Community

Solid performances win $500 youth scholarships

By DEREK J. LaRIVIERE, Times Correspondent
Published December 21, 2007

This past weekend's 15th annual S&J Youth Scholarship Tournament featured some terrific performances from bright talents at Spring Hill Lanes.

In the end, it was the consistency of William Holobinka that helped him dethrone two-time defending A Division champion Brandon Curley.

Holobinka tossed games of 221, 263 and 205 while competing during the 10 a.m. shift. What makes that string of games so impressive is that he entered the event with only a 162-average.

With a 689 scratch series and an 845 handicap series, Holobinka easily outdistanced the rest of the entrants as the only A Division bowler to top 800.

Katie MacKay took second in the top division. Her 797 handicap series 689 scratch was highlighted by a final game 271. The game showed the focus that makes MacKay an elite hurler on the lanes.

After nailing down her first three strikes in the third game, MacKay was distracted by a loud noise in the fourth frame. That noise caused her to knock down only one pin on herfirst ball.

Undeterred, MacKay followed up that ball by picking up the spare and running strikes off the sheet for a 271.

Curley followed up his string of top efforts in this tournament with a disappointing performance. Finishing 25th, he had games of 188, 238 and 186 for a 612 scratch series (660handicap).

The other division champions were Zack Trezise (B Division) and LeAnn Militscher (C Division). Each winner was awarded a $500 scholarship.

HYL Basketball: Six-foot-five Tyler Bergantino, playing in his first game of the season, helped lead Cortez Community Bank (2-0) to a 43-24 rout of the Forest Oaks All-Stars (1-1).

Bergantino's game-high 14 points highlighted a full slate of games last week in the Hernando Youth League. Cortez Community Bank continues to lead the standings in the junior varsity division.

The Dr. Michael Higgins team (2-0) currently leads the varsity division standings after its 44-31 victory last Saturday over Hernando Fire & Safety (1-1). In the losing effort, Hernando Fire's Bobby Conway scored a team-high 18 points.

The HYL star of the week was J.T. Simpson. In a 45-36 win over Midway Services (0-2) in the JV division, Simpson scored a league-high 23 points including three 3-pointers for Cemex (1-1). Josh Hughes led Midway with 14 points.

Another major star for the week was 10-year-old Breyon Wyatt. Playing in the beginner division for B&B Hobbies (1-1), Wyatt played his heart out in a losing effort. Although his team lost to Patriot Lending (2-0) 30-18, Wyatt scored 16 of the team's 18 points for the game.

Submit news, notes to kdixon@sptimes.com or call (352) 544-9480.

[Last modified December 20, 2007, 20:35:38]