Video: No. 1 Central, No. 21 Rummel reach LHSAA bowling semifinals

KENNER – After seven hours of bowling that began with half of the 32 best boys bowling teams in the state, two are left on the upper half of the bracket: top-seeded Central and No. 21 seed Archbishop Rummel.

The Wildcats and Raiders punched their tickets to the state semifinals Monday by winning three matches in a seven-hour span at AMF All Star Lanes.

Central and Rummel will face off in one semifinal April 4 at All Star Lanes in Baton Rouge. The other semifinalists will be decided when the bottom of the bracket bowls Tuesday at Acadiana Lanes in Lafayette.

Rummel – the lower seed in each of its matches – defeated Haughton 23-4 in the opening round, St. Paul’s 15-12 in the second round and Dutchtown 20-7 in the quarterfinals.

“We finally bowled to our potential as a team,” said Rummel coach Peter Shaffo. “All year long, I’ve been pushing focus. I feel like we bowled the best we’ve bowled.”

Rummel fired a season-high 1,215 game in the first game against Dutchtown as it jumped to a 7-1 lead with a 178-pin edge.

After the Griffins closed to within 10-6 in game two, the Raiders obliterated their season-best effort of an hour earlier with a 1,318 final game, including individual games of 230 or better by Andrew Gennaro (239), Josh Bares (254), Quin Cadella (244) and Ruben Gendron (233).

“If we wanted to win, we just had to keep going,” said Bares, who had a 258 opening game and finished with a 726 series. “Stress doesn’t get to me.”

Despite having three seniors in the top three positions in the lineup, it was a pair of sophomores who did the heavy lifting for the Raiders in the quarterfinals. Bares’ series was his first career 700, while Gennaro had a career-high 655 set.

Central topped South Lafourche 19-8 in the first round, Barbe 19-8 in the second round and Holy Cross 18-9 in the quarterfinals.

Holy Cross, the No. 25 seed, easily reached the quarterfinals with victories over eighth-seeded Airline (18-9) and No. 9 seed Teurlings Catholic (21.5-5.5), then held tough against the top seeds. The Tigers split nine of the 18 individual matches and lost team games by four pins in the opening game and one pin in the final game.

The individual highlight of the Central-Holy Cross quarterfinal came in the second game, when Central’s Michael Williston came within one shot of a perfect game. He left an 8-10 split on his 12th ball to finish with a 298 game, part of a 696 series.

The day’s tightest matches came in the second round. The Rummel-St. Paul’s and Shaw-Dutchtown matches were each tied 8-8 after two games, with Rummel clinging to a 6-pin lead and Dutchtown a 22-pin lead. In other words, the result of the final game would decide the match.

Luke Hightower’s 213 and Gennaro’s 211 in the final game sparked the Raiders to victory over the previously unbeaten Wolves.

“We just had to win,” said Bares, who had a team-best 617 series against St. Paul’s. “That was the mindset.”

Ty Quibodeaux keyed Dutchtown’s 17-10 victory over Shaw with a final game of 251, capping a 600 series.

Gage Perrin led the Eagles in the Dutchtown match with a consistent effort of 204-204-202 for a 610 set.

Shaw reached the second round after a 21-6 victory over Madison Prep.

BOYS GIRLS

Upper Bracket
Monday at AMF All Star Lanes, Kenner
First Round
(1) Central 19, (32) South Lafourche 8
(17) Barbe 20, (16) Catholic-BR 7
(9) Teurlings Catholic 19.5, (24) Lee Magnet 7.5
(25) Holy Cross 18, (8) Airline 9
(5) St. Paul’s 22, (28) Baton Rouge High 5
(21) Archbishop Rummel 23, (12) Haughton 4
(13) Archbishop Shaw 21, (20) Madison Prep 6
(4) Dutchtown 19, (29) Captain Shreve 8

Second Round
(1) Central 19, (17) Barbe 8
(25) Holy Cross 21.5, (9) Teurlings Catholic 5.5
(21) Archbishop Rummel 15, (5) St. Paul’s 12
(4) Dutchtown 17, (13) Archbishop Shaw 10

Quarterfinals
(1) Central 18, (25) Holy Cross 9
(21) Archbishop Rummel 20, (4) Dutchtown 7

Lower Bracket
Tuesday at Acadiana Lanes, Lafayette
First Round – Matches begin at 10:30 a.m.
(3) Central Lafourche vs. (30) Vandebilt Catholic
(14) South Terrebonne vs. (19) Denham Springs
(11) Lafayette vs. (22) Houma Christian
(6) Jesuit vs. (7) Acadiana
(7) H.L. Bourgeois vs. (26) Hammond
(10) East Ascension vs. (23) Holden
(15) Benton vs. (18) Lutcher
(2) Brother Martin vs. (31) Berwick

Second Round – Matches begin at 1:30 p.m.

Quarterfinals – Matches begin at 3:30 p.m.