(1/17/09) Bergen County Girls Tournament @ Bowler City

Well, it's a tad late, and I can give you excuses from working a Saturday night shift to house-hunting to having adventurous walks on the beautiful ice this time of year – all of which have happened, btw – but either way, I must apologize for putting off my blogging. I was at the Bergen County girls tournament at Bowler City in Hackensack last Saturday, at it ended up being the type of event that deserves some extra mention, so I'll get to it shortly.

First, a point of order and some clerical business. Since I'd like to get bowling in North Jersey as much pub as possible but lack the ability to clone/teleport/imitate Plastic Man, this site will gladly accept submissions of reports from other high school bowling tournaments in the area (caveat: they will be edited before posting). Remember, our mission is to print the stuff that the newspapers can't/won't.

E-mail info to NorthJerseyBRG@gmail.com – we cannot, unfortunately, offer you any monetary compensation, but you will receive your name imprinted upon this here fancy Inter-web unless you instruct us otherwise.

Now then… I was curious to see how high the scoring would be at Bowler City on Saturday, considering the place had housed a pair of 300 games (Bergen Catholic's Rob Grippo and Hackensack's Perrin DeFreitas) and a 299 (Immaculate Heart's Nicole Linder) in the three days leading up to the tournament. The real story, though, was the new format.

In past years, both the Bergen boys and girls tournaments were done the same: 3 games in the morning, 3 in the afternoon, the totals from all 6 used to determine both team and individual champions. This year for the girls, the 3-game morning session was kept, and that was used to determine high series/individual champ – then, the top 8 teams advanced to an additional qualifying round of 4 Baker games. The 4 teams with the highest pinfall (morning plus afternoon) went on to a head-to-head tournament.

After the morning session, here's how the standings looked:
1. IHA 3134*, 2. Ridgewood 2468*, 3. Holy Angels 2377*, 4. Hackensack 2329*, 5. Fair Lawn 2196*, 6. Bergenfield 2181*, 7. Pascack Hills 2173*, 8. Indian Hills 2142*, 9. Northern Highlands 2002, 10. Ramapo 1936, 11. Pascack Valley 1934, 12. Paramus Catholic 1908, 13. Dumont 1902, 14. Ramsey 1898, 15. Cliffside Park 1895, 16. Westwood 1890.

FYI, IHA's first two games were 1078 and 1070, annihilating the previous single-game record of 1010 that the Blue Eagles themselves set in winning the 2003 title. Under the old format, the tournament was over right there. And, even with the four Baker games to start the afternoon, the order was juggled a bit, but not enough to change the top 4 (final totals in parens):
1. Immaculate Heart 183-174-177-205 (3873)
2. Ridgewood 121-192-183-194 (3158)
3. Hackensack 164-223-129-140 (2985)
4. Holy Angels 140-131-140-138 (2926)
5. Bergenfield 163-165-149-143 (2801)
6. Pascack Hills 204-141-156-107 (2781)
7. Indian Hills 132-126-143-172 (2715)
8. Fair Lawn 127-125-132-133 (2713)

Clearly, Hackensack took to the new format quite well, although the same could not be said for all. I'd like to think that perhaps it might spur some teams on to practicing the Baker format leading up to next year's tournament, especially since the final playoff round was rather compelling.

Even though the only spot to change in the order after Baker games was Hackensack overtaking Holy Angels, don't think this wasn't significant to the Comets, because it meant they didn't have to face IHA in the semifinals. Then again, Ridgewood wound up rendering that point moot – Hackensack took the first game, 196-147, and (after a lane switch) had a decent lead in the second game, with the Maroons sitting on 99 entering the 9th frame.

However, a couple late opens left the door open for this: Ridgewood's Courtney Visco went 8-spare in the ninth. Then, in one of the most intense finishes of the day, lefty Kim Burdi struck out (and looked 87 different kinds of fired up in doing so) to give the Maroons a 149-135 win and all the momentum. They elected to stay on their lane for Game 3 and left just two open frames, rolling six strikes to win, 197-124.

