North Allegheny seniors earn redemption with WPIBL championship

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, February 20, 2021 | 9:01 AM

A couple of pins cost North Allegheny’s boys bowling team a title two seasons ago, so the Tigers made certain this year’s championship match wasn’t as close.

North Allegheny took down top-seeded Butler, 167-148, in the finale of a three-game series to win the WPIBL team finals Feb. 17 at North Versailles Bowling Center and capture the first team championship in program history.

NA won the first Baker game, 199-127, and Butler won the second, 171-163.

The celebration was worth the wait for NA seniors Dylan Scheidler, Joey Lydon, Andrew Cook and junior Jeb Jorden, who were in the team’s lineup two years ago as well.

“They were definitely there to win it when we made it to the finals,” NA coach Bill Jorden said. “The guys really remembered the taste of losing two years ago. They were really proud of themselves.”

Their next step will be competing in the Western Regional on March 6 at North Versailles Bowling Center.

The WPIBL championship event started with 18 schools before Butler (2,706 pins), North Allegheny (2,650) and Hempfield (2,571) advanced to the tournament bracket.

Cook led NA with a 569 series in qualifying, followed by Scheidler (542), Jorden (517) and Lydon (508). Noah Sostmann, Marc Sostmann and Gavin Rush combined for a 514 series as the team’s fifth bowler.

Scheidler, who has a college offer to bowl at Robert Morris, ranked second among all WPIBL bowlers this season with a 223 average. Jeb Jorden, who is the son of the coach, ranks fifth at 210.

The WPIBL semifinals and finals use the Baker format, which emphasizes team play rather than individual success. All five team members combine to bowl a game. The first bowler is responsible for frames one and six, the second bowls frames two and seven, and so forth.

In the semifinals, North Allegheny lost the first game to Hempfield, 163-148, but won the next two, 177-148 and 164-163, to take the series.

This time, the one-point game went in North Allegheny’s favor. However, go back two years, and the Tigers lost in the WPIBL finals to Franklin Regional, 161-160 and 156-155.

“It was great to be able to get back to the championship this year and be on the other end of it this time,” said Jorden, who is in his fourth year as coach. “It was exciting.”

This was a challenging season for WPIBL teams facing the coronavirus pandemic. There were no fans allowed, some athletes missed events because of quarantine, and NA’s bowlers were among those wearing masks during competition.

The Tigers also had to thin their roster, cutting from 25 to 15. Of those, only seven typically traveled for road contests because of indoor gathering limits.

“We normally have a very large varsity team,” Jorden said. “We had to cut the numbers down to meet the requirements that our league had set for us.”

But adjusting and adapting is one of the skills Jorden stresses as coach.

“With bowling, it’s a mental game,” he said. “We have to work on our mental sharpness. If you don’t strike or you do split, that’s one ball, that’s one frame. You start over and adjust.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: North Allegheny