Staff to take on student bowlers during Greater Latrobe's senior night match

There is an intense rivalry building within the walls of Greater Latrobe Senior High School.

Staff and students have turned against each other, each side maintaining a take-no-prisoners attitude.

What caused this rift? The high school’s boys and girls varsity bowling teams will be facing off with 10 staff members during their senior night match Wednesday, Feb. 1, at Lincoln Lanes.

According to the teams’ schedules, made at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, Greater Latrobe originally was supposed to compete against Ligonier Valley High School, which ended up having to drop its bowling team before the season started.

Initially, the teams were going to bowl against one other so the three senior boys and four senior girls would still receive recognition and honors at a home-lane match. They also needed scores to post to continue their run for states. After brainstorming a few ideas, Greater Latrobe’s athletic director, Zachary Heide, suggested a staff-versus-student game.

“There’s going to be a lot of familiar faces bowling against the kids,” Heide said. “It’s a good relationship-building opportunity, a good opportunity for us to get to know the kids a little bit better. It’s good for them to get to know us better and to just build that bond with our student body and with our teams here.”

Heide began scouting to form a staff team that will give the athletes a run for their money, including him, assistant athletic director Tyler Gustafson and Superintendent Michael Porembka.

“The teams are set,” Heide said. “We’re even getting team shirts made. We’re trying to make this as fun as possible for the kids. When situations like this arise, we try to do whatever we can to make it something that they’re going to remember, something that they’re going to have fun with.”

The team’s coach, Ed Zuzak, said the student-athletes are excited to showcase their skills. He said the anticipation for the friendly competition has led to a good bit of ribbing between the opposing teams.

“They’ve seen what we can do, so I think (the other team) should be at least a little bit scared,” Heide said.

He is a member of a recreational bowling league and said he and some of his co-workers sometimes visit the lanes to unwind after work.

“I’m hoping the match turns into an annual event,” Zuzak said. “Everyone is excited. It’s a good thing to get to show the faculty what we’re doing with the program. The kids were ecstatic when I ran it by them.”

At 3 p.m., the teams will play an uncontested warmup game until staff members arrive. For the first half of the match, five faculty players will play the boys team, and five will play the girls team. After the first sets, the students will switch and play the other five members of the staff team.

Zuzak has been coaching the teams since the program’s inception four years ago. As long as the athletes don’t let nerves get the best of them, he said, the boys team and individuals from both teams have a good chance of competing in the state playoffs.