(2/21/09) NJSIAA Team Finals - Boys

It's the most bittersweet moment of the bowling season: the last day of the State finals. Normally, for North Jersey teams, it's more bitter than sweet, and various local bowlers told me as much after Saturday's tournament. The boys teams from up here, though, usually have a better go of it at Carolier Lanes than the girls teams do, and with that I must issue yet another apology for a mis-stated fact (sort of).

A couple of entries ago, I had said that the last Northern team to really do well at Carolier was Clifton in 2002, when it won the State boys championship. While not entirely untrue – the Mustangs remain the last North Jersey squad to win the whole thing – Becton captured the first-ever State Group 1 title when the format was introduced in 2007. So there you go.

This year, the best finish by a North section boys team in the State finals was third – in fact, a team from some portion of this portion of the state finished third in every single bracket: Old Tappan (Group 4, 2,920), Nutley (Group 3, 2,913), Jefferson (Group 2, 2,908) and Queen of Peace (Group 1, 2,794). I use the "portion" qualifier because even though all those teams are technically in this part of the state, they don't necessarily fall under every media outlet's definition of "North Jersey." The definition, for this site's purposes, was explained a few entries ago, but now that I think of it, I'm going to include Nutley, which doesn't meet any of the existing conditions, but I see them all the time as an [ex] NNJIL team. So there, again.

However, I got a very nice e-mail from one of the parents of the bowlers in the North 1B section – a tournament that I didn't recap because I was at the North 1A finals, which took place at the same time – prompting the following decision: A number of local qualifiers from North 1B earned a trip to North Brunswick, and since I haven't gotten a chance to talk much about some of them, they get top billing this time. Well... close to the top. Had to mention the high finishers first.

Straight outta Pompton: (Sorry, couldn't resist. Please don't tell Dr. Dre.) The State qualifier with the highest pinfall (3,050) at the North 1B tournament was Pompton Lakes, which won Group 2 to bring home the first sectional bowling title in school history. I have mentioned the Cardinals before, given their dominance in the B-PSL this season – unfortunately, that success didn't seem to translate at Carolier, at least early on. But after an 858 in the opener, Pompton got better as the day went on, finishing with a 948 in Game 3. Seniors Billy Jack (200) and Jon Eis-Figueroa (214) had the two highest games, and the latter may have the best bowling nickname ever: Eis (pronounced "ice"). Seriously, when I need a strike in the 10th, and I've got two guys on my team that are otherwise equal except for their nicknames – even if the other guy is "Lefty" – I'm still sending in "Eis" every time. I seriously think Jon's got a case to sue Robert Van Winkle for the rights to the name, plus "Ice, Ice Baby" residuals, and rights in perpetuity, and all that legal mumbo-jumbo.
(Okay, I'm quitting with the rap references while I'm ahead.)

Three cheers for Lakeland: In just their third full season of varsity competition, the Lancers won the Group 3 title at the North 1B tournament, shooting a 3,012 to rally past Northern Hills Skyline rival DePaul (more on them in a bit). In the State Group 3 finals, they wound up with a 10th-place 2,415 against some daunting competition. Case in point: Lakeland shared lanes with Group 3 runner-up Woodbridge (3,160), which amassed the highest game in the house in Game 2 – a 1,162 that included a 298 from junior Matt Sabin. Lancers anchor Andrew Davidowicz, the team's lone senior, paused before even starting his 10th frame to let Sabin try and finish off the perfect game... classy move. However, after Sabin threw his last ball, he started walking away as if he had Strike #12 in the bag; the bowling gods, angered, sent the front pins wrapping around the 4-7, and the only way the young Barron could tell he missed was from the crowd reaction (dude walked about 4 lanes away to the left). Of course, that didn't help out the Lancers any, but regardless of the outcome, bowling has seemed to gain a strong foothold up in Wanaque – Lakeland probably brought the largest fan contingent of any Bergen/Passaic/Hudson team, plus they've got good bloodlines running through the program already. (Davidowicz and Zach Zuravner are both the second members of their families to bowl for the Lancers).

