By Anthony Lundy ‘21

The Brother Rice Crusaders had two competitions against Southside rivals. The first match was against the Leo Lions and the second match was against the St. Laurence Vikings. The Crusaders have had a rough year so far and needed two wins to boost the team in conference standings.

On February 23, the Crusaders faced off against the Lions. The varsity was led by the senior core of Josh Bell, Tony Lundy, and Brennan O’Malley. In the first game, the Crusaders took a demanding lead with a high game of 251 by O’Malley ending with a 623 series. Leading series came from Tony Lundy with a 717. For the first time this year, they averaged over 1,000 pins a game meaning everyone averaged around a 200 each game.

The JV team also swept Leo, led by senior Kevin O’Connell and freshman sensation Tom McMahon. Both players shot their personal best to boost the Crusaders to a clean sweep.

Later in the week on February 25, the Crusaders had a tough matchup against the St. Laurence Vikings. Both teams were neck and neck in the conference standings, making this matchup very important. The varsity team outplayed the Vikings 3058 to 2717 with Josh Bell scoring a 641 series and a high game of 246. Another leader for the Crusaders was Tony Lundy with a 771 series and high game of 289.

With this win, varsity jumped the Vikings in the standings to give them a cushion for the playoffs. The JV team took a nice win over the Vikings two out of the three games. They were led by Michael Lynch with a 504 series and Tom McMahon with a 534 series.

Senior night took place on March 3 against the Marist Redhawks. Both Crusader teams swept Marist with ease as varsity shot a personal best with a 3150 for three games. The JV team won their match with ease with George McElroy shooting a high of 192. The Crusaders have been bowling exceptionally well, so it should be a treat to see what is to come for the rest of the season.