FRUITPORT – Two years ago the Fruitport boys bowling team was still among the best in the area.

That Trojan team won a third consecutive conference championship and qualified for the state finals.

Last season Fruitport took a step back, finishing third in the O-K Blue conference and failing to get past regionals.

But the outlook is brighter for the Trojans this season, with four returning starters and several other experienced bowlers, plus a large roster to provide a lot of depth.

Seniors Michael Hanson, Zach Durakovic and Shane Brosnan and sophomore Bradley Dekker will be back in the starting lineup after gaining a valuable season of experience.

Hanson earned O-K Blue conference honorable mention honors last season, and Fruitport is hopeful he can continue to excel.

“He brings a lot of experience to the table,” said second-year head coach Tim McKeeby. “He comes from an awesome family of bowlers. His sister was state runner-up a few years ago. He’s always helping out with giving pointers and being a good teammate to the guys.”

Durakovic and Brosnan finished in the middle of the pack in regionals last year, and could be significantly better this season.

Durakovic has been selected as team captain by his teammates.

“He’s a great leader,” McKeeby said about Durakovic. “He’s come in and been a leader from the beginning this season. He’s helped us be much more organized this year.”

Dekker finished further down in the standings in last year’s regionals, but has been bowling very well this fall.

“Dekker is currently our anchor,” McKeeby said. “He had the best tryout and is bowling fantastic in practices. We’re hoping to keep him at a 200 average this season.”

Other returners this year are juniors Keenan Camp, Josh VanStelle and Devin Winskas and sophomores Corbin Judd and Boden Blackmer.

Of course competition breeds excellence, and there will be plenty of that for the Trojans, just within the team.

They have 15 bowlers who will compete internally every Thursday to determine who makes the lineup.

“We kind of have three tiers this year,” McKeeby said about the makeup of his team. “We’ll have six kids on varsity, six on junior varsity and five on a developmental team. Every Thursday we’ll have challenges, and we’re recording averages every time we bowl, and that will give the guys their placement.

“We’re kind of putting them in a pressure cooker situation to bowl as best they can. The numbers don’t lie, and a varsity guy might lose a challenge to a junior varsity kid and be on junior varsity themselves for a week. It’s very fluid, but I think it’ll pan out right before or after Christmas break.”

The Trojans are very clear about their goals – to bounce back this season, compete for a title in their new conference (the O-K Silver), and more than anything, make it back to the state finals as a team.

“The tone is that we want to bowl in March when the state finals are,” McKeeby said. “We had times our boys didn’t really get along last year. But the boys are great teammates this year and are putting aside differences. That really helps our ultimate goal, which is to bowl in March.”