Pocket-pounding Plymouth bowlers enjoying historic season

The Plymouth High School bowling program has established itself the past five years as a force to be reckoned with in the Michigan prep bowling world — a strike force like few other programs in metro-Detroit this winter.

Heading into this weekend’s MHSAA Division 1 regional tournament, the Wildcats boys and girls teams are riding the momentum they built by handily winning their respective KLAA West Division titles.

The Wildcats’ girls squad finished 16-0, becoming just the second team in KLAA history to finish the regular season unbeaten (Canton accomplished the feat first during the 2022-23 season) while the boys secured its first-place hardware with a dominating 14-2 season.

Head Coach Chris Swickard said Plymouth’s success can be attributed to two primary factors: an excellent youth feeder program and an intangible not usually associated with an individual sport like bowling.

Strike Force stars

“The biggest thing for our success if probably the quality of bowlers we have coming up through the Strike Force youth program offered here at Super Bowl,” Swickard said. “They run a youth league for kids from the ages of 5 to 18 that is phenomenal.

“Another key to our success has been team chemistry, which is more important than most people could ever imagine because bowling is such an individual sport. If one bowler is down, it can bring the entire team down. We emphasize to our kids that it’s important to lift their teammates up whenever possible, because they’re going to lift you up if you’re having a bad day.”

Plymouth’s girls squad rolled a perfect season despite rostering just six players (five bowlers are needed to compete in each match) — and not having a dominant anchor who averages close to 200.

“The range of averages for our top five girls is between 144 and 170,” Swickard said. “Our fifth bowler never bowled before November, but she already has her average up to 144.

“There are teams in our league with exceptional bowlers — girls with averages close to or above 200 — but they don’t have the team chemistry and balance we have.”

Spare time

Brianna Swickard, the coach’s daughter, is the Wildcats’ anchor. A four-year varsity performer, Swickard spends extra time each week working on picking up spares.

“Brianna doesn’t throw the hardest ball, so it’s important that she perfects her technique when it comes to picking up spares,” her dad noted. “She probably spends three hours every week at practice just working on picking up spares.”

Brianna Swickard said she enjoys competing alongside a group of teammates who want to win, but aren’t over-the-top competitive.

“We all get along so well, which is nice,” she said. “There’s no drama. We laugh and joke around a lot, but once the matches start, we’re very competitive.”

Brianna started bowling eight years ago in the Strike Force program, she revealed.

“I tried a bunch of other sports, but nothing really clicked like bowling,” she said. “One of my strengths is the mental side of bowling. You have to be confident — especially when it comes to picking up spares. Even if you’ve missed the same spare 100 times in a row, you have to feel like you’re going to pick it up the 101st time.”

Sweep of rival huge

The Wildcats’ highlights this season included a sweep of Canton — the first victory of which was made possible when Skylar Weil, Plymouth’s No. 5-ranked bowler in terms of average, shockingly defeated the Chiefs’ anchor, 199-172, when Swickard switched up his one-on-one line-up.

“Skylar took an ‘I’m-not-expected-to-win-anyway’ approach and bowled her best game ever,” Swickard reflected.

Plymouth’s boys team has been spearheaded by junior Brad Pypa, a bowling veteran who has been throwing strikes since he joined Strike Force as a youngster.

“Brad is an exceptional bowler,” Swickard said. “He’s very technical, he puts a lot of thought into the sport, which is one reason he has a 193 average.”

“I love the energy our team brings to the lanes every day,” said Pypa, whose season-high game is 246. “We all like to have fun and the best way to do that is by winning.”

Pypa said the team’s chemistry has been ultra-important to its season-long success.

Spirited approach

“We enjoy cheering each other on and helping each other,” he said. “For example, we talk a lot about lane conditions. I’ll tell my teammates, ‘Hey, I had to move a little to left on this lane; maybe you should try to, too.’ Things like that.”

The starting five for Plymouth’s boys team has included Pypa, Jack Swisher, Nathan Makins, Dakota Law, Brayden Bishop, Nolan Johnson, Jack Smith and Brody Klein.

The girls team’s roster is made up of Swickard, Aralyn Johnson, Weil, Annabelle Thai, Bella Bozinovski and Emerson Mielke.

Not wanting to potentially jinx his team’s post-season chances, Pypa didn’t predict a state championship for the Wildcats.

“Our mindset is we should at least have a seat at the table,” he said, smiling.

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.coms.