NA Boys Post Impressive Win Over Butler In Season Opener

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The North Allegheny Tigers opened up the 2020-2021 season with match play against section rival, the Butler Golden Tornadoes.  NA and Butler have jockeyed over the past few years for the WPIBL North Section title.  Last year, Butler bested NA in both hard fought head-to-head competitions, leaving the Tigers with a bitter taste and hungry for a rematch.

The Tigers jumped to an early lead spear-headed by the performance of junior Jeb Jorden.  Serving as the lead-off bowler, Jorden’s wild turkey (six strikes in a row), also known as a six-pack, helped establish and set the tone for game 1.  Joining Jorden at the top of the leaderboard was senior Dylan Scheidler, whose seven strikes in the final seven frames was enough to lead all Tigers with a score of 246.  Joining the mix was south-paw senior Joey Lydon and his 209.  Butler made a gallant run at the end of the first game mustering 967 pins led by sophomore Eric Devore’s 259.  This was the highest game thrown by either team during the entire match but was not enough to take on the streak of Tigers working like a well-oiled machine.

Game 2 went much the same way as the first as the Tigers settled into the hunt.  Working in tandem Lydon (249), Scheidler (219), Jorden (206) were accompanied by senior Andrew Cook.  Cook’s 243 was enough to heat the downdraft and dissipate any possible Golden Tornado damage.  NA bested Butler by over 280 pins in game 2 alone.

With the match victory already in hand, the Tigers continued their pursuit to sweep the Tornadoes and win all 7 match points.  With a strong finish in the ninth and tenth frames, Jorden and Scheidler finished game 3 with a 232 and 226, respectively.   NA took home the third game, 1024-960.

Scheidler led all bowlers with a 691 series (230-game average) followed by Jorden (225), Lydon (217), and Cook (212).  All eight-varsity bowlers saw action today and provided key contributions when called upon during the match.  In the end, NA knocked over 3181 pins compared to Butler’s 2735.

On the girl’s side of the action. North Allegheny has an abbreviated three-member team led by senior Alexis Robinson.   Last season, Robinson qualified for post-season action in the WPIBL Singles tournament.  Her 145-171-152 (468 series) in today’s match will serve as the scaffolding necessary to achieve this goal again this season.

The next match for both the Boys and Girls teams is this Friday against another section foe, the Shaler Titans.  Due to COVID-19 restrictions, only coaches and varsity athletes are permitted to attend these weekly competitions.  The games are being streamed on Facebook Live through the NA Bowling Facebook page.