The Girard High School boys and girls bowling teams entered the Division II district tournament Feb. 17 with a common goal: to extend their seasons one Moore time.

Missions accomplished.

With the help of the Moore family, both Indians teams will participate in the state tournament. The boys will compete Friday at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl, with the girls squad competing the following day at the same site.

It’ll be the fourth consecutive trip to state for the boys team and the first for the girls squad.

The boys team is led by senior twins Jonathan and Nathan Moore.

“We’ve got a real unique situation here,” said Pete Barta, who coaches both Girard teams. “My assistant, Larry Moore, has two sets of fraternal twins. There’s Jonathan and Nathan and then there’s Maddie and Anthony, who are sophomores. Maddie is on the girls team and Anthony is on the boys JV this year. It’s pretty remarkable.”

Jonathan’s game average is 195 and Nathan’s is 191. In the district tournament at Nautica Lanes in Avon Lake, Jonathan rolled a 658 (231-213-214) to place fourth out of 83 competitors and Nathan placed 21st with a 598 (204-159-235). Jonathan has been in the lineup all four years at Girard and Nathan will be making his third state appearance.

“This season is different than the past for many reasons,” Jonathan said. “We lost two of our better bowlers (to graduation) last year, so to make it back one last time this year is very special and meaningful. This team is a lot closer and a lot more fun because we’ve been bowling together in the same leagues since we were 9 or 10 years old. So we’re going to have a blast this time.

“But it’s also going to be a little bittersweet, because this will be our last match together playing for Girard. We’re very excited and we know there’s also going to be some sadness there as well.”

The brothers are joined in the lineup by seniors Josh Shepherd and Brett Ziegler. At district Shepherd rolled a 569 to tie for 25th and Ziegler posted a 531 to tie for 40th. Senior Thomas Mohn had 376 in his two games and completing the roster are senior Robert Jackson and junior Jason Owen.

Girard qualified for state by earning the fourth and final berth at district, as they totaled 3,959 to place behind champion Fairport Harbor (4,190), Peninsula Woodridge (4,081) and Wooster Triway (3,961) in a 13-team field.

The Indians finished fifth at state last season, fourth in 2018 and eighth in 2017. At state, five individual three-game series are totaled with three Baker games to arrive at overall pinfall. The top eight in the 16-team field then move forward to match play, where the winners of each best-of-5 Baker series advance until just one remains. There are no consolation matches, as the higher-seeded match losers break ties to determine places 3 through 8.

“We were the top team qualifier last year and lost to No. 8 (Woodridge) in the quarterfinals to finish fifth, so I think the boys are hoping to make amends this year,” Barta said. “This will be the fourth time to state for Jonathan and Brett and the third for Nathan, so we have a lot of experience and we’re looking for a big finish from them.”

Jonathan Moore said the seniors just want to make the school and community proud.

“We want to make all of Girard proud, and because we have experience, we’re going to be helping and encouraging the girls team in any way we can,” he said. “We want to leave our mark on the boys program and give everyone something to shoot for in the future, and we want the girls to excel and a make a mark they can improve on in years to come.

“Personally, my family just loves bowling. My mom and dad first met at a bowling alley in Hubbard. My dad has taught us everything he knows and he expects our best 100 percent of the time. We want to make my mom and dad proud of us.”

Maddie Moore placed ninth at district with a 530 (163-178-189) and was one of three Indians to finish in the top 13. Junior Rachel Foreback led the way, placing third with a 577 (193-198-186), and senior Heidi Trautman was 13th with a 505 (187-168-150).

“I am really proud of our whole team,” Foreback said. “We’re all so, so excited. We’ve all improved greatly from last year and just put in so much work. I think we can do great things, as long as we keep a good mindset and don’t miss a lot of spares.

“You should’ve seen us jumping and screaming at district when they announced that we were going to state for the first time. This is just so huge for us. We wanted this so bad, to be the first girls team to go to state.”

Junior Cierra Anzelmo (446) was 42nd of 90 competitors and junior Taylor Tillman (409) placed 56th. Junior Shianne Bigelow completes the roster.

The announcement didn’t come as a surprise to Barta. After all, the Indians won the district title with a 3,430 and the top four teams advanced to state.

“We didn’t bowl well in the fourth or fifth Baker games, but I knew we were going to make it out,” he said. “By my count, we were in second place going into the final Baker, but I played a little trick on them. I gave them a fiery chat and told them they were on the bubble. Boy did they respond.”

According to Barta, the girls were hungry this season because they fell short of a state berth by 34 pins last year.

“We just missed and we were without two starters, Rachel and Cierra, last year at district,” he said. “They were on a band trip in Florida that weekend. So this was kind of special for all of us.”