DePaul has DeLast laugh: At least among Northern Hills teams, it does. The Spartans finished second to Passaic Valley in the league and second to Lakeland at sectionals, but wound up carrying the conference banner at Carolier, finishing seventh in Group 3 (2,637). Senior anchor Tom Maggio had about as consistent a day as you could have: 202-204-194 for an even 600 series. Nice move by coach Jerry Fazzio letting his other senior, Calvin Yoon, step in to finish out Game 3 for Greg Corradi. All in all, DePaul has plenty going for it, with four consecutive trips to the State finals under its belt (not two, as previously stated) and quite a bit of talent returning next year, including freshman Colette Malyack, who had Saturday's high game (224), part of a 547 series. And, point of order, she averaged over 200 this year. And, yes indeed, she is a freshman (she also finished 28th at the individual finals). Also, I finally learned how to pronounce her name – MAL-yak, the most obvious way, but you never can tell with some names – it just would have been nice to see the NJSIAA print the DePaul girls' names on the roster in the program, you know, considering it's a co-ed team and all (Colette and Breanne McEldowney were both omitted. Clearly, the NJBRG will not stand for that on this site).

Passaic Power not quite enough: Unfortunately, last Saturday was the equivalent of midnight in the Cinderella story of senior Vinny Buono (detailed futher in this article) and his Indians teammates, who finished second at sectionals but ended up 10th in Group 4 (2,452) at the State finals. By my count, Buono bowled at least seven 700 series in NNJIL play this winter, topping out at 799 and finishing with a 222 average; not too shabby for a varsity rookie. Consider, however, that he wasn't the only newcomer to put Passaic back on the radar this winter – I had seen Raymond Villanueva's impressive scores all season long, but didn't find out until seeing the roster on Saturday that he's a freshman. A freshman who averaged 204 in the league. Good thing he's coming back, because the Indians are going to miss a bunch of seniors next year, including Juan Rosas (194 average), Robinson Rodriguez (173) and Pedro Rodriguez (167). Although Pedro leaves with the feather-in-his-cap of having edged out Buono for bragging honors at Carolier, 532 to 520. Check that, Rosas was 24th at the State singles finals with a 617 last Wednesday... you know what, I couldn't beat any of these guys in a single-frame roll off where they were blindfolded and I wasn't, so I'm going to let them sort out the bragging rights amongst themselves.

As for the other North 1B qualifiers to reach the boys State finals, I'm once again out of the loop, aside from what I read in the Star Ledger. But I know that Vernon won Group 4 and Vikings senior David Kinney was the sectional champ with a 720 – Kudos to them, as well as Lenape Valley, Hudson County Prep and High Tech for earning a spot among the 40 team finalists in North Brunswick.

Of course, I can't forget our pals from North 1A, either. Outside of OT and QP, the results were fairly mixed, but here are some of the highlights:
Bergen Catholic (4th in Group 4, 2,785): The Crusaders were one of those start-slow, finish-strong teams for which I will not reference any '90s female pop artist's hits. Their 887 first game was offset by a 974 in Game 3 that vaulted them over Cherokee and South Brunswick. Junior Rob Grippo had a nice bounce-back from a disappointing 571 at the individual finals, capping a 631 series with games of 211 and 233. Props to junior Peter Afarian for jumping into the lineup and bowling a 215 in Game 2.
Nutley (3rd in Group 3, 2,913): I just realized that Saturday may be the last time I see the Maroon Raiders for a while, given the dissolution of the NNJIL. Whoever ends up as their chief competition next year, good luck: the 5 graduating seniors hand things off to 5 returning sophs – who, if they weren't bowling for the varsity, were leading the JV to an undefeated season. Seniors Ben Sowizral and Daniel Penett both posted 564 series on Saturday. Keep an eye on sophomore Angelo Lambroschino, who rolled a monster 247-669 and could be a dead ringer for Pedro from "Napoleon Dynamite", sans mustache. Added props to the Nutley faithful, who brought some creative signs and T-shirts, but more impressively managed to make themselves heard among the hoards of Woodbridge and Sayreville fans.
Pascack Valley (5th in Group 3, 2,689): The so-called "power of the socks" – Tim Leonard's phrase, not mine – ostensibly wore off. However, I remain very much a fan of the Boy Scout neckerchiefs, especially since A) the Indians shared lanes with DePaul, and I otherwise would not have been able to tell the green shirts apart; and B) I actually made Scout First-Class way back when. (Got a public speaking merit badge and everything). PV sort of did the reverse of other North Jersey teams, starting off with a 947 before fading, but senior captain Kyle Orr (203) and classmate Steve Kilduff (168) both finished strong in Game 3 (nice job by coach Judy Lucia of letting Kilduff step in for the finale). And the Indians should be boosted by the return of freshman Joey Farinelli (high game: 229) and sophomore anchor Brian O'Flaherty (213) next season.
Ramsey (8th in Group 3, 2,580): Interesting point I discussed with coach Bill Chesney – since they closed Interstate Lanes on Route 17 a couple of years ago, the talent pipeline in Ramsey has dried up a bit. The Rams made it down to Carolier with their 2004 Bergen County-championship squad, then hit a bit of a lull. However, they've been back in the State finals each of the last two years, and might start making it a tradition again with sophomores Jarrett Floyd (493 series) and twins Ryan (565) and Kyle (612) Landau returning. (FYI, the Landaus do their off-season bowling at Holiday Bowl in Oakland). Seniors Craig Wolfe and Doug Nemeth (lefty) finished their careers with matching 153s, but how about Nemeth taking his bowling career down to the last day of the season? You may remember him as the linebacker on the Rams' football team that confronted a burglar in his home in the fall of 2007, escaping with a stab wound but returning to football practice the same week. On behalf of good citizens everywhere, giving him a mention on our blog is the least we can do.

