Players find bowling pins tough to tackle
Published 11:43 pm Wednesday, June 27, 2007
EVERETT – These guys certainly dominate on the football field. But their rate of success in the bowling alley isn’t nearly as imposing.
Members of the East and West football teams converged at Evergreen Lanes in Everett Wednesday afternoon. They took a break from practicing for Saturday’s annual East-West All-Star Game and tried knocking over pins instead of each other.
Based on a few first-hand observations, they’d better stick to football.
On adjacent lanes, Bothell High School graduates Luke Jones and Taylor Hudson had a laugh-filled competition with Marshall Lobbestael and Will Hunter of Oak Harbor and Zak Rydzak of Mariner. All of them are West teammates.
Hudson, a 6-foot, 235-pound linebacker/tight end, used an interesting bowling style which began with a powerful right-to-left approach, a hard lean to the right and a fast, spin-inducing release. His method yielded mixed results.
In Game 1, Hudson rolled a 93 – respectable, but a far cry from Lobbestael’s opening score of 145.
Hudson and dozens of other football stars enjoyed their time at the alley.
“It’s nice,” said Hudson, “because we’ve all been hanging out all week. We’ve gotten to know each other really well. It’s just fun to joke around.”
Hunter (6-5, 310 pounds) tried a new tactic after his standard bowling style stopped working. The lineman tried a 180-degree twist, between-the-legs toss. But instead of nailing pins, he got a dreaded gutter ball.
“I wasn’t bowling good the regular way,” said Hunter, “so I just tried something new.”
Needless to say, Hunter didn’t take his failure too hard. Maybe Lobbestael’s grotesque neon pink and yellow bowling shoes cheered him up.
Hunter switches to WSU: Hunter, who helped control the line of scrimmage during Oak Harbor’s Class 4A state championship run, is no longer headed to Eastern Washington University. He planned to walk on there but recently chose Washington State instead because the Eastern assistant coach who recruited him left the program. Hunter is excited to see what he can do at WSU, where he’ll room with Lobbestael. “I think it’ll work out better,” Hunter said.
True value: The East-West game isn’t just for fans. It’s a special chance for college-bound players to get a taste of what the future holds. “They’re helping themselves,” East head coach Bob Lucey said, “because … if they’re going on to play in college, and most of them are, they’ll be better prepared because they’re gonna play (NCAA) D-I recruits (this week).”
Scouting report: Tuesday evening, after going through three practices with the West and sneaking a peek at the East, West linebacker/fullback Anthony Kubin said his team appears to have an advantage. “From what I’ve seen, our (team) is working a little bit harder than the East side,” Kubin said. “Just the intensity from over here compared to those guys over there, it’s just a world of difference. We’re meshing together like family already and it’s only been three practices.”
