Quakers Looking to Strike Early

Orchard Park – When you think of the Quakers, football and baseball quickly come to the forefront. While OP has consistently fielded successful programs on the gridiron and ball diamond, it’s in the alleys where you will find another group of athletes making a name for themselves for the school as well.

Building a winning tradition takes time, patience and commitment. For 16 seasons head coach Joe Biondo has been preaching all of the aforementioned virtues and it’s starting to pay off.

The Quakers have finished 2nd overall in the Class A South standings of the ECIC and have placed in the Top-5 at sectionals for the past four years. Slowly but surely OP has become a powerhouse in yet another high-school sport in Section VI.

Biondo believes he has a “core four” capable of competing at the top level once again in 2016. “We talked about this at the first practice Monday, what do we want to set out to do? We don’t want to continue being the runner-up. We’ve accomplished a lot these last four years but we want to finish” Biondo said.

Tom Klenke a junior had a very good sophomore season and was a state qualifier. That experience should serve him and the team well in 2016. “I wasn’t really known last year but now they kind of know me. I want to get better and keep improving” Klenke said. He will be joined by Colton Little (‘18), Nathan Nahrebeski (‘18) and Kyle Couell (‘19). Klenke will have tremendous pressure but watching him perform last Spring out at Airport Lanes he showed that he can shoulder it. Klenke will use the experience at state’s last season to help fuel what could be a great year for the boys varsity bowling squad.

Last year Klenke bowled his way to a spot on the Section VI All-Star team and Little was a division all-star. “We have six returning bowlers, lost Sam Rizzo (graduation) and another to transfer” coach Biondo said. Senior Zach Andruszko will be counted on by Biondo to be the glue that keeps this team together. “Zach’s a guy the other kids look up too. He’s the guy that will help carry on the traditions and keep our guys focused. He’s a serious bowler and his teammates understand that” Biondo said.

The Quakers finished last season 10-2 with losses to Frontier and West Seneca West (WSW). Two of the powerhouses that are expected to be teams to contend with along with Lancaster. “WSW has Andrew Burkholder, who is just a nice kid. He’s not cocky. He’s one of the bowlers that I really enjoy watching.”

Over the summer a number of OP bowlers attended camps and worked out with different area pro’s. In less than a month we will see that hard work on display.

The Quakers will be looking to start the run towards sectionals when the Maryvale Preseason Tournament kicks off on Nov 28th out at Airport.