Meanwhile, IHA got past the Angels fairly easily, 205-159, 181-136. Yet, the finals brought about shades of the semis. IHA beat Ridgewood in the first game, 210-138, but again, after the lane switch, the Maroons caught fire in Game 2. They started off with 6 straight marks and closed with – what else? – Burdi striking out. And let me tell you, if Omar Minaya had seen that fire in her eyes for the 10th frame, he might have signed her to be Billy Wagner's replacement on the spot.

But let us not forget that when it comes to girls bowling in Bergen County, there are few teams as unflappable as IHA. Whether intentional or not (wish I'd asked), the Blue Eagles elected to switch back to the original lane setup for Game 3 and proceeded to build an 18-point lead before senior Vicki Grimshaw got unlucky with a 2-7 split in the 8th. That allowed the Maroons to creep closer, but Grace Capone struck in the 9th to give IHA a 149-135 lead entering the 10th.

IHA anchor Lauren Rhein finished up 9-spare-9, and probably should have had a strike on the final ball – no thanks to a Weeble-wobbling 10-pin. That left Burdi with a chance to tie the match with a strikeout, but her first ball was a bit light into the pocket, and she finished 7-spare-strike. Regardless, it was an outstanding finish, and members of both Hackensack and Holy Angels stayed around to watch even after the semifinals.

The closest margin of victory in the Bergen County girls tournament under the old format was 6 pins, which happened in 1995 (IHA over Fair Lawn) and, like clockwork, 10 years later in 2005 (IHA over Paramus Catholic). That was the first of the Blue Eagles' current string of five consecutive county titles – I have no idea why the Bergen Record keeps saying it's six, but Ridgewood won it in 2004, meaning for IHA to win it in 05-06-07-08-09 is five straight. Then again, I might be the only one nit-picky enough to point that out.

At any rate, the new format seemed to be a smash hit – FYI, Ridgewood coach and new tournament director Dick Bennett also helped revamp the county girls golf tournament last spring, increasing both participation and interest. He'll never take the credit, because he's one of those coaches who is genuinely in it for the kids first, but he deserves some mega-kudos anyway.

Oh, and speaking of bowling and golf in the same sentence, Rhein won the individual title with a 670 series and informed me afterward that she's headed to Vanderbilt to bowl in college. I told her that, coincidentally, I'd recently interviewed a Vanderbilt freshman and former Wayne Hills star who is quite the golf prodigy – "Any chance you know Marina Alex?" I asked. Lauren then politely reminded me that yes, she used to golf against Marina all the time. Glad I was paying attention.

Then again, if I didn't have bowling on the brain all winter, who'd keep this place up and running?

(1/10/09) North Jersey Singles Classic @ Parkway Lanes

For all the snow that was forecast, a pretty decent crowd showed up. Boys qualifying round took place in the morning, girls started around lunch time. Had a tough time keeping track of all the boys since there were well over 100 entries, but I did manage to catch a few of the girls games. Lauren Rhein of IHA may have had the best qualifying-round game I saw: 8-spare, 9 strikes in a row, 9-spare to finish off a 279.

The boys roll-offs actually began right after lunch, while girls qualifying was still going on. Good job by Mike LoPresti and his FDU girls team by keeping things moving. Although I think only 1 of his bowlers was actually able to make it out to help because of the weather, and on top of that, the poor girl's computer crashed, so they had to do everything by hand. Yikes. But I thank them for all their help.

As you can tell by the scores, the boys Round of 16 was insane. The two top qualifiers from the morning, Pompton Lakes' Billy Jack (234-252-254—740) and North Arlington's Matt Priore (279-212-245—736), both rolled monster games and missed the final four, mainly because the snow forced them to shorten the playoffs by one round. I suspect both will be heard from again in their respective county tournaments.

