Fishman earns first KRC-FVC Bowler of Year honor; 3rd at regional
HUNTLEY — The Huntley boys bowling team made the first Kishwaukee River Conference-Fox Valley Conference year memorable.
The Red Raiders’ Matt Fishman earned the initial Player of the Year honors, team emerged as overall league champion.
Fishman did not stop there. The junior led the Red Raiders at the IHSA Belvidere North Regional tournament third place finish with a total score of 1,274 pins. Huntley advanced to the IHSA Sectional in Rockford on Jan. 20.
For the league honor, Fishman edged Aiden Schwichow of Johnsburg, 163-155 for the league’s points championship. Teammate Austin Tenglin also finished in the top 15 at ninth with 126 points. Huntley beat McHenry, 107-84, for the team points crown.
“We are ecstatic to be the first ever KRC/FVC team champion,” head coach Jacob Wagner said. “Fishman also ended up being the player of the year for the conference after finishing first overall and second at the tournament. Our boys love the opportunity to compete and this was an awesome experience for them as well.”
The Red Raiders are ranked seventh in Illinois and posted an 11-1 record in KRC-FVC duals, 13-1 overall. Contributing to the outstanding season are, with their league points totals: Joey Humphrey (16th, 104); Noah Waters (23rd, 89); Landen Conforti (28th, 74); Nick Gaspari (38th, 51) and Matthew Hoglind (40th, 37).
Wagner had high praise for Fishman’s junior season.
“Fishman is a focused guy,” Wagner said. “He is our Lead-off bowler in an invite setting and really takes to that role well. The biggest way he has grown is understanding his equipment better and really throwing it great this year. This year he has been striking a ton and has a ton of confidence in himself and his teammates. He understands the breakdowns and is always willing to bounce ideas off assistant Coach Jason Waters and myself. He finished with a 217 average overall on the year including all invites and duals. His high dual series was 709 and high at an invite for six games was 1,423.”
Fishman will always remember when not only his name was called as champion but the team’s accomplishment as well.
“The first thing that hit me was happiness and a sense of accomplishment when our team got called for first place,” Fishman said. “It felt good to know that all the hard work that we put in showed and I think we deserved it. We always made sure we practiced with a purpose and we always had something to work on.”
While the team does not have any seniors, a group of juniors are the leaders.
“Juniors have helped freshmen and sophomores who are trying to get better and get more into bowling by teaching them drills and if they have any questions, then they can come to any of us and we will do our best to help. Even if it’s not bowling related or if they need a ride, we always try to help them get better with the resourced we have.”
Fishman began his bowling career at age 12 at the former Crystal Bowl.
”It was with a friend and his little brother. I thought it would give me something fun to do every Saturday morning, and I figured why not since I liked bowling for fun,” he recalled.
The KRC-FVC boys bowling conference is new this year, but bowlers always like the sportsmanship at dual meets and tournaments.
“Sportsmanship seen at meets and tournaments is really important,” Fishman said. “It shows that you are not only there to win, but to also have a good time. It shows that even if you are doing bad that day and someone else is doing good, you still are happy because they did good and you’re not pouting about doing bad.”
He added, “over the past few years I have grown to know and become friends with some kids from Marengo, Woodstock and some other teams.”
