Kenny Riddell was a three-sport athlete who earned all-section honors in football, basketball and baseball his senior year at Laurel Highlands and went on to play college basketball at Waynesburg and then at California University of Pa.
Since then the 2004 Laurel Highlands graduate has gone on to coach a variety of sports while teaching at his alma mater, including boys and girls basketball, football, baseball and cross county.
One feat had always eluded him, however.
鈥淭hrough all that I鈥檇 never won a section title,鈥� Riddell said.
He finally fulfilled that aspiration this year as head coach of a team in its inaugural season.
Meet the Laurel Highlands boys bowling team, winners of the Southeast Section title in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League (WPIBL).
The Mustangs finished first in the six-team section with a 9-1 record, beating out Connellsville, which also was 9-1, on a tiebreaker.
Not bad for a first-year team.
The Mustangs鈥� starting five were junior Aiden Milsom (198 average), seniors Jack Johns (198), Gavin Ainsley (192.7) and Roman Haskins (188.9) and junior Danny O鈥橬eal (186.6).
Riddell looked back on how the idea of a bowling team at Laurel Highlands came to fruition.
鈥淚t all kind of started in my classroom,鈥� Riddell recalled. 鈥淚鈥檓 a bowler and I was just talking with some of my students about it. A few of them said that would be really cool if we had a school team. They ended up looking it up online. This was about four years.
鈥淚t got off the ground with just an in-house spring league, all LH kids. We got a really nice turnout, anywhere from 35 to 50 kids. We started off at Mount Vernon and did that for about three years but then they closed.
鈥淎fter that I was wondering do we even want to keep doing this? Then the kids who were seniors this year asked if we could try and get in on the WPIBL, which is not part of the WPIAL but is a part of the PIAA. I said alright.鈥�
Riddell pushed forward.
鈥淚 had been thinking about doing that for years and then I finally said let鈥檚 give it a shot,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ven though I know we鈥檙e not going to get a whole ton of funding for this, I thought that鈥檚 OK, we鈥檒l fundraise ourselves, we鈥檒l figure it out.鈥�
Not long after the team was formed and ready to compete.
鈥淚 give all the credit to the kids and their parents,鈥� Riddell said. 鈥淭hey did a great job of getting the money we needed to get in the league. The guys at Manor Lanes put up the entry fee money and we got in a section with Connellsville, Norwin, McKeesport, Belle Vernon and Yough. It was a really competitive section, especially between us and Connellsville. Belle Vernon was really good also.
鈥淲e ended up squeaking it out and winning the section our first year in the league.鈥�
League matches consist of three games with five bowlers from each team.
鈥淵ou get two points for every game you win and one point for total pins,鈥� Riddell explained. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the tiebreaker. You bowl everybody twice. You have five bowlers and you can sub out at any time, but you just can鈥檛 reinsert until the next game.
鈥淚t was a cool experience. We just took it one game at a time. We were very senior heavy so we鈥檒l be losing a lot going into next year.鈥�
The Mustangs followed a solid regular season with a strong showing in the postseason.
鈥淭hey did just a phenomenal job,鈥� Riddell said. 鈥淲e won the section and made the WPIBL playoffs. We didn鈥檛 make it to the finals but we had an automatic bid to the next round, the Western Pa. Regionals and placed third there. That earned us the bid to states. There were only six teams from Western Pa. there. We competed out in Lancaster and did pretty well, finished eighth overall in the state. The boys just bowled their butts off.鈥�
Riddell lauded his bowlers.
鈥淲e had two senior captains, Jack Johns and Gavin Ainsley,鈥� Riddell said. 鈥淛ack is one of those smooth lefties that makes something really hard look really easy. Gavin is our anchor in every sense of the word. He鈥檚 a great bowler, but more importantly, he鈥檚 the rock of our team. You can鈥檛 tell if he threw a great ball in the pocket or a nasty split. It鈥檚 the type of mentality that you wish everyone has.
鈥淎iden Milsom was our lead-off guy and he really set the tone for us. If he was on, we had a pretty good shot at winning. Roman Haskins and Danny O鈥橬eal round out our varsity roster and both are more than capable of popping off a 250 game at any time.
鈥淎nother senior, Jacob Johnson, literally never bowled before we started practice in November. Just an incredible athlete that continuously got better and better every time he threw. Anthony McCoy is our final senior and he was another one that was capable of doing great things when he got going.
鈥淟ast but not least, (junior) Lucas Deguia was another one that we talked into bowling last minute and continuously improved every match. Now, he is going to be heavily relied upon going into next year. We expect big things.鈥�
Riddell had plenty of coaching help along the way.
鈥淚 fancy myself a decent bowler and I did my best, but those guys from Manor Lanes were a huge help,鈥� Riddell said. 鈥淛immy Yex, who we met at the bowling alley once we started practicing, is a great bowler that provided the boys with expert advice on how to approach each shot that they took. His patience, guidance and dedication were instrumental to our success.
鈥淚n addition, Dave Show and his son Tyler Show from Manor Lanes were critical to our success for not only the use of their facility, but their expertise and direction that was given to the boys free of charge.
鈥淚鈥檇 also like to thank the LHSD administration for their support as we started something from scratch. Also, a special thank you to Jason Scott for not only supporting us as a sponsor, but donating a vehicle for us to use.鈥�
Riddell started bowling himself as a youngster.
鈥淚 bowled when I was a kid and then when I was in college,鈥� Riddell said. 鈥淭hen I started coaching basketball and doing all that kind of stuff, then had kids and bowling kind of got away from me.
鈥淚 got back into it about four years ago because my dad鈥檚 a bowler also. I got into his league and thought it was fun. I carried a 205 average when I left Mount Vernon after they closed. I went to Yough this year which is Connellsville鈥檚 home turf and I want to go to Manor next year.
鈥淚 have to throw out some credit to Connellsville鈥檚 head coach, Joe Soltis. He bowls in the same league as I do. He kind of gave me the push I needed to get this team going.鈥�
Riddell sees a bright future for the bowling team.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e going to be pretty good next year, too,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have a pretty good freshman coming up. It鈥檚 too much fun not to do it. It鈥檚 a blast.鈥�
Now when Riddell walks by the trophy case at Laurel Highlands, he can finally be proud to know there will be a piece of hardware in there for a section championship that he played an integral part of winning.