100 Seasons Strong: X-Men Take the Centennial Crown
Paul Gross - 6/10/2025
League Champs X-Men with the historic Lew Houghton Championship Trophy
By Adcrafter and Bowling League President Paul Gross
Championship Night is a very special night at Adcraft Bowling, as the first and second half champs and runners up square off in a battle royale for the coveted Lew Houghton Championship Trophy. This year, X-Men, WXYZ/WMYD, Mojo in the Morning and Ampersand fought tooth and nail for the league’s top honor!
Mojo in the Morning brought their mojo (as opposed to THE Mojo) and jumped out of the gate with a game one victory…just edging out WXYZ/WMYD by one pin to grab the night’s first two points. Zach Martin’s big 161 game (his average is 127) brought the momentum to Mojo. WXYZ/WMYD’s Russ “Bingo” Rothermel (211) also put up a big number in the opening stanza.
The X-Men rebounded from a rough opener with a resounding victory in game two on the strength of a ginormous 198 from Jon Fife (his average is 125) and 185 from D.J. Strong. Ampersand’s Rozann “The Destroyer” Staknis (181) and Joel Happel (191), and WXYZ’s Parker Kent (224) also fought hard.
With Mojo in the Morning and X-Men tied with two points apiece, here’s what needed to transpire in game three for somebody to win the championship: either Mojo in the Morning or X-Men winning the third game clinched the title, while Ampersand and WXYZ-WMYD needed to not only win the third game but also have the highest total pinfall for the three games among each of the four teams to edge out the others.
X-Men’s Jon Fife (again) tormented his opponents with another big game (178) and, with huge support from Kevin Taylor (174), outlasted the others and earned X-Men the clinching two points and the league title. Ampersand’s Joel Happel (191) put the team on his back with another great effort, but most of the other bowlers on the four teams either bowled near or below average, which simply wasn’t enough to overtake the X-Men. Hail to the victors!
Individual Adcraft Bowling High Honors for the 2024-2025 Season:
High Average, Men: Parker Kent 207
High Average, Women: Tracy Crouse 179
High Series, Men: Cory Youngblood 749
High Series, Woman: Tracy Crouse 640
High Game, Men: Cory Youngblood 288
High Game, Women: Tracy Crouse 279
Most Improved, Men: Andrew Moore +20 pins
Most Improved, Women: Shahina Patel +11 pins
Most Grosses* Bowled: Donna Bishop – 5
*144 = twelve dozen = 1 gross, which is a very special score to the league president, who awards a special trophy to the person that bowls the most grosses!
Donna Bishop proudly (or maybe not) poses with League President Paul Gross and the Gross Trophy for the league’s “grossest” bowler
League Runner-Up Mojo in the Morning with the Bernie Solovey Trophy.