The Garfield G-Men girls’ bowling team followed up on a dominant showing in the 2024-25 season with another perfect season in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Tier, once again winning the league title by knocking down 3371 pins last Saturday at the Skylane Bowling Alley in Garrettsville.
“You always want to be on top,” said girls’ Coach Joe Brigham. “We were undefeated last year and went undefeated this year so this is something that they feel proud of and they want to keep that going. They don’t want to be the ones to start losing.”
The G-Men will compete to extend their season by one more week when they compete for a team state berth in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II district tournament at the Rebman Recreation Bowling Alley in Lorain on Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
“I would love to win it; we have won it four or five times in the district. I’d love to go there and win it, but my main goal is being in the top four,” said the 25-year coach.
Junior Joy Justice paced Garfield and won the tournament outright by shooting a 623, followed by junior Sierra Foy who knocked down 506 pins, senior Alexis Phillips scored a 501, senior Makenna Guyette fired a 458 and freshman Bella Wright delivered a score of 452.
Justice’s performance also earned her the MVAC Grey Tier MVP honors.
“She was throwing the ball really well,” said Brigham. “She has been throwing it well all year. She has had a couple of hot games this year, she threw a 268 once during the season but on Saturday she was right there. I couldn’t ask for a better anchor to have.”
Last Saturday, the G-Men girls soared to an early lead with a dominating first game, shooting an 842 and followed up with another dynamic performance in the second game by knocking down 861 pins.
According to Brigham, the G-Men girls were not leaving many pins standing, whether it was initially hitting a strike or converting spares, enabling them to build an early big lead. After shooting an 816 in the third game, the G-Men held a 448-pin cushion between it and Southeast heading into the Baker game series.
In five Baker games, Garfield scored 852 pins to cruise to another MVAC Grey Tier title.
Brigham credited the G-Men’s depth for a strong outing in the Baker series, as freshman Scarlett Adkins and junior Alexandra Garlich came off the bench to help the team maintain its firm lead in the Baker games.
On the boys’ side, the G-Men took fourth place in the MVAC Grey Tier tournament, scoring a total of 3154 last Friday at the Skylane Bowling Alley in Garrettsville.
“It was kind of rough,” said boys’ Coach Howard Moore. “A lot of the kids were feeling under the weather right now and it is tough getting them up to speed and up to par with everything. Hopefully next year, everybody comes back. That is the important thing, so we don’t have to start all over again.
Sophomore Jordan Portman led Garfield by scoring a 524, followed by junior Parker Broadwater who fired a 500, junior Colin Cupples knocked down 436 pins, freshman Colten Workman scored a 286 across two games, freshman William Thompson fired a 280 in two games, and freshman James Weaver scored a 115 in one game.
According to the 25-year coach, the team has often gotten off to slow starts in the first game this season and it was evident again as the G-Men only knocked down 718 pins in the first game.
Moore acknowledged that the G-Men left several spare opportunities unconverted, putting them in an early hole after the first game.
He credited his squad for improving their team scores throughout the next two games, as the G-Men bowled a 708 and an 823 to finish with a team score of 2321 pins, putting them in fourth place heading into the Baker series.
Garfield bowled an overall score of 833 through the Bakers, keeping it in fourth place, marking the second straight season they took fourth place.
Although it was a quiet ending to the season, Moore was confident in the team rebounding in its final season of the MVAC Grey Tier as all of their varsity starters should be returning next year.
“We are young but now all of these guys have varsity under their belts so I am hoping that this springboards to where they are actually ‘Hey we can do this,’ especially if they all work to get better in the offseason,” Moore said.