I didn't get much of a chance to observe all the BCSL locals – Leonia (5th, 2,720) and New Milford (10th, 2,588) in Group 2 and Queen of Peace and Park Ridge (8th, 2,595) in Group 1 – since most of the radio stations/newspapers I have to submit things to don't cover those teams. But I do know that Park Ridge has a nice freshman-sophomore brother combo (Dan and Mike Wuhrman) to build around, and that New Milford is excited about the return of junior anchor Anthony Karalian (although, for the record, I'm pretty sure Coach Millian has been a fan all along)... Old Tappan is also on the outskirts of my area, but I did get a look at their final scores, and they were all solid: Justin Siegel 225-623, Alex Ludewig 227-594, Justin Hussong 213-591 and Kyle Folkers 192-551, plus a 226-561 and a pretty sweet-looking neckerchief from Pat Kiernan... Finally, Science Park (5th in Group 1, 2,731), the '09 Newark City Tournament champ, is really on the outskirts of my area – but sophomore Najee Mayers had a nice run in the State individual finals last Wednesday (1,420 series for the top seed in the stepladder finals), and Chargers anchor Ryan Cooper, a senior lefty, had a 227 game on Saturday that I managed to catch a bit of.

As for the champs – Brick Memorial (Group 4), Sayreville (repeat Group 3 winner), Wall (Group 2) and Roselle Catholic (repeat Group 1 winner) – I'm not sure I can add a whole lot on top of what's been written in the other papers around the state. Sayreville rolled through the Baker game Tournament of Champions to repeat as the overall titleist, and in case you're wondering, it was the NJBRG his ownself that tipped off the Ledger's Mike Moretti about the Bombers' run of 16 consecutive strikes in their second-game 1,139. Thank you, I'll be here all week. (I should mention that I only saw 15 straight X's on the scoreboard in the 3rd, 4th and 5th frames, and I can't remember the name of the fan that tipped me off that it was actually 16 in a row – guess he'll have to settle with the fact that his team destroyed the tournament record with a 3,306 series as "consolation").

The only other random notes left on the pad... I was amazed that Elizabeth (2,621), a Group 4 school, has a co-ed team. Really? You can't manage to scrape together separate boys and girls teams at a school of over 3,000 kids? I can only assume the Watchung Conference has a bunch of smaller schools that have to field co-ed teams so the Minutemen must comply, otherwise I can't see the logic... Sadly, there are no photos, but the "Best Mohawk in Show" Award was shared by Elizabeth's Matt Milanes and Warren Hills' Mike Handley, both of whom went the extra mile by using hair gel for spiking purposes.

*Whew*... time for some sunlight. This won't be the final NJBRG entry of the winter, since we still have all sorts of All-Star stuff planned, plus there's the final edition of the WGHT North Jersey bowling recap coming up at 2:30 PM tomorrow (2/24). As the Strawberry Alarm Clock once sang, "turn on, tune in, turn your eyes around." Okay, maybe not that last part.