RICHMOND — Bowling history was made at Galaxy Saturday as two Madison County high school teams met in head-to-head competition for the first time.

 Both Madison Southern and Madison Central participated in the inaugural KHSAA Region 8 tournament last year, but they did not meet in direct competition because Central had a co-ed team only. The Central roster has been expanded and the school can now put both a boy’s team and a girl’s team on the lanes.

 The boy’s and girl’s teams from Madison Central and Madison Southern engaged in very competitive matches on Saturday.

 In something of a surprise, both the Central boys and Central girls won their matches. Southern had several experienced bowlers, while many of the Central bowlers were competing for the first year.

 Each team enters two teams of four bowlers to compete in two games each using the regular bowling format. The low score is discarded, and the total for the other three bowlers determines the winner of the game. A team receives one point for each game won. Thus, four points are at stake in this part of the competition.

 Both the Central and Southern boys had won two points and lost two points after this part of the match.

 Sixth-grader Daelyn White bowled the top game for the Central boys at 202. Adam Cromer (191), Grant Willoughby (180) and Josh Maynard (170) rolled the next-best games.

 Caleb Holbrook led the Southern boys with a 199 game, followed by Jared Long (178), Dakota Megyesi (174) and Brian Ford (168).

 The teams then bowled two Baker style games, in which five team members alternate bowling a frame. Each win in a Baker match counts for one point.

 The Central boys won both Baker games — 171 to 153 and 149 to 125. Daelyn White rolled strikes in the 10th frame of both Baker games to clinch the wins. The Central boys also won a point for recording the most pins and won the match over Southern by a score of 5-2.

 Central coach Mark Harrison stated that his boys bowled the best they had all year, which enabled them to win the match against a more experienced team.

 The Southern and Central girls were also tied with two points won and two points lost after the individual bowling was completed.

 The top games for the Southern girls were 177 by Megan Faught, 145 by Shania Wilmot and 140 by Rebecca Sowder.

 The best games for the Central girls were bowled by Debborah Harrison (157), Elizabeth Rodgers (144) and Brittany Hurst (118).

 The Central girls won both Baker games — 132 to 108 and 122 to 108, but Southern took the point for total pins. Thus, the Central girls won their match 4-3.

 Both Southern and Central have struggled at times this season.

 The Southern boys have won 27 points of a possible 84 points thus far this season, while the Southern Girls have won 30 of a possible 84.

 Central has won few matches, but they have been competitive each time, according to Harrison. The total number of points won and lost by Central was not available.

 The highest averages to date for the Southern boy’s team have been recorded by the team’s four seniors — Brian Ford (173), Caleb Holbrook (165), Jared Long (161) and Dakota Megyesi (127). The highest games bowled are 260 by Long, 225 by Ford, 212 by Holbrook and 189 by Dakota Megyesi.

 The other members of the boy’s team are Zeb Davis, John Richmond, Robert Buckman, Hunter Megyesi and Derrick Richmond.

 The Southern girls are led by junior Rebecca Sowder with a 155 average and best game of 197. Megan Faught has the next-best average (131) and high game (186), followed by Shania Wilmot with a 122 average and 171 best game.

 The remaining members of the girl’s team and their best games to date are: Ciara Plants (143), Heather Long (139) and Jodeci Collins (136).

 Margaret Tilsley coaches the Southern girls and Randy Burgess coaches the boys. Coach Tilsley believes Brian Ford, Rebeca Sowder, Caleb Holbrook and Jared Long have a good chance of advancing to the regional finals and the state tournament this year. Ford and Sowder made it to the region semifinals last season.

 Each school can enter four boys and four girls in the individual competition at the regional. These bowlers roll three games with the top eight advancing to the semifinals. After the semifinalists have bowled two more games, the top five advance to the stepladder finals. The top four then move on to the state tournament.

 The top two boy’s and girl’s teams in the Baker style matches at the regional also advance to the state tournament.

 The Central boys are coached by Mark Harrison and the girls by Johnny Harrison.

 The members of the Madison Central boy’s team are Josh Maynard, Grant Willoughby, Thomas Speakman, Blake Jackson, William White, Marcus Willis, Antonio Thrash, Elijah Vaughn, Adam Cromer and Daelyn White.

 The Central girl’s squad includes Nikki Vickery, Kristina Dryagin, Kat Hoover, Brittany Hurst, Kaylee Speakman, Danielle Harrison, Elizabeth Rodgers and Debborah Harrison.

 Individual averages were not available for the Central teams.

Harrison stated that Josh Maynard, Adam Cromer and Daelyn White have the best chance to make the finals at the regional meet and advance to the state tournament. Cromer advanced to the regional semifinals last year.

 The second-annual KHSAA Region 8 bowling tournament will be held at Corbin on Jan. 26 and 27.