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’Cats come blasting back

Marshalltown boys’ bowling team recovers from slow start for runner-up

T-R PHOTO BY STEPHEN KOENIGSFELD • The Marshalltown boys’ bowling team poses with its runner-up banner and trophy Wednesday after the Class 3A state meet at Plaza Lanes in Des Moines. Zachariah Liskowiak holds the trophy in front while, from left: Ray Wiegand, Carson Potter, Richie Thomas, Joshua Arment and Kamrin Chizik hoist the banner.

DES MOINES — The Richie Thomas “Jethro’s Speech” will go down as one of the top pep talks in Marshalltown High School history.

Heck, it might have even rival President Thomas J. Whitmore’s inducement before leading the U.S. military to fight off an alien horde in Independence Day.

Nevertheless, Thomas gathered the troops at the top of the seventh frame in the second round of individual matches, and sent one last message to his fellow bowlers Wednesday at the Class 3A state tournament at Plaza Lanes.

“Promise not to laugh, but our team eats a lot,” Thomas said. “We’re a very food-motivated team, that’s no doubt. And I [asked head coach] Roger [Taylor Sr.], it’s Jethro’s [after the match], right? And he said, ‘Yeah.’ So I said, if we win, he has to pay for the meal.”

Taylor Sr. agreed, and the match was on. The Bobcats went on to strike nine more times and snag seven spares to erase a 130-pin deficit to third-place Davenport North at the end of the match series.

T-R PHOTO BY STEPHEN KOENIGSFELD • Joshua Arment celebrates after collecting a strike Wednesday at the Class 3A state bowling meet at Plaza Lanes in Des Moines. Arment placed sixth overall, medaling and leading the Bobcats to a second-place finish as a team.

Thomas’ boost at the end of the first half of Wednesday’s Class 3A state meet set in motion enough energy and encouragement to push the MHS boys’ bowling team to a second-place finish, just 83 pins back of state champion Dubuque Hempstead.

The “Jethro’s Speech” exemplified everything the MHS bowling team was all year long: A carefree, talented and borderline goofy group of individuals who gelled together through the final frame.

The Bobcats were knotted with the Wildcats at 2,055 pins in third place, trailing second-place Cedar Rapids Prairie by 10 pins and first-place Hempstead by 157.

But as the Baker games wore on, Hempstead refused to falter. The Bobcats shot 10 pins better than their Bakers average (201) on the season, coming up just shy of another state title.

The conclusion of the season was as fleeting as a train in the night; it came and faded away before Taylor Sr. even knew it.

T-R PHOTO BY STEPHEN KOENIGSFELD • Riche Thomas celebrates emphatically after recording a strike Wednesday at the Class 3A state bowling meet at Plaza Lanes in Des Moines. Thomas helped the Bobcats regroup in the second round of individual matches as the Bobcats went on to take second at the state meet.

“We put a lot into this, we put a lot into this whole season, and for it to end in the matter of a couple hours, it was over,” Taylor Sr. said, tears welling in his eyes. “I can’t fault anybody on our team. Everybody had their hearts on their sleeves. We got fired up there, and if we could’ve gotten fired up a little sooner, we could’ve caught up to those 80 pins a little sooner.”

Despite the second-place effort, Taylor Sr. said there was nothing to look back on and think ‘what if’ about. The Bobcats bested their season match average of 3,096.8 pins with a 3,111 while escaping a raucous Davenport North team, catching a wavering Cedar Rapids Prairie squad and coming just a handful of frames here and there from snatching up Hempstead.

Joshua Arment led the way for the Bobcats as he did a week prior at the district meet. The junior’s mark of 451 was a cementing moment for Arment, as he joked about failing to contribute to the state team the past two years.

Arment said on Tuesday he was always so solid at the district meets, helping the Bobcats to three consecutive state meets, but failed to perform in Des Moines by not having his match scores count toward the team points and sitting the Bakers out.

However, with a team-high 245 game and 451 series, Arment enacted his revenge on Plaza Lanes and was named a state medalist with a sixth-place finish.

Thomas accredited a lot the team chemistry to years of bowling and working together.

“It’s been really good,” Thomas said. “I’ve known them all my years of high school. I’ve bowled with Zachariah [Liskowiak] since my freshman year. I’ve worked with the rest of them at Totem [Bowl]. It’s good to have people you know very closely and bowl closely with. That helps to do better.”

Liskowiak, the lone senior on the varsity squad, bowled a strike on his last roll for the Bobcats. He had a 372 series, tying Kamrin Chizik on the afternoon. Carson Potter came through with a 323 series and sophomore Ray Wiegand had a 433. Thomas finished out the season with a 423 series.

As fast as the season came and went for Taylor Sr. and the Bobcats, the MHS head coach already has thoughts about a state title quest in 2018.

“Next year the goal is to get the boys and girls to state,” Taylor Sr. said. “I’ve already got my wheels spinning on what to do for them to do over the summer, and then prep them for the season. I’m not going to let these kids down by not being caught up on technology. I’m going to fill their plate and let them eat off their plate. See, they’re food motivated, so all these food references work.”

The Bobcats will more than likely have new digs come next season. In April, Totem Bowl will begin renovations to have a full restaurant, as well as new computers on the lanes, new seating areas for bowlers and new televisions for different display needs.

Class 3A State Meet

At Plaza Lanes, Des Moines

Team Standings — 1. Dubuque Hempstead 3,194, 2. Marshalltown 3,111, 3. Davenport North 3,072, 4. Waterloo West 3,064, 5. Johnston 3,022, 6. Cedar Falls 2,984, 7. Cedar Rapids Prairie 2,951, 8. Des Moines Roosevelt 2,916.

Individual (Top 10) — 1. Justin Lanser, Sr., HEMP, 480; 2. Alex Diercks, Sr., Linn-Mar, 470; 3. CJ Bakoylis, Sr., DN, 468; 4. Cody Beck, Jr., HEMP, 459; 5. Kalen Rios, Sr., ICW, 457; 6. Joshua Arment, Jr., MHS, 451; 7. Lucas Galloro, So., CRP, 450; 8. Noah Cheever, Sr., HEMP, 441; 9. Tristan Corcoran, Fr., WW, 438; 10. Carter Lundgren, Sr., JHN, 436.

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