On Jan. 28 Dallastown bowling won their second straight YAIAA championship to finish off their strong regular season. 

Dallastown defeated York Tech 4-1 to clinch the title. 

Last year Dallastown also won. They lost two of their best bowlers, Codie Tempe and Josh Wolfram, to graduation but still felt confident in those who were returning. 

Coming into the new season the team felt they could replicate last year’s success

“We kept high expectations since we were county champions last year, and we all had the ability to do it again,” Mason Tauzin, a senior middle on the team, said.

With high expectations came some minor struggles at first. 

“I struggled to find consistency, and at the start of the season, I believed I was underperforming, but my coaches helped me fix what I was doing wrong, and it helped me improve a lot,” Connor Ebbert, a senior anchor on the team, said. 

Even with some obstacles, the team maintained a steady pace starting 11-0.

That 11-0 record didn’t come easily. Coach Justin Zelger credited the team’s resilience as the main reason the record was the way it was. 

“There were several matches that we were down early and they held steady, bounced back, and improved as the match went along,” Zelger said.

As the season moved on, Dallastown continued to succeed, focused on maintaining this success. 

Maintaining has its challenges but the Wildcats knew how to stay focused.

“We would do silly things at practice and have competitions, things to lighten the atmosphere up a little bit and have fun,” Zelger said. 

Dallastown took their first loss of the season to Spring Grove. After the loss, they didn’t look back. Winning out the rest of the season. 

They finished the season 13-1 while leading the state in average with 1,053 pins per game. 

In the championship, Dallastown had to face an opponent they knew well, York Tech. A team they had beaten 3-2 earlier in the season. 

Beating York Tech was a big goal for Dallastown during the season. 

“Winning against Spring Grove and beating York Tech both times was definitely one of our main focuses,” Ebbert said. 

Dallastown was able to defeat York Tech and repeat as league champions. 

After all the build-up of the season and repeating as YAIAA champions, there was a lot of relief that they didn’t overestimate themselves 

“There was definitely a sense of relief. As we were going through the season, there seemed to be more of an I hope they can do this sense for me,” Zelger said. 

Looking back on the season, the team felt like they met the lofty expectations they had.

“Would’ve been great to go undefeated, but you can’t always be perfect,” Ebbert said.