Huskies split with Buckeye Local, girls place second at Buckeye 8

Prior to competing in the Buckeye 8 this week in St. Clairsville, the Harrison Central Husky bowlers faced the Buckeye Local Panthers at St. Clair Lanes in St. Clairsville.

The Husky boys defeated the Panthers by a narrow margin in the last contest between the two. However, the Panthers evened the score, defeating the Huskies 2,089-1,946.

Harrison Central’s top boys scorers, all in the 300s, were Aiden Pettit with 394, Aaiden Albaugh with 340, Wyatt Durbin with 314 and Colston Kirkpatrick with 312.

The Lady Huskies were challenged by the Panthers as well. Jaylie Byers led Harrison Central with 327. Tayla Thompson rolled 313 and Sophie Bland added 282. Mercedez Cooper and Braylee Thomas contributed 239 and 232 to complete the scoring.

Harrison Central came out on top of the closely played game, defeating the Buckeye Local girls 1,680-1,669. Buckeye Local was led by Brianna Kovalski with 357 and Olivia Takach with 327. Regan Wilson and Rilee Dutton added 286 and 255.

The Huskies returned to St. Clair Lanes Jan. 13 for the Buckeye 8 Challenge. Nine schools participated with both boys and girls teams: Buckeye Local, Barnesville, St. Clairsville, East Liverpool, Union Local, Beaver Local, Brooke, Martins Ferry and Harrison Central.

The Lady Huskies finished second as a team. Harrison Central had three bowlers earn All-Buckeye honors. Thompson rolled 493 to place third among 48 competitors. Bland finished sixth with 479, and Byers rolled 465 to place eighth.

Buckeye Local senior Olivia Takach claimed first-place honors with 513. East Liverpool’s Lani Rudibaugh finished second. Kailin Hughes of St. Clairsville took fourth with 486. Brooke’s Kaylee Tuttle finished fifth with 479. Trisha Johnson of Barnesville placed seventh, and teammate Payton Bell also finished with 465.

Husky senior Aiden Pettit placed 15th of 54 competitors with 541. Cory Kirkpatrick finished 19th with 517. The boys team finished eighth with a score of 2,851.

The boys sectional tournament will be held Feb. 10 at St. Clair Lanes. The girls sectional will be held Feb. 11 at Boulevard Lanes in Dover.

“We’re (OVAC) like 25 teams, all over the valley, reaching from as far away as Minerva,” said Ken Campanizzi, who organizes the OVAC Buckeye 8 games. Campanizzi said he has been involved in sports for many years.

“I love being around kids,” Campanizzi said.

“We have the local schools here, (St. Clair Lanes) 16 teams in the morning. They will try to qualify for districts. Six teams will qualify. They will also take the top six bowlers of the non-qualifying teams to district as well,” Campanizzi said.