It’s one down, three to go for Gavin Courtney.
The Garden Spot senior won all four postseason bowling titles last season and is trying to repeat. He got the first of those honors as he captured the Lancaster-Lebanon League boys tournament title Friday at Dutch Lanes.
“Obviously, the pressure was there, going back to back, so that was in the back of my mind,” said Courtney, who defeated Elizabethtown’s Mason Moore 225-190 in the championship match of the stepladder finals. “I’m not feeling the best today; I was a little congested. I got through it. Just one shot at a time, like last year, and feed off that pressure.”
Courtney also won the District Three, Eastern Regional and Pennsylvania State High School boys titles a year ago.
“I feel pretty good,” he said of the task ahead of him. “Obviously, the job’s not finished yet; there’s still stuff to win. I can give my full opinion on that after I hopefully win states again.”
The title match certainly got off to an inauspicious start for him. After Moore opened with a spare, Courtney fouled on his first ball, then got nine on his second ball.
“I didn’t feel the brake; I just started sliding,” Courtney said. “I said, ‘All right, if there’s a frame to do that, it’s definitely the first frame.’ ”
That appeared to let the door open for Moore, who had trailed only Courtney in qualifying with 1,424 pins (Courtney totaled 1,472), but the Bears’ senior ran into his own issues with four opens, including two splits, over the next five frames.
Meanwhile, things went more typically for Courtney.
“He was so consistent,” Garden Spot coach Lloyd Steinmetz said. “There were some tough shots today. It doesn’t surprise me the way he finished.”
He also wasn’t surprised how Courtney responded after his foul.
“That’s what makes him so special, as he did bounce back like that,” Steinmetz said.
It was then back, the coach said, to “Gavin doing Gavin Courtney things.”
Those “Courtney things” included three straight strikes after the first frame. By the sixth frame, he had a 56-pin lead and he clinched the win with nine pins on his first ball of the 10th frame.
It took until the 10th to secure the title as Moore recovered and put together three strikes heading into the 10th, where he added two more strikes and a nine count.
“I bowled my teammate on (lanes) 11-12 and I was just locked in, and I had the same look all day,” said Moore, who appeared poised to give Courtney a battle after a 239-183 win over sophomore teammate Jeremiah Evans in the semifinal. “Then coming over here (lanes 9-10), I was hoping I was going to get the same look. … But when we got over here, I noticed after the first ball came in light and I said, ‘I’ve got to make a move.’ But I just made the move too late.”
Evans was the No. 3 qualifier with 1,372 pins. He reached the semifinal after a thrilling 197-196 win over Hempfield senior Blake Garman in the quarterfinal, following easy wins (by 40 and 22 pins) in the first two rounds.
Courtney came into the tournament with the league’s top average of 231, with Moore second at 220.
Courtney’s qualifying series included games of 279, 260 and 258, with a low of 215. After a slow start, Moore closed his qualifying with a 279, 255 and 275.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve been saying all week — all year, really — I’ve been saying I want a shot at (Courtney),” Moore said. “We’re not the two top averages in the league for nothing. I knew the chance was going to be there and I had to execute every shot. … It just didn’t fall the way I wanted it to.”
Following Garman in fourth was Donegal senior Michael Berg, who was runner-up to Courtney last year when he fell 249-224 in the final.
L-L League Top 10, from left, back row, Columbia’s Tristan Lenhart, Donegal’s Michael Berg, Northern Lebanon’s Heath DiNunzio, Manheim Township’s Aidan Sofillas, Donegal’s Dalton Sauder, Northern Lebanon’s Dominick Judkins, Hempfield’s Blake Garman; front row, Elizabethtown’s Jeremiah Evans, Garden Spot’s Gavin Courtney and Elizabethtown’s Mason Moore during the L-L League boys bowling championships at 222 Dutch Lanes in Brownstown on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026.
CHRIS KNIGHT | Staff Photographer
Rounding out the top 10 were Donegal junior Dalton Sauder, Northern Lebanon junior Heath DiNunzio, Columbia junior Tristin Lenhart, Northern Lebanon senior Dominick Judkins and Manheim Township junior Aidan Sofillas.
Interview with Garden Spot’s Gavin Courtney at L-L Bowling Media Day
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Comments are closed.