The Reeths-Puffer girls bowling team went into Saturday's O-K Green Conference Postseason Tournament in a neck-and-neck battle with Caledonia for the league championship.
The Rockets trailed the Fighting Scots by two points in the conference standings. The team that took first place in Saturday's tournament would get 10 points and second-place would get eight, so obviously R-P needed to finish on top to earn at least a share of the overall title.
The Rockets did just that.
Rowan Bluhm, who won All-Tournament and All-Conference honors.
They battled Caledonia all day, down to the final frames, and ended up winning the tournament with a 2,936 score, just 30 pins ahead of Caledonia, at Sherman Bowling Center in Muskegon.
That left R-P and Caledonia sharing the overall conference title with 37 points apiece in the final standings.
With the pressure on all day, R-P Coach Karla Buchan told the players to ignore the scoreboard and just pay attention to what they had to do.
But the players ignored her. They were up to the challenge, and were not intimidated by the daunting competition from the Fighting Scots, according to the coach.
Brook Buchan, who won All-Conference honors.
"I originally told the girls to quit watching the board, but they were like, nope, they wanted to match them frame-for-frame," Coach Buchan said. "Everything Caledonia did, they were determined to answer, and that's what they did."
The championship means a lot to the Rockets, particularly since they are the first R-P bowling team - girls or boys - to win a conference title in the history of the program.
"It's just indescribable," Coach Buchan said. "It's a first for Reeths-Puffer, the first time a (conference championship) flag will go up for bowling in our arena. For it to be these girls and this team - they just jived so well together and filled in the gaps when they needed to - it just means everything ."
The Rockets won their championship as a team, with four standout seniors - Brook Buchan, Hailey Johnsen, Rowan Bluhm and Ella Mattson - taking turns playing the top role all season. A handful of underclassmen also performed very well on a consistent basis, and it all came together when it mattered the most.
Hailey Johnsen, who won All-Conference honors.
"In every possible way, it was a success," Coach Buchan said. "The seniors know this is the epitome of team success, and everyone, including the underclassmen, helped us earn this spot."
Bluhm finished with the best combined score from the preseason and postseaaon tournaments and won All-Tournament honors. Mattson finished 10th in combined scores for the two tournaments and was also All-Tournament..
Buchan, Johnsen and Bluhm won All-Conference honors while Mattson was honorable mention All-Conference. 