AHSAA bowling: American Christian Academy sweeps boys, girls 1A-5A state championships
GADSDEN — Chants of "A-C-A" broke out as soon as both the Alabama High School Athletic Association girls and boys bowling state championships wrapped up Friday at The Alley.
The chants came from both American Christian Academy bowlers and supporters as the school swept both championships.
The Patriots girls team entered as the No. 1 seed and defeated East Limestone 4-2 in the finals. A few minutes after the girls won, the boys came back from a 3-2 deficit to defeat No. 1 Etowah 4-3.
It is the first state bowling championship for both the boys and girls.
"It's unbelievable," ACA coach Bob Holley said. "I didn't imagine this when we came here. I thought we would do well, but not as well as we did. The kids came out and proved me wrong. They came out, fought, stuck with it and they won."
The girls won the seven-game Baker series, but actually fell in pins 823-814 in the finals. The Patriots defeated Etowah 4-1 (720-640) in the semifinals and Ramsey 4-0 (508-414) in the quarterfinals.
"The girls did better than the boys as far (as record)," Holley said. "Still they showed a lot of courage and a lot of strength. Great run for them."
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The ACA boys did not make the win easy on themselves. It took the Patriots winning 4-3 in all three of their games Friday. They defeated John Carroll (1,080-1,088) in the quarterfinals, West Point (1,091-1,024) in the semifinals and Etowah (1,231-1,174) in the final.
"These kids fought," Holley said. "They fought hard. I am really proud of them. I just told them they are good bowlers, you can do this."
Contact Ehsan Kassim at 256-300-5313 or ekassim@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: AHSAA bowling: American Christian Academy sweep state championships
