North Allegheny boys win program’s 1st WPIBL team title

By: Greg Macafee
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 | 8:51 PM

The North Allegheny Tigers took down top-seeded Butler in the WPIBL boys team finals on Wednesday at North Versailles Bowling Center to capture the first team championship in program history.

The Tigers, who were the No. 2 seed after the qualifying round, beat Butler, 2-1, in the championship match with game scores of 199, 163, and 167. The Golden Tornado bowled scores of 127, 171 and 148 in the final.

North Allegheny punched its ticket to the final by beating Hempfield, 2-1, in the semifinals. The Spartans took the first game 163-148, but the Tigers bounced back with two straight victories. They won the second game, 177-148, then won the final game by one pin, 164-163.

Butler won the No. 1 seed out of the qualifying round with a 2,706 pin total.

The Tigers topped Butler during the regular season to win the North section title with a record of 9-1. Butler finished with a record of 7-2.

Woodland Hills placed fourth (2,515), defending champion Central Catholic placed fifth (2,467) and Franklin Regional placed sixth (2,411).

Butler’s Rocco Rice owned the top series of the qualifying round with a 722 and had a high game of 266.

Central Catholic’s Will Frazier bowled the second-best series of the night with a 617. Blackhawk’s Ryan Aleman was next with a 585 and Central Catholic’s Steve Perekiszka was fourth with a 574.

The next step for 16 of the 18 boys teams will be competing at the Western Regional on Saturday, March 6 at North Versailles Bowling Center.

Hempfield, North Allegheny, Gateway, Blackhawk, Woodland Hills, Moon, Montour, Central Catholic and Freeport all automatically qualified for their event by winning their section.

Seven section runner-ups will also bowl at Regionals. The team standings from Wednesday’s competition determined who moved on. Greensburg Salem, Plum, Carlynton, Freeport, Gateway, Serra Catholic, Moon and Beaver Falls clinched those additional spots.

The girls WPIBL team championships will take place on Thursday at Sims Lanes in Big Beaver.

Greg Macafee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Greg by email at gmacafee@triblive.com or via Twitter .

Tags: North Allegheny