LAKEVILLE, IN. – The LaVille Bowling team continues to make history. The Lancers rallied from sixth place to fourth place to earn a spot in the Michigan City Regional. Though LaVille entered the final round prior to the step-ladder finals in sixth place, some crucial spares and late-game strikes were key points to leapfrog over Mishawaka High School and Mishawaka Marian to earn a spot in the finals. “We started out the team side of the Sectionals a little slow in the first two games but as the boys started to settle their nerves they began a great run of games,” said LaVille coach Kevin Kubsch. “The boys were making good shots and getting strikes but what really carried the day for them was their ability to make spares and put us in a position to make the top four. “When we got to Game 11 we were sitting in 6th position,” continued Kubsch. “The boys really reached down and threw amazing games, 154 and 204. The boys went around Marian and Mishawaka and finished in 4th just three pins ahead of the Mishawaka Boys.” According to Kubsch, the boys bowled a very good Rochester Team in the Step Ladder Finals and fell roughly 50 pins behind Rochester. That fourth place sectional finish qualified LaVille for the Michigan City Regionals. At the Michigan City Regional, Kubsch and the LaVille coaching staff made a small lineup change that put a pep in the Lancer step. “We started out slow again,” said Kubsch of his team’s early regional games. “The first couple of games we shot 149, 148 to start out and we made one small line up change. We took Lowell Heminger and put him in the fifth spot. He really came through in the clutch. He was throwing some great shots. In his first appearance he went strike, strike, strike, nine count that catapulted us to a 185 game. According to Kubsch, as the regional moved along, the Lancers couldn’t find their mojo. “We struggled in game four with a 124,” said Kubsch. “We missed a lot of easy spares. We had to pull them together. It was still early on in the 12-game set, so we talked about calming down. What ended up helping them was that we told them one shot at a time. Just take one shot at a time.” In the sixth game, LaVille did have a couple of open frames, but had a nice series of strike, strike, spare, spare. Kubsch said that the seventh and ninth frames were open, but Heminger ended up shooting a double and an 8 to finish with a 187. “That sixth game was a great game to get us back on track,” said Kubsch. “At that point, someone said that we were sitting in ninth place. We don’t really want the team to know what place we are in at that point. We just want them to concentrate on bowling.” Then as the 12-game round moved near the end, the Lancers seemed to find its groove. And according to Kubsch, Heminger was anchoring the comeback effort. “In the seventh game, we had some opens and one split, but we still shot 192,” said Kubsch. “Lowell came in and went strike, strike, and seven-count that helped push us in that seventh game. In games eight and nine, we rolled a 204 and 200. In each one of those games had one open, but still broke 200. In game 10, someone told us that we were sitting second or third. We ran into a little trouble, but still finished with a 176 . We went strike, strike, strike, and seven-count. Lowell was anchoring in on that. “In the 11th game, we shot our third 200 game, with a 209. We had two splits and an open, but we had six strikes in that game for the 209. In the 12th game, we shot a solid 180. We finished open in the 10th but it was still solid overall. It was at that point we found out we qualified third along with Penn, Highland, and Rochester. Overall we shot more 200 games than any other team in the regional. It was a huge game and we were able to move on into the step ladder finals.” Kubsch says that LaVille opened against Rochester in the step ladder finals. And, the Lancers ended up defeating the Zebras after shooting a 161-154. The Lancers ended up beating RHS by about 15 pins to advance to a meeting with Highland. “We met Highland,” said Kubsch. “We ended up shooting 191-179 and lost by five pins.” In the championship match, Penn ended up beating Highland for the regional title. With that third place finish, LaVille advanced to the Fort Wayne Regional at Pro Bowl West on January 28. All the action begins at 2 p.m. Kubsch noted that LaVille’s improvement has increased its pin total by 180 pins from the sectional to regional. “It really was a solid performance all day from Ryan Riddle, Andrew Wolford, Sean Kubsch, John Andert, and Lowell Heminger,” said Kubsch. “And Paul Clayton came in a couple of games and threw some solid frames for us. “First you look at in just three years the amazing development from the kids,” continued Kubsch. “We go from sitting at the bottom in our first year and we add two years to that and we are headed to semi-state. These kids just keep amazing you each day. Their work ethic, asking the right questions, asking about placement, all the nuances. They are creating this environment. We have gotten better every week. We are continuing to trend upward. Sky’s the limit for this group of kids. Myself and the other coaches are so proud of this group of kids. It’s not about coaching, it’s about how they have built a program here. We have just been the directors. They are excited!” LaVille also had three qualifiers that participated in the individual portion of the regional. “They were a little nervous coming in that kind of environment,” said Kubsch of Lowell Heminger, Ryan Riddle and Jaedyn Shaw. “They competed hard. It was a learning experience for them. They will be back next year. They are doing a good job of being on that side of the state tournament run. They are bowling against some of the best in that state that have been bowling for a long time. They all made us proud.” In the end, the final pin count for the top four teams, Penn had 2,134, Highland 2,130, LaVille 2,120, and Rochester, 2,105. Those four teams advanced to the Fort Wayne Semi-State on January 28.