In the boys finals, Jose Cruz of Union City beat Wood-Ridge lefty Alex Prell, 204-183. Prell looked smooth all day, rolling solid deuces up until his very last game. Cruz was one of 4 Soaring Eagles (I love that nickname, BTW) to reach the roll-offs, and even though I don't really cover much of Hudson County, I've now seen UC twice, between the Holiday Challenge in December and the Singles Classic. If they can score down at Carolier like they do up here, they'll be dangerous come February.

The top girls in the Round of 16 put up some great numbers as well. North Arlington's Ashley Johnson opened with 6 straight strikes before convertine a 7-9 spare in the 7th, and Ridgewood's Kim Burdi started off with a 5-bagger. IHA sophomore Nicole Linder was one of the last to finish up and just edged out her teammate Vicki Grimshaw for the last semifinal spot -- otherwise, we would have had three southpaws in the semis (Burdi, Grimshaw and High Tech's Jolisa Aquino), and as a fellow left-hander, I always make a point of pointing out such things.

Anyway, Aquino opened the semis with a 5X to move into the finals. Linder had some big finishes all afternoon, striking out in the 10th at least once or twice (wish I had written it down). Linder wound up winning, 218-204, and according her coach Lynn Gansey, it was only the second time she'd ever bowled at Parkway. Good stuff.
I'd have to say it was worth it for those who braved the snow, which was barely up to an inch at the end of the tournament - not nearly enough to prevent a stop at Hank's Franks on my way home. Next up: the Bergen County Girls Tournament, Saturday at Bowler City. Will try to get a preview up before Friday's end.

BOYS - ROLL-OFF QUALIFIERS

1. Billy Jack, Pompton Lakes 740; 2. Matt Priore, North Arlington 736; 3. Chris Auld, Fair Lawn 736; 4. Alex Prell, Wood-Ridge 734; 5. Omar Espinal, Union City 732; 6. Jose Cruz, Union City 725; 7. Rob Andresen, Ramapo 699; 8. Ryan Cauwels, Fair Lawn 696; 9. Sean Carmody, Ridgefield Park 692; 10. Justin Hussong, Old Tappan 669; 11. Pavel Brutman, Fair Lawn 665; 12. Vincent Buono, Passaic 663; 13. Steven Patchen, Bergen Tech 661; 14. Joe Farinelli, Pascack Valley 657; 15. Nick Corvelli, Bergen Catholic 656; 16. Dylan Caruso, Secaucus 655; 17. Mike Carr, Ramapo 653; 18. Adam Sanchez, Union City 648; 19. Jake Romba, Fort Lee 634; 20. Pat Kiernan, Old Tappan 629; 21. Joe Burgos, Union City 625; 22. DJ Adderly, North Bergen 625; 23. Richard Ortiz, High Tech 624; 24. Brian Galbraith, Pascack Hills 623; 25. Nick Keim, Ridgefield Park 623; 26. Mike Parsons, Bergen Catholic 621; 27. Jean Baez, Union City 621; 28. Mark Robinson, Leonia 617; 29. John Sandberg, Fair Lawn 616; 30. Robinson Rodriguez, Passaic 613; 31. Matt Lajoie, New Milford 613; 32. Andrew Schrenzel, New Milford 611; 33. David Rodenzo, Leonia 609; 34. Brian Perez, High Tech 608; 35. Kyle Orr, Pascack Valley 608; 36. Nick Roman, Wood-Ridge 595.

BOYS ROUND OF 36: 1. Prell, 258; 2. Caruso, 249; 3. Cauwels, 238; 4. Priore, 236; 5. Carmody, 233; 6. Buono, 232; 7. Espinal, 213; 8. Roman, 212; 9. Corvelli, 211; 10. Cruz, 210; 11. Kiernan, 209; 12. Jack, 204; 13. Parsons, 202; 14. Romba, 199; 15. Brutman, 190; 16. Perez, 184; 17. Auld, 180; 18. Patchen, 179; 19. Robinson, 179; 20. Andresen, 178; 21. Galbraith, 178; 22. Adderly, 176; 23. Ortiz, 168; 24. Hussong, 167; 25. Schrenzel, 167; 26. Sanchez, 165; 27. Rodenzo, 165; 28. Burgos, 164; 29. Baez, 161; 30. Sandberg, 158; 31. Carr, 156; 32. Keim, 156; 33. Lajoie, 153; 34. Orr, 151; 35. Farinelli, 141; 36. Rodriguez, 130.

