PARKER TWP— Karns City's winning tradition continues in football, soccer — and bowling?

The Gremlins formed a bowling club three years ago when Pam Barlett, mother of Saturday morning youth bowler Jon Barlett, approached youth instructor Denny Morrow about the possibility.

"We got approval from the school board to use the school's name in forming a club, but, honestly, I didn't know if it would go anywhere," Morrow said.

It has.

The Karns City bowling club began with 18 members. This year, it has 22 — 17 boys, five girls — and is competing in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League. Morrow, a retired sixth-grade teacher in the Karns City district, is its coach.

The WPIBLconsists of 42 schools — six teams each in seven sections — and the Gremlins are off to a 3-0 start on the boys side, good enough for first place over Penn Hills, Plum, Burrell, Mars, and St. Joseph in Section 7.

The top three teams in each section reach the playoffs.

Karns City's top three bowlers rank third, fourth and fifth in the section in high average among those who have bowled nine games thus far. Doug Besselman is averaging 179, Jon Barlett 178 and Morgan Scott 177. Barlett has rolled a 267 already this season.

Each team plays the other five in its section home and away. Karns City's home house is Bruin Lanes.

Each team starts five bowlers and can list as many as 10 as being available. A struggling bowler can be replaced during a game by another bowler, but the starting bowler gets credit for that game's score.

Morrow said he replaces bowlers at least once a game.

"Usually, I'll let a kid have four frames or so and if he's struggling, I'll make a change,"the coach said. "You don't have to use all 10 guys in a match, but I like to get them all in if I can."

Karns City's girls team is 1-2, but with only five bowlers on the roster, the Gremlins have bowled shorthanded in matches. Bobbi Bailey coaches the girls squad.

There is no handicap score given to a team without the full complement of players.

Brandi Dunkle, who is a softball pitcher in the spring, leads the KCgirls team with a 122 average.

"I don't bowl in the Saturday morning leagues, but when they formed this club, I wanted to give it a try,"Dunkle said. "I like bowling a lot more now and the motion will help my softball pitching, I think."

Most high school bowlers do not participate in other interscholastic sports. National figures state that 60 to 90 percent of high school bowlers compete in that sport alone.

The National Federation of High School Associations also reported that high school bowling grew by 17 percent in 2007-08, joining lacrosse as the fastest growing high school sport.

"I approached the school board about getting the club started, but I backed off once it got going,"Pam Barlett said. "Not all kids play football, soccer or basketball. Adding bowling gives a lot more kids the experience of representing their school in a team activity."

Jon Barlett has been bowling for eight years.

"It's nice being able to bowl for my school now,"he said. "I'm hoping that as word gets out, we'll get more kids involved and become even more competitive."

The WPIBLdress code requires only that bowlers wear a collared shirt, dress slacks or skirt and no headgear. The Gremlins do not have a team shirt yet.

"We're working on another fundraiser that will hopefully get us shirts next year,"Bruin Lanes proprietor and Karns City assistant coach Dan Persic said. "A fundraiser this year raised enough money to pay for the kids' bowling."

Morrow lauded the school's administration for being supportive of the program. The school district provides a bus to transport the team to away matches and the team's results are announced the following day on the high school's public address system.

"My goal is to eventually get this bowling program to win as consistently as the football, soccer and other Karns City teams do,"Morrow said. "There's a tradition to uphold here."