The phrase “practice makes perfect” could not be truer for bowling.
With the NJSIAA’s 2025-26 winter events underway and the warmth from the fall sports season migrating into heated venues, tossing a bowling ball down a waxed lane will prove to be one of many ways for high schoolers to escape the frigid elements.
This includes those who play for their respective boys’ and/or girls’ bowling squads, such as Bridgewater-Raritan High School, which has again this winter.
Under the direction of second-year Coach Michele Kussmaul, Bridgewater-Raritan is one of the many programs that launched their new seasons on December 1 with the objective of winning a state championship over the next three months.
While the Panthers’ longtime off-campus home venue a quick drive east on Route 22 rebranded from Bowlero to Lucky Strike, its name is the only thing that changed from the otherwise massive venue. That familiarity to Bridgewater-Raritan’s large amount of returning bowlers from Kussmaul’s debut season as head coach – coupled with a consistent routine of practices or matches on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays right after the high school’s dismissal bell, should alone set the Panthers up for success in 2025-26.
Outside of these timeframes, high school bowlers across New Jersey are regularly encouraged to practice on their own time to polish their craft, though an afternoon or an evening out away from campus presents at least two understandable challenges for any high school teenager.
Transportation to the venue, and paying to bowl at the venue.
With time needed for priority number one on top of this as a student-athlete: academic obligations both during and outside of the school day, high school bowlers naturally have a great opportunity to learn the life skill of balancing to-do lists related to the classroom, extracurricular activities, or even a part-time job once a high-school bowler is old enough to work.
Bridgewater-Raritan senior bowler and tri-captain Michael Reeves may have found an optimal way to crack this code and fulfill all of the aforementioned requirements, especially given the importance of investing in a bowling ball, bowling games, and other related equipment.
He got a job at Lucky Strike: Bridgewater-Raritan’s home bowling venue.
After Bridgewater-Raritan (2-0) dropped its first game of its best-of-three set by just eight pins against Watchung Hills Regional High School (0-2), Reeves continued his monumental surge to start the season by improving in each game. Not only did he knock down a career-high 201 pins in game three.
The Panthers’ five scoring bowlers each combined for over 800 pins in both games two and three to propel the Bridgewater-Raritan boys’ squad to a 5-2 (732-740, 852-612, 821-655) victory over the Warriors Thursday, December 4, at Lucky Strike in Green Brook.
“All summer, I’ve been bowling nonstop,” explained after the match by Reeves, who has averaged 174.5 pins per game to start the season: an improvement of a whopping 48 pins per game from all of his 25 games played in his first varsity season as a junior. “Getting a job here really helped out a lot, and I can bowl here whenever. I came in as much as I could every single time. Once I got one of my new bowling balls, over time, I started seeing my average go up.”
“I’ve worked on staying consistent, and everything just kind of went from there.”
Practice and hard work has truly paid off for Reeves, whose high game last season in a dual match was 173 pins against Watchung Hills back on January 14, 2025. Although he did not regularly play in all three games of a dual match for Bridgewater-Raritan as a junior in 2024-25 during his debut season, his results varied greatly to the tune of a final average of 126.08 pins.
Whether through Lucky Strike’s bowling leagues or any additional games at work outside of Bridgewater-Raritan’s schedule leading up to this season, Reeves appears to be set up for great improvement and consistency in his scores as a senior in 2025-26.
Even though the strikes he will continue to tally on the scoreboard will take Bridgewater-Raritan far, further applying the real-world skill of ‘striking’ a balance between work, school, and life in general will certainly be one of Reeves’ biggest takeaways as a high school bowler in his final year on campus.
“Senior year may not be that bad for most people, because you may have a lighter schedule unless you’re going to a top-ranked college,” Reeves explained. “But when you’re working, as long as you are giving yourself a schedule light enough to be able to do what you want to do, everything else falls into place naturally.”
Just two matches into the new season, Reeves has already eclipsed his career high from last season three times.
That happened twice on Thursday afternoon alone, notably his match-high 201 as an improvement from 158 and 178 pins in games one and two, respectively. Even more, five of his seven rolls from frames four through nine in game two were strikes, with the remaining two rolls in frame six being a nine-ball followed by the resulting spare conversion.
It may have been the Thursday immediately following Thanksgiving, but turkeys (three consecutive strikes) may prove to be plentiful across December and beyond with this level of consistency for Bridgewater-Raritan.
“That shows a lot of determination and that he really wants to get better,” praised Kussmaul about Reeves’ methods of additional practice. “His scores are proving it.”
“It’s really not only helping his confidence, but it’s helping the team, too.”
Dom D’Amato and Caden Lane: Reeves’ fellow senior tri-captains who have been a part of Bridgewater-Raritan’s boys’ team for all four years of high school, can attest to this.
