The Española Valley High School bowling team replaced a full 10-pin of seniors from last year’s third place squad, so co-head coach Jeanie Brito knew this season was going to be a bit different.

Still, the Sundevils reached the quarterfinals of Saturday’s state championship at Albuquerque’s Silva Lanes and put on a strong showing overall, especially since their all state bowler, Aiden Guinn, was at the New Mexico Governor’s STEM Challenge at New Mexico Highlands University.

“We took out younger kids, our beginners, but they did OK,” Brito said. “They did really well for their first year and first state tournament.”

While the Sundevils finished sixth overall in Class 1A-4A, Pojoaque Valley reached the podium with a third place finish.

The long day on the lanes included rolling three full games and two Baker’s Format games to set the seedings, followed by head-to-head Baker’s matches in which five bowlers for each team roll two frames each, alternating through the line-up.

For the Sundevils, they upped their game significantly as the season drew to a close.

“We didn’t have a good season because it was rebuilding for us,” Brito said. “So we didn’t do well throughout the season. But we were very impressed with them Saturday. They surprised us. They really came through.”

The team came together at just the right time, she said.

“I think they really wanted to do well as a team,” Brito said. “They started having fun and started playing around and that counts toward them relaxing and enjoying what they’re doing.”

Freshman Isaiah Gallegos, who also is the Sundevils quarterback in football, turned in a positive performance in his state appearance, Brito said, nearly recording a 600-series in the three seeding games, and was the team anchor by bowling the fifth and 10th frames in the Baker rounds.

“It was different because it was not your regular tournament,” Gallegos said. “There’s definitely a lot of competition over there and it was a way longer day and a lot of adversity you have to overcome.”

The format can make it difficult to find a groove and rhythm, he said.

“Having a couple of bad frames, you have to try and adjust and make it better but sometimes it’s hard to put that behind you,” Gallegos said. “I just had to try and make different moves and try different things until it worked.”

Although just a freshman, Gallegos was seen as a team leader, particularly for the state tournament, because he had the experience of being on the team last year even if he didn’t make it to state.

“I was trying to pick up the eighth graders that we had and pick everyone up, even if they have a bad game,” he said. “We were going up against juniors and seniors, but we don’t care. We just wanted to put up a challenge and that’s what we ended up doing. We just wanted to prove that even the young ones can put up a fight and we weren’t going to go down without a challenge.”

Guinn, a junior who earned a $175 scholarship for his All State honor, said he was sorry to miss the state tournament, but enjoyed watching his teammates grow throughout the season.

“It was new change,” he said of his leadership role. “I kind of knew beforehand, even though there was nothing said, that I would end up being a leader and pushing my team to the extent that they could go. At first, it was going to be a challenge, but the coaches had confidence in me to be a leader and I took some of that confidence to help the younger kids.”

The younger Sundevils were able to accept advice and apply it to see better results.

“To start, it was rocky,” Guinn said. “But we tried out different combinations of teams and the development of everyone went well. Everyone ended up on a higher note than they did at the beginning.”

Guinn also was able to see his own game improve.

“Part of it has to be my coaches, coach Jeanie and coach Ruben (Brito) really helped me,” Guinn said. “It really helped to have her pushing me to become a better bowler. I put in a lot of personal practice. This last year over the summer and on the weekends, I pushed myself to go become better at bowling.”