BOYS ROUND OF 16: 1. Carmody, 267; 2. Caruso, 246; 3. Prell, 236; 4. Cruz, 236; 5. Priore, 234; 6. Jack, 230; 7. Buono, 227; 8. Roman, 225; 9. Romba, 219; 10. Kiernan, 216; 11. Espinal, 215; 12. Cauwels, 199; 13. Parsons, 190; 14. Perez, 190; 15. Corvelli, 188; 16. Brutman, 144. BOYS SEMIFINALS: 1. Prell, 239; 2. Cruz, 226; 3. Caruso, 196; 4. Carmody, 160. BOYS FINALS: Jose Cruz 204, Alex Prell 183.

GIRLS - ROLL-OFF QUALIFIERS

1. Lauren Rhein, IHA 683; 2. Jen Houseward, Manchester 665; 3. Brianna Carlo, Dumont 637; 4. Sonja Shirak, Clifton 631; 5. Celine O'Shea, Leonia 626; 6. Brittany Kniesler, Bergenfield 626; 7. Victoria Grimshaw, IHA 621; 8. Nicole Linder, IHA 610; 9. Colleen Blake, IHA 603; 10. Erika Nedwell, High Tech 589; 11. Ashley Johnson, North Arlington 589; 12. Jolisa Aquino, High Tech 570; 13. Jessica Ragone, Leonia 562; 14. Danielle Gelok, Pompton Lakes 560; 15. Olivia Yang, Holy Angels 559; 16. Kim Burdi, Ridgewood 545.

GIRLS ROUND OF 16: 1. Johnson, 242; 2. Aquino, 225; 3. Linder, 214; 4. Burdi, 211; 5. Grimshaw, 206; 6. Kniesler, 192; 7. Gelok, 192; 8. Carlo, 190; 9. Shirak, 187; 10. Rhein, 181; 11. Nedwell, 162; 12. O'Shea, 150; 13. Yang, 149; 14. Ragone, 147; 15. Blake, 139; 16. Houseward, 130. GIRLS SEMIFINALS: 1. Aquino, 234; 2. Linder, 198; 3. Johnson, 157; 4. Burdi, 157. GIRLS FINALS: Nicole Linder 218, Jolisa Aquino 204.

HIGH GAMES (BOYS): Matt Priore, Rob Andresen and Vincent Buono, 279; Chris Auld, 278; Robinson Rodriguez, 276; Joe Farinelli, 275; Alex Prell, 269. HIGH GAMES (GIRLS): Lauren Rhein, 279; Jen Houseward, 277; Celine O'Shea, 257; Jolisa Aquino, 252; Colleen Blake and Brittany Kniesler, 243.

Cheers,

--North Jersey Bowling... Reporter... Guy

Off and rolling

Welcome to the North Jersey Bowling blog, dedicated covering high school bowling in... well, North Jersey. I've noticed the local newspaper coverage has been a bit lacking so far this season -- not that I can blame them, since it's usually pretty hectic around the holidays, and most major tournaments don't start until January. Also, with print journalism dying a Mustafa-esque slow death, papers are shrinking and have less room for coverage of anything. So, here we are.



I've been covering H.S. bowling in the Bergen/Passaic area for quite some time and have been into writing for an even longer time. However, it may take me a little bit to get the hang of this blogging thing. And since there's no money in this gig (yet), I may not always be able to make posting an urgent priority.



That said, I will do my best to keep things as up-to-date as possible from now through that most glorious of holidays -- President's Day -- when the NJ State finals roll around... for the girls teams. And, then, two days later for the individual finals... and then, the following Saturday for the boys team finals. Didn't everything used to be all in one semi-convenient day? Oh well, I ain't complaining. Especially when it means more bowling to cover.