Boys Bowling: Longtime Hobart friends headed to state together

Updated: February 13, 2012 7:36PM

Of the exhaustive list of high school boys bowlers in the region who possessed the potential to qualify in singles for Saturday’s state finals in Lafayette, two emerged from the pack at semistate — both of them from Hobart.

Bobby Eberle and Jerry James, friends since the age of 11, will represent Northwest Indiana in their quest to earn the region’s first individual state champ — an accomplishment each admitted has been a season-long goal.

Eberle captured the semistate title with a 182-124 victory over Eastern’s Cameron Higgins, who had qualified first for the stepladder finals. Eberle defeated Daniel Gruza of Elkhart Central 169-138 in the semifinal match.

James qualified for state in sixth place with a 613 series.

“As soon as the season started, my personal goal was to make it to state,” Eberle said. “I’ve put in the hours of practice and I truly believe that anything can happen in bowling. In my matches at semistate, I had to reset myself at moments and just stay focused.”

Eberle said that he gained additional skills while attending a summer bowling camp in Anderson — which James also attended — and used a different form of visual motivation to keep him focused on the ultimate prize.

“Coach told me to print out a copy of the state championship trophy and put it on my wall,” James said. “I did that, and that was the goal that I was shooting for all season. Now I have the chance to make that goal a reality.”

Hobart coach Jerry James said that he never doubted the ability of Eberle or his son.

“I’m so proud of these boys,” James said. “They’ve really excelled, and they’ve shown what they can do and what they need to do. I told them they had to stay focused and relaxed and make the shots and try to stay clean.”

The coach also uses a practical approach in keeping Eberle, James and all his kids focused.

“I tell them no score watching,” he said. “You can’t control their score. You can only control your destiny. It’s been helping. It’s great to see them going down together. They’ve also played baseball together and have been friends since sixth grade.”

Eberle said that both he and James have grown to the point where they’re now understanding what their coach has been communicating to them.

“Coach has been telling us the same thing since we were freshmen, but we just got mature enough to start listening and do what we need to do,” Eberle admitted. “We know we have to execute and stay focused. We¹re excited about the challenge at state.”

James said he’s approaching state the same way he did semistate.

“If I won, I knew I would move on, and if I lost I knew I had a good run,” James said.

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