91-0: Donegal drops Northern Lebanon to complete undefeated L-L League bowling season

At the start of the high school bowling season, Donegal coach Paul Stubenrauch put together a checklist of accomplishments for his team.

One item was to win the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Three title. The Indians checked that off Monday.

Thursday, they added something that wasn’t on the list by completing an undefeated regular season in the league with a 7-0 win over Northern Lebanon at Clearview Lanes.

“I knew we would be very competitive,” said Stubenrauch of his thoughts entering the season. “To get on a run like this is just unbelievable. The goal coming in was to compete for the section. And this was the furthest thing from my mind.”

Donegal vs. Northern Lebanon - L-L League bowling [photos]

The undefeated league season is just the third in the L-L, with Elizabethtown going 91-0 in 2015-16 and Northern Lebanon 28-0 in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.

The Indians managed to do it in their first season in the league and third overall.

“We have a great coaching staff and a great nucleus of young bowlers,” said Stubenrauch. “A lot of hard work that they put in; a lot of spare-shooting.”

In Northern Lebanon, the Indians (91-0) were bowling the section’s second-place team and arguably one of the league’s best as well, with the Vikings coming at 73-11.

Indeed, the first game was a tight one, with Donegal holding a six-pin advantage heading into the 10th frame. But the Indians finished strong and won 1,033-1,001. Northern Lebanon lost that one despite bowling well over its average of 939 pins per game.

“Their coach, Paul, is total class, and so are all their kids,” said Vikings assistant coach Bill Samuels, filling in for absent head coach Josh Evans. “I love bowling against them. Yeah, I want to win, but, basically, you can’t ask for anything better.”

Perhaps the Indians were a bit miffed at the closeness of the first game as they put together one of the league’s highest games of the season in the second, a 1,156-1,021 win. Junior Mason Cusack and sophomore Dalton Sauder each rolled nine strikes to start the game.

Cusack finished with a 267 and match-high 740 series.

“I just show up and bowl, focusing on bowling,” said Cusack about any excitement of bowling for a perfect season. “This is the second 300 run I had. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish it off.

“I’m definitely happy how I performed.”

Sauder also faltered in the 10th, settling for a 277 and finishing with a 708 series.

“One of the main successes for our season was it seemed like every match one or two guys really stepped it up,” said Stubenrauch. “And today, it was Mason and Dalton.”

The teams were back to a more competitive game in the third, but an all-strike frame by Donegal in the seventh led to a 1,053-920 win.

After rolling a league-high 3,300 series Tuesday, the Indians closed their week with another impressive one, 3,242. Northern Lebanon totaled 2,942.

“It feels good,” said Cusack of the undefeated season. “It helps a lot when your team’s energy is good and you’re bowling good, and everybody’s happy.”

Cooper Palmer, the lone senior in the starting five, added a 633 series for Donegal, which came in averaging 1,019 pins per game, second in the league behind Elizabethtown’s 1,025.

For Northern Lebanon, sophomore Heath DiNunzio, one of seven bowlers from Palmyra as part of a co-op, led the way with a 648 series. Junior Jayden Minnich had a 605.

“What’s scary is (Donegal) is in the same boat we are; we only have one senior,” said Samuels. “And the majority are sophomores. So we’re going to be beating up on each other a lot.”

Also Thursday, Penn Manor (51-40) wrapped up the second team tournament spot for Section One with a 5-2 win over Hempfield (44-47).

The Comets came in needing to win just one game. They were led by Kayla Wasche with a 616 series. Priest McKenzie had a 668 and Blake Garmen a 622 for the Knights.

Among other top series Thursday, Josiah Casler had a 748 and Jason DeChristopher a 708 in Conestoga Valley’s 7-0 win over Lebanon. The Buckskins (61-30), who are the reigning league champions, finished third in Section Two and out of the L-L team tournament.

And Wednesday, Lampeter-Strasburg defeated Elco 7-0 to give Columbia the second tournament spot in Section Four.