District champions, SAC champions, district coach of the year, and a top 12 individual.
After qualifying number one in the district, setting a district 7 record with 3200 pins in three games and beating Lyman for the district title, the boys bowling team traveled to Boardwalk Entertainment Center in Orlando on Wednesday, Nov. 1 for the state competition.
The team placed fourth at the FHSAA state bowling championship after falling to Circle Christian 3-2 in the sixth round of the consolation bracket. This comes off the back of a strong season, finishing with a district record of 10-0. The team was led by seniors Jason Sanguinetti and James Drehoble, who qualified sixth for the individual contest and finished top twelve in the state.
“States is something where if you don’t get inside your own head, you can perform well,” Drehoble said.
Prior to states the team had already faced adversity after losing their first game at districts to Winter Springs and getting sent to the losers bracket. They didn’t let the early loss deter them, bouncing back and winning their next four matches against Oviedo, Winter Springs, and Lyman twice.
At the state tournament, the team was seeded third after the qualifying round. Hagerty secured a 3-0 victory over the Dr. Joaquin Garcia Bulldogs in the first round followed by a 3-0 win against Taravella. A 3-1 loss to Fort Myers would send them to the consolation bracket.
“We kept ourselves together at states, we kept fighting until the end, if someone messed up, the next guy had their back,” Drehoble said.
On the morning of Thursday, Nov. 2 Hagerty faced Merritt Island in the fifth round, in the consolation bracket where losing teams bowled to determine their final placements or get back to the final. Hagerty defeated Merritt Island 3-2 before falling to Circle Christian 3-2, with a combined score of 1097-1033, and finishing fourth in the competition.
“It’s stressful, especially the last day where we were facing Merritt Island. If you lose you’re done, and unfortunately that’s the way it ended for us. They gave it a good fight, I felt like we should have been in the final, I think they all knew that too,” said head coach Jacob Colquhoun.
This is the last season for Sanguinetti, Drehoble and senior Dylan Dunn. However, Drehoble remains in high spirits after falling short of the state title, and he is headed to North Carolina for the Storm Youth Championship.
“As a senior, I’m quite happy, I know my bowling career isn’t over. We did very well and that’s all I could ask for,” Drehoble said.
This season’s success was in part due to the talent of the team’s seniors. Even with several key players graduating, Colquhoun sees this as a learning experience for the younger bowlers and isn’t worried about the future of the team.
“It’s going to be tough to replace them–everybody else comes back though. We got the other five guys, three of which bowled a lot this year. If all five of those guys come back there’s only one senior so it sets us up moving forward,” Colquhoun said.