After two years as underclassmen with longtime head coach Kathie DeBonis, who passed the keys to the Panthers’ bowling program to Kussmaul following her retirement as a teacher at the end of the 2023-24 school year, they now have the opportunity to round off their careers as leaders of the team. On Thursday afternoon, D’Amato averaged 144.67 pins, including a high game three of 160, and his current average of 159.83 pins through two matches is an improvement of just over 36 pins per game from his freshman year.
Lane’s high game two of 195, along with his average of 181 against Watchung Hills, helped him end the day with a 181.83 pin average: a massive improvement of just over 67 pins on average from his freshman year to show the long way he has come in four years.
“I definitely had to battle a little bit, but Coach DeBonis gave me a chance during my sophomore year, and I never looked back,” reflected Lane of his four-year journey through the Panthers’ bowling program. “I was somebody who did not have many chances with anything that I did, but the first chance that I got, I took it. [High school] will end at some point, so you just have to take advantage of whatever chance you have. It doesn’t really affect me in that way, but my confidence has always been there even through all of the tough adversity that I faced. You just have to keep moving on.”
“Now, I am a captain.”
Rounding off the day for Bridgewater-Raritan’s boys’ team, whose five scoring bowlers all tallied high games of at least 160 pins, were sophomores Nate Stroger (158.33 average, 170 high game) and Ayden Mogila (138.67 average, 180 high game). According to the Panthers’ online roster, six of the Panthers’ 10 bowlers are underclassmen, notably including four freshmen in Luke Geremia, Aiden Lee, Jake Luo, and Angel Moglia.
Junior and third-year varsity bowler Andrew Kussmaul, who is Coach Kussmaul’s son, completes the Panthers’ boys’ roster.
But given the rise of the Panthers’ underclassmen throughout their time with this program, the future is certainly bright again for Bridgewater-Raritan. Clearly, there is a blueprint in place of optimizing additional practice opportunities with Reeves working at Lucky Strike – maybe even a future connection in getting other potential Bridgewater-Raritan bowlers’ feet into the doors of the Green Brook venue.
“Last year, I really wasn’t the best mentally with bowling, and I wasn’t the best bowler,” Reeves went on to say. “I had my ups and downs, but when I was down last year, [Coach Kussmaul] kept me in line. She told me to make my spares and do the best that I can. I took that with me all summer, did what I had to do, and came back here.”
“Now, we are 2-0.”
Since the girls’ squad took a hiatus in 2022-23, this winter season also marks the third consecutive year Bridgewater-Raritan has had officially sanctioned girls’ matches, the last two overseen by Coach Kussmaul. According to the Panthers’ online roster, all six of the following Panthers’ girls’ bowlers are sophomores: Filza Ahmed, Adalyn Bodden, Madison Gilbert, Mikayla Jean-Baptiste, Aleeza Saeed, and Rachel Torres.
The Panthers’ girls’ team improved from a 3-10 mark in 2023-24 to a record of 4-8 in 2024-25, amongst what will be another loaded Skyland Conference slate across both squads.
Watchung Hills (1-1) defeated Bridgewater-Raritan (0-2) by a score of 7-0 (602-470, 528-434, 445-418) on the girls’ side on Thursday afternoon.
Phillipsburg High School bears the No. 16-ranked girls’ squad in New Jersey, while Belvidere High School owns the No. 19-ranked boys’ squad to represent Bridgewater-Raritan’s conference. Each conference team will play two regular-season matches against each other: one in each team’s corresponding home venue, meaning Bridgewater-Raritan will be battle-tested in its path to return to the postseason.
Both teams will be seeking their first state tournament victories under Kussmaul, after falling in the opening round of the state sectional playoffs last season. This season, the boys’ team finished with a 6-11 record. But not only are the Bridgewater-Raritan boys’ off to a 2-0 start to the new year after a 7-0 victory over Franklin High School on Tuesday, December 2, to begin opening week. As the Panthers did not have a winning record at any point in 2024-25, Bridgewater-Raritan’s fast start to this winter on the boys’ side alone may go a long way.
“It’s important to let the kids know that it’s okay if they don’t do well, and to allow our seniors to take responsibility and ownership of their team,” revealed Kussmaul of the main lesson she will apply from year one in charge to the current 2025-26 season. “Michael showed that today when he didn’t do well in game one but then came back and bowled 201. It’s their team.”
“They’ve been here longer than me, so I enjoy them coming with me and leading the team together.”
After a sanctioned practice on Monday afternoon, Bridgewater-Raritan will get a big test at home next in a dual match against Phillipsburg at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday, December 9, in Green Brook. The Panthers will then travel to Oakwood Lanes for their first of two regular-season matchups against Warren Hills Regional High School at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, December 11, in Washington Township.
“I’m very confident that this team has more than we show,” concluded Lane.
“We can go far this season.”