For the second consecutive week, the Austin High School varsity bowling team had to settle for a split of its two scheduled matches, defeating Byron and falling to Rochester Century.

Competition was held at Recreation Lanes, in Rochester.

The first match of the day found the Packers pitted against the much-improved Byron Bears. Austin and Byron were tied for second place in the conference standings prior to the beginning of the match. The final results of the match indicated just how similar the two teams are.

Austin won the first, third and fifth games of the match to claim the match win. Byron won games two and four. With both teams bowling consistently, three of the five games were decided by 20 pins or less. Byron actually outscored Austin 991 to 932 for the match. That difference was aided by the fact that Austin score only 108 pins in the fourth game.

The Packers were led by Matt Breitbarth, completing eight of ten fill opportunities. He was followed by Kody Phillips, who went ten for thirteen in the match. Close behind were Cole Kroneman and Gage Morgan, completing seven of ten opportunities.

The second match of the day found Austin competing against Rochester Century, the current leaders of the Southeast Minnesota Conference. Century quickly showed why they are at the top of the standings by taking the first three games of the match, and the match win, with scores of 226, 219 and 246.

Statistically, the two teams were very similar in the match. Austin completed forty-five of fifty-four fill opportunities (83.3 percent). Century went 46-for-55 (83.6 percent) in fill completions. Rochester, however, threw a total of 34 strikes in the match (an average of seven per game) to Austin’s 23 (an average of a little more than four per game). That difference determined the outcome of the match.

Austin was, again, led by Kody Phillips, shooting 12-for-13 (92.3 percent) in fill opportunities. He was followed by Gage Morgan and Matt Breitbarth, both completing nine-of-10 (90 percent) opportunities.

The regular season schedule for both teams will come to an end on Saturday, Oct. 24, with matches at Byron Lanes, in Byron. Action will start at 1 p.m.