2/18/11 NJSIAA Team Finals - Boys

As already detailed on Tuesday's annual WGHT Sports Overtime Bowling Extravaganza, this was a big year for boys squads in The Messenger's general coverage area. Four from the GHT listening area qualified for the State team finals, which TM believes is the most in his nine years on the job. AND, a couple posted the best *finishes* by any of the locals in quite some time.

Ramapo took fifth in Group 3 by shooting 3,035, which is believed to be the first time a GHT-area team has cracked the 3,000 barrier since Clifton in 2002 (the Mustangs, incidentally, shot 3,044 that season to win the State championship, five years before the NJSIAA instituted group titles). Anyhow, the Green Raiders will return 4 of 5 starters next year, with Victor Stickna being the only senior on this year’s squad. Juniors Kevin Macchia (234-243), Mike Carr (213-236), Nick Fasolo (217) and Tyler Kammen (213) all rolled deuces in a 1,084 second game, and their best showing in the "Game 3" Baker series was 233. Plenty more to come on the fellows from Franklin Lakes in an upcoming edition of Suburban News.

In its first-ever trip to Carolier Lanes, Northern Highlands fired a pair of "10-handles" (as coach Rich Smith called them) en route to a sixth-place 2,924 in Group 4. The most interesting storyline for the Highlanders — and this was a deal that began in the Bergen County tournament — was that even though the team won the Big North National Division title, it somehow always struggled in tournaments at Bowler City. So, for the last two games at the Counties, Smith told his charges that whoever had the lowest score in the next game would get subbed out, since they have 6 pretty good bowlers... TM thought that was a neat motivational tool (which his alter ego did not have space to mention in today's Town Journal article), and it really seemed to work at both sectionals and States: Highlands was over 1,000 in each of the 1st two games last Friday before they stumbled in the Baker round. However, they do have the entire team coming back next year, including juniors Eric Sibbald (225-233) and Billy Olszewski (182-255) and sophomore Josh Taylor (218-224).

As far as the other GHT teams went, Clifton (2,615) ended up 10th in Group 4, while West Milford (2,364, 10th in Group 3) made its first appearance at Carolier since TM was on the Highlanders beat for the Suburban Trends in 2005. (Something about those newspapers in the 'burbs keeps drawing me in...)

As far as the other North section teams went, things weren't all that bad — if you're from Hudson County. Secaucus finished runner-up in Group 1 with nice efforts from Dante Iyer (225-236) and Darnell Winters (233-213)... Bayonne had a monster 1,151 in Game 2 (for the record: Joe Picarelli 174, Frank Iasparri 227, Nicholas Wisniewski 266, Chris Kim 205 and Jerel Rodriguez 279) and was within 30 pins of the Group 4 lead before winding up 3rd. Hey, it's tough when Jackson, Brick Memorial and East Brunswick are all posting 1,000s in the Baker games... Pascack Hills (5th in Group 2) didn't do too bad, either, and Cowboys lefty Jason Prezant deserves a little extra pop, because he threw a 300 earlier in the winter and got the same one-line treatment as PC's Nikki Vucak. Prezant had a 414 series with a high game of 233, and he will return next season along with junior classmate Bryan Kist (213-220) to help keep PH formidable... Sparta (4th in Group 3) shared lanes with Ramapo, and put on quite a show in Game 2, although the Spartans had the upper hand with an 1,123 (Sarah Rhodes 200, Alex Tamian 225, Cody Spector 219, Nicole Chanin 224, Scott Wilcox 255).

OTHER THOUGHTS NOT ALREADY TWITTERED BY TM: Jackson Memorial was the big winner in the high-stakes Group 4 bracket and did not throw a Baker game under 200... but if you thought that was impressive, how about Woodbridge? The Barrons basically laid seige to the Group 3 title with a Baker series of 1,118: 213, 278, 168, 225, 234. How'd that 168 get in there? Regardless, that signaled the end of Sayreville's three-year run as Group 3 champs... Ocean Township won its first-ever Group 2 crown, and yes, the Spartans' Kenny Ryan did bowl opposite of Manchester Township's Ryan Kenny for the entire day. I love word play... and of course, hail to the champs from Keansburg, who rolled nine consecutive strikes in Game 3 of the Tournament of Champions finals to turn the tide in their favor.

Actually, in TM's mind, K-burg's turning point came on the ball before the nine-bagger. Senior Shaun Moran left a 4-6-7 split and almost converted it, with the 6 falling forward to wobble the 7 ever so slightly. Being a sucker for the "hidden plays", TM asked the mop-topped Titan about the near-miss, and he basically said hey — if the bowler with the lowest average on the team can almost make a shot like that, then they all should be able to step up and make big shots. (BTW, I'm paraphrasing his words, and incidentally, having the lowest average on the State champs still is nothing to sneeze at).

So Moran, senior Ryan Schoentube and juniors Dylan Jordan, Korrie O'Hanlon and Dale Barshewsky ride off into the sunset as the first Group 1 school to win the overall State title since... who knows? As mentioned, the NJSIAA didn't start dividing into groups until 2007, and TM has no concept of school sizes prior to starting on the varsity beat 10 years ago. After conferring with venerable Star-Ledger bowling reporter Mike Moretti (and the NJSIAA's tournament program), we concluded that the last time it happened was with Harrison in 1959. A.L. Johnson Regional of Clark won it all in 1985 but was probably a Group 2 at the time, and Pope Pius XII was the 1962 State champ... yet, not only is the latter school no longer open, I have no idea what group it may have been in OR where it might even have been located.

FINAL FINAL THOUGHTS: Now, given that he has spent nearly the entirety of the past decade trekking down to North Brunswick for the State finals every February (the lone exception being in 2003), The Messenger is compelled to share the one desire that has tugged at him more and more each year. The itch to stick around after all the varsity tournament action is done and bowl a game for his ownself at Carolier begged to be scratched... and at long last, on Friday Feb. 18, it was.

At the behest of one of his fellow Blogspot colleagues — Hanna Jane of the perspicacious Veritas & Vignettes — TM finally quit putting it off and rolled at Carolier, challenging Hanna to a 10-frame, winner-take-all showdown. (In case you were wondering: Yes, HJ does share a name with a Hootie & the Blowfish tune of old, and yes, TM still owns a copy of "Cracked Rear View" on cassette tape. No, he will not pay the slightest bit of attention to any snarky comments on the subject.)

Guess there really must be something to the whole North Jersey/Carolier hex, as TM (a Bowler City regular) managed only three marks, and HJ (a product of Hy-Way Bowl in Union) emerged with a 31-point victory. HOWEVER... my lone goal was to get a single strike in the game, and sure enough, it came after I salvaged hope with a 7-spare to start the 10th and got to throw one final ball: it was an ugly backdoor job that involved the 3-pin taking down the 1 at the last minute, but it was a strike nonetheless! Never mind the final score (it's listed below if you really need it), or the fact that TM nearly tumbled over backwards in excitement — knowing what it's like to knock down all 10 on a single shot, on the last roll of the day, on the lanes where the PBA's 68th annual U.S. Open is stationed this week... well, that was more than enough to make The Messenger smile.

What a way to cap off the season.

NJSIAA Boys State Team Tournament scