Hoffman takes monumental MSL showdown

Rumor had it there was a lot more blue than usual hanging around Hoffman Estates High School this week.

Another rumor had it there was a desire to have more yellow hanging around Schaumburg High School during the same period.

All there was at Schaumburg was an announcement made during the afternoon. Maybe all of the support showed in the numbers in blue and white that were camped out behind the lanes Hoffman's and Schaumburg's bowling teams occupied Thursday afternoon.

It was the meeting of two teams locked in first place with identical 72-0 records, the highest number of points won this late in the season in Mid-Suburban League history.

Hoffman ended up winning 7-2, giving the Hawks a 5-point lead.

"I knew we could pull it out," said Hoffman sophomore Lisa Papeck. "We had trouble in the third game."

"It was extremely important to win," said the Hawks' Heather Knobloch. "We worked so hard. We're team players."

"This surprises me," Saxons' anchor Sam Kelly said. "We were more individuals than a team. Hoffman bowled their butts off. They bowled more as a team than individuals."

Both sides had trouble keeping up the pace in the third game, which Schaumburg won 912-879.

"The third game was a grind-out," said Saxons coach Mark Kelly. "The first game, going into the 10th frame, we were dead even. We lost by 35 pins. They bowled outstanding in the second game."

Hoffman not only won game two 1,094 to 969, it also set the school record for most pins in a single game.

"They knew Schaumburg was good," Hawks coach Dan Pfligler said. "We needed to be strong every game and stay on our spares. We knew we had to bowl at a high level and we bowled successfully."

Leading the way for Hoffman was Natalie Cortese with a 686 (246, 225, 215) and her sister Amanda who rolled a 654 (215, 254, 185).