Daily Press Staff Report

It turns out the sweep of the West Texas High School Shootout by Artesia High School’s top two bowling teams was a sign of things to come for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs opened the regular season of the New Mexico High School Bowling Association (NMHSBA) schedule by traveling to Espanola Dec. 7 and Albuquerque Dec. 14. The openers have seen the advanced division Artesia No. 2 team back up their Texas win Nov. 23 with tournament titles at both New Mexico events.

The Espanola tournament saw Artesia No. 2 come out strong with team games of 971 and 904, averaging 187 a game for their 10 qualifying games. Junior Brenden Depew led the ‘Dogs with games of 241 and 189 for a team leading 430 series. Jace Miles 215-177, Chase Collins 203, Damian Lopez 202 and Mason Jeter 178 completed the advanced team’s effort. The Baker game format of NMHSBA tournaments consists of seven games to determine a champion. With strong games of 198-190-211-196 the Bulldogs still found themselves in a battle with Espanola Valley. Needing a strong game to ensure victory, the boys in orange rolled a tournament high 237 to secure the win.

The Artesia No. 1 Advanced team took fourth place and were paced by Junior Ayden Gomez with games of 214-212, Brent McIntire 185-181, Payton DeMerritt 186 and Hagen Murph 180.

The novice division had the Bulldogs capture another first-place trophy, with their strong 155 pin victory. Leading the Bulldogs were Destiny Powell 169, Jody Roberts 169, Mia Duran 167 and Daruis Mendoza 161.

The intermediate division saw many of the Bulldog’s new bowlers experience their first tournament action. With third, fourth and fifth place finishes, Artesia coaches Ken Clayton and Laura Weddige were extremely proud of the team’s effort.

“What is nice about coaching our new bowlers and having them buy in to the program and the game like they do, is that they never realize that they are better than they are supposed to be at this time,” said Clayton. “It’s fun to watch.”

Other AHS bowlers scoring well in Espanola were Axel Hartley 195-165, Ayden Dean 188, Talyn Pacheco 185, Alejandro Bahena 173, Diego Molina 166 and Maggie Morris 158-157.

The Silva Invitational saw part two of the Advanced division Artesia No. 2 versus Artesia No. 1 battle. “As I have said before, the only reason they are Artesia #1 and #2 is that we have to be able to tell them apart in the standings,” said Clayton.

Artesia No. 1 came out rolling with team games of 978 and a season high 1,012 for a qualifying series of 1990, averaging 199 for their 10 games. Leading the Artesia No. 1 charge was Junior Brent McIntire with a big 257 game and 469 series. Payton DeMerritt 238-175, Hagen Murph 200-187 Ayden Gomez 201 and Kambry Collins 189 completed the leading effort.

Artesia No. 2 opened with qualifying games of 920 and 885 for an 1805 series and found themselves sitting in second place, 185 pins behind their teammates heading to the seven game Baker format of the tournament. Brenden Depew again led team #2 with his 210 followed by Damian Lopez 205, Mason Jeter 200 and Chase Collins 198-195.

“The ironic part of the bowling format and us having so many kids are that we are the only sport where we end up competing against each other every week,” said Clayton. “We compete hard but we recognize that we are one team, Artesia High School.”

With baker games of 225-191-210 and 187, Artesia No. 2 had pulled within reach of the title and with a strong 193 final game, took the title over Artesia No. 1 with a final score of 3132-3124.

Not to be outdone by the advanced teams, the Artesia No. 3 intermediate team of Maggie Morris 202-170, Talyn Pacheco 177, Sebastian Gonzalez 177, Grant Johnson and Ayden Dean took the division championship with a tight 13 pin win.

The Artesia No. 6 team added a third-place finish in the 13-team novice division and was led by Ricardo Huerta 192 and Jackson Parker 145.

Other Bulldog bowlers scoring well at Silva were Ayden Huffman 179, Axel Hartley 173-170, Destiny Powell 169, Jody Roberts 162, Gael Ruiz 159, Alejandro Bahena, Kaine McCall 137, Edwin Villarreal 135 and Adi Bratcher 120.

“It has been a great start to our season. I can assure you that no team in the state works harder and wants to succeed more than this team, from top to bottom. Coach Weddige and I are very proud of them,” stated Clayton.