Since TM can't always get down to Central Jersey for season-opening tournaments (Bishop Ahr, et al), this constitutes his first major tournament of the year: 36 teams (25 boys, 11 girls), 6-game qualifying (3 traditional games, 3 Baker games), playoff round to follow (top 8 boys teams advance, top 6 on the girls' side). It's a long day -- and apparently necessitates the use of many parentheses -- but always fun, and it's good to get an early look at some of the local and not-so-local teams.
There's a lot going on, so to make this easy, we'll provide a live blog with game-by-game updates. Enjoy...
STANDINGS AFTER GAME 1:
BOYS: 1. Pascack Valley 985; 2. Howell 972; 3. Bergen Catholic 950; 4. Pascack Hills 925; T-5. Clifton and Ridgewood 918.
GIRLS: 1. Immaculate Heart 948; 2. Howell 853; 3. Ridgewood 768; 4. Holy Angels 760; 5. Fair Lawn 726.
HIGH GAMES SO FAR: (Boys) Rich Gutches, Passaic Tech, 268; (Girls) Sonja Shirak, Clifton, 255.
STANDINGS AFTER GAME 2:
BOYS: 1. Howell 2,066; 2. Pascack Valley 1,990; 3. Wallkill Valley 1,860; 4. Ramapo 1,850; 5. Bergen Catholic 1,843; 6. Pascack Hills 1,835.
GIRLS: 1. IHA 1,797; 2. Howell 1,757; 3. Ridgewood 1,600; 4. Holy Angels 1,576; 5. Bergen Tech 1,455; 6. Clifton 1,361.
NEW HIGH GAME: (Boys) Brian O'Flaherty, Pascack Valley, 279.
STANDINGS AFTER GAME 3:
Change of plans! The final results are in, so we'll just get right to 'em:
BOYS PLAYOFF QUALIFIERS (Seed/team):
1. Pascack Valley 3,748
2. Howell 3,651
3. Bergen Catholic 3,431
4. Clifton 3,357
5. Pascack Hills 3,339
6. Ramapo 3,305
7. Bergenfield 3,289
8. Wallkill Valley 3,280
So the first-round tournament match-ups are: (1) Pascack Valley vs. (8) Wallkill Valley... (2) Howell vs. (7) Bergenfield... (3) Bergen Catholic vs. (6) Ramapo... (4) Clifton vs. (5) Pascack Hills.
GIRLS PLAYOFF QUALIFIERS:
1. IHA 3,121
2. Howell 3,107
3. Ridgewood 2,866
4. Holy Angels 2,796
5. Bergen Tech 2,749
6. Hackensack 2,519
First-round match-ups: (3) Ridgewood vs. (6) Hackensack... (4) Holy Angels vs. (5) Bergen Tech -- it's like an old-time NNJIL showdown, it is -- byes for (1) IHA and (2) Howell.
BOYS ALL-STAR TEAM (Top 5 scores of qualifying round):
Rich Gutches (Passaic Tech), 779 *New tournament record!
Brian O'Flaherty (Pascack Valley), 772
Joey Farinelli (Pascack Valley), 747
Frank Vitarelle (Howell), 729
Brian DiMarco (Bergenfield), 722
GIRLS ALL-STAR TEAM:
Sonja Shirak (Clifton), 714
Colleen Blake (IHA), 645
Nicole Linder (IHA), 595
Colette Malyack (DePaul), 591
Chasitie Ammacher (Wallkill Valley), 589
POINT OF ORDER: A couple of asides while we're on lunch break... first, despite the fact that The Messenger has been covering H.S. bowling in these parts for a decade, he always forgets about the incoming freshmen (bowlers as well as fans). So, for the benefit of those, two things:
(A) Why does The Official Reporter of the NJBB go by the handle "The Messenger"? Well, a messenger pin is one that caroms off the sidewall, goes all the way back across the lane and knocks out a pin that otherwise wouldn't have gone down. For our purposes, TM is here to do just that: provide wall-to-wall coverage of his favorite sport (rimshot? anyone?... please?)
(B) Since we're about to bowl Baker games for the tournament round, here is a brief refresher for the freshmen (a re-frosh-er, perhaps?) as to how they work: the 5 bowlers in a team's lineup will combine to bowl a single game. The example given in today's program: if the lineup goes 1. Lauren Leadoff, 2. Sarah Second, 3. Theresa Third, 4. Felicia Fourth and 5. Annie Anchor, then Lauren will bowl frames 1 & 6, Sarah gets 2 & 7, Theresa gets 3 & 8, Felicia 4 & 9, Annie 5 & 10. The anchor is typically the team's best bowler and/or is a Grace Under Pressure type. (P.S. This tournament is run by the FDU women's team, hence the female names. Personally, I'd have named the anchor Grace... on the other hand, if you've ever seen Anne of Green Gables [don't ask], you know that Annie can be one tough cookie, so I guess it works.
END POINT OF ORDER.
QUARTERFINAL RESULTS (From here on out, we play best 2-of-3 Baker game series)
BOYS:
(8) Wallkill Valley def. (1) Clifton, 2-0
(4) Clifton def. (5) Pascack Hills, 2-1
(3) Bergen Catholic def. (6) Ramapo, 2-1
(2) Howell def. (7) Bergenfield, 2-0
GIRLS:
(5) Bergen Tech def. (4) Holy Angels, 2-1
(3) Ridgewood def. (6) Hackensack, 2-0
SEMIFINAL RESULTS
BOYS:
(8) Wallkill Valley def. (4) Clifton, 2-1
(2) Howell def. (3) Bergen Catholic, 2-1
Once again, the boys championship trophy will have a long ride home from Parkway Lanes... Howell is back in the finals as defending champ.
GIRLS:
(1) IHA def. (5) Bergen Tech, 2-0
(2) Howell def. (3) Ridgewood, 2-1
The Maroons gave Howell a run for its money, but we will have a straight rematch of the 2009 finals in the girls bracket.
THE FINALS...
***BOYS CHAMPION: WALLKILL VALLEY***
The 8th-seeded Rangers end up winning the tournament, defeating No. 2 Howell in the finals, 2-1 (166-156, 143-188, 192-180). The WV lineup: freshman Chasitie Ammacher, senior Ed Davenport, senior Jacob Boone, senior Matt Coombs and junior Larry Tufaro. Late in the decisive game, Boone and Coombs struck back-to-back before Tufaro added two more (hambone!) to seal the victory.
***GIRLS CHAMPION: HOWELL***
If you think this sounds like a broken record, not so... in last year's finals, Howell was the No. 1 seed and IHA was the No. 2. This time, seeds reversed, but outcome the same, the Rebels beat the Blue Eagles, 2-1 (124-165, 172-157, 170-154). That's right in both the semifinals and finals, Howell lost the first game and came back to win the series, securing its 4th straight title. Nugget of note: The Rebels have beaten IHA in the finals 3 of the 4 times, their other title came against Holy Angels in 2008. The Howell lineup: senior Ashley Buck, sophomore Jamie Kelly, junior Kendall Patterson, senior Allison Savoye and junior Shanna Kelly.
And now, because he's been here for 6-1/2 hours and Parkway's WiFi is starting to go on the fritz, The Messenger will sign off. We'll try to post additional scores and such when (and if) TM gets to check his e-mail again. Congrats to the champs, and as always:
See you on the other side...
-TM
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