SOUTH PLAINS LANES

champs Stephen Planer & Caleb Goehring

         Stephen Planer and Caleb Goehring captured their first JBT titles in exciting JBT TX-NM Conference action at Lubbock's South Plains Lanes.

         Planer snuck into the fifth and final position for the stepladder finals, then completely dominated in his four matches.  He opened with a  226-172 win over Dan Romero.  The Oklahoman then defeated Nathan Shock 213-181, and followed with a 255-182 win over William Entsminger to reach the title game.

        Brad Pierce took over the top seed after game 6 and hung on throughout matchplay, and Planer's semifinal win set up an interesting situation: we've had lots of friends play each other for titles, and a few teammates as well (the two bowl for the successful West Texas A&M team).  However, this might be the first time we've had two roommates play for the title!  In the match, Pierce struggled early, but Stephen also slowed down from his previous pace.  Brad made a great move to keep the match close, but in the end could not catch all the way up, and Planer's 192-180 gave him his first career win, and likely gave Pierce extra housekeeping chores for a while.

      First-time JBT bowler Patrick Middlebrook opened up the handicap division stepladder finals with a 240-220 win over Tim Baribeau.  Angela Walls then began her quest for a third consecutive JBT title with a 193-174 win over Middlebrook.  Jeremy Larance then stopped the red-hot Walls 228-222 to reach the title match.

     Top seed Caleb Goehring had put on one of the best handicap division performances of all-time during the day, with the 10th highest 5-game score in JBT history, and 3rd highest 8-game total (+477) in JBT history- awesome!  Caleb was able to finish off his dream day with a 237-179 win over Larance for his first JBT title.

    Thanks as always to Jim and the crew at South Plains for their terrific job hosting us. $1,310 in scholarships were awarded to juniors of all ages and averages- want in on the fun?  Come on down to the next JBT event, it's as simple as that!