Oxford HS bowling team wins first match since shooting

OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Inside Oxford's Collier Lanes, a municipality rallied for a squad doing their champion to put the pieces backmost together, adjacent though 1 large portion was missing.

"I felt similar helium should beryllium here," Oxford High School elder bowler Jake Love said. "I knew — I evidently knew helium wasn't, and it was tough."

Love is talking astir his adjacent person and teammate Justin Shilling, who was killed successful a schoolhouse shooting astatine Oxford High conscionable 2 weeks ago.

Last week, the squad came unneurotic astatine Justin's funeral. On Monday, they came unneurotic again for their archetypal lucifer of the season.

"It was truly bully to conscionable get backmost out," Love said. "It felt bully with each that worldly going on. It was a bully distraction, we got to conscionable beryllium ourselves and that was important for us."

"There wasn't a ton of emotion due to the fact that I deliberation the guys focused connected the bowling and the task astatine hand, and that's precisely what we asked them to do," Oxford High School bowling manager JR Lafnear said.

Lafnear said the squad had small to nary signifier aft the tragedy, but helium knew his players needed to beryllium unneurotic and that they wanted to compete. It was besides important to him.

"Me helping them is my therapy," Lafnear said. "I mislaid a large kid and the lone mode I get done this is by helping them get done it, and if we tin bash that past it's a win-win for some of us."

Monday's lucifer was the school's archetypal diversion lawsuit since the tragedy. People from each implicit municipality showed up astatine the bowling alley and stayed for astir 3 hours to amusement their support.

"We're conscionable thrilled to spot our student-athletes backmost successful enactment again," Oxford High School diversion manager Tony Demare said. "I deliberation what we're seeing present contiguous is truly a assemblage that epitomizes Oxford strong."

That enactment was overmuch needed. Justin was known for his enactment and being the feline to prime up his teammates erstwhile they were down.

"He was ever determination for you if you needed him. He was the nicest kid I've ever met," Love said. "He lit up the country erstwhile he'd locomotion in, adjacent if it was dark. He was awesome."

Despite the tragedy, Oxford had a resounding triumph connected Monday. The squad continues to enactment the pieces backmost together, knowing present that their missing portion whitethorn not beryllium missing aft all.

"There's nary uncertainty successful my caput that Justin was with america tonight," Lafnear said. "I cognize they felt him. I felt him."

"I deliberation that's gonna beryllium a inclination each season," Love said. "We cognize what we've got to bash and we cognize it's for Justin. We've got to triumph for him."

This communicative was primitively published by Brett Kast connected Scripps presumption WXYZ successful Detroit.