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Talk about home-field advantage. The Whitehall Rifle club kept its home undefeated streak alive with a pair of victories over Galway and Fort Ann, and in doing so, took a big step toward a league championship.
Last week, Whitehall defeated Galway 977-966 avenging an early season loss. The victory broke a three way tie atop the league with Galway, Whitehall and Hartford.
Jason Pratt led all shooters with a 198, Dick McMore shot a fine 197, as did John Hollister. Those three made all the difference. Galway had a lot of good scores but was unable to post the to unseat Whitehall .
Five of the Galway shooters were high school students. They all fired 190 or better and three, Ed J. Hawn, Breanna Flint and Colleen Tillson shot 193s, showing off how good Galway’s Junior Program is.
The previous week, Whitehall defeated Fort Ann 985-933 behind the duo of Jason Pratt and Dick McMore, who shot perfect 200 scores.
If that wasn’t enough, John Hollister pitched in a 197 and Louie Pratt added a 195 and it was pretty much over at that point.
For Jason, at age 22, it was his first 200 in only his fifth season with the team. The perfect score is tough to get but in Jason’s case, it doesn’t come as a surprise. His teammates have been expecting this of him for a couple of seasons.
For Dick McMore, at age 64, it comes a little harder. Dick is not new to the club and has had five 200s before tonight, two in 1987, one in 1991, one in 1993 and one in 1998, but in Dick’s words, “this one was sweet.” He didn’t think he would ever see another.
The victories setup a huge match at Hartford this week for the league lead. Hartford is a very good shooting team and has the home range advantage. If they gel it could be a very exciting match.
Whitehall – 985
Dick McMore: 50, 50, 50, 50 — 200; Jason Pratt: 50, 50, 50, 50 — 200; John Hollister: 50, 49, 50, 48 — 197; Lou Pratt: 50, 49, 50, 46 — 195; Jim McGinnis:50, 49, 47, 47 — 193.
Fort Ann – 933
B. Goodwin: 50, 47, 49, 45 — 191; S. Thompson: 49, 47, 47, 46 — 189; M. Bennefield: 49, 50, 47, 43 — 189; R. Stumvall: 50, 50, 47, 43 — 188; J. Taibe: 50, 43, 46, 37 — 176.
Whitehall – 977
Jason Pratt: 50 50 59 59 -198; Dick McMore: 50 49 49 49-97; John Hollister: 50 50 49 48-197; Pete Steffan: 50 50 49 45-194; Brian Hollister: 50 48 47 46-191.
Galway – 966
C. Jewett: 50 50 47 47-194; E.J. Hawn: 50 48 49 46-193; B. Flint: 50 49 49 45-193; C. Tillson: 50 48 50 45-193; E.M. Hawn: 50 48 50 45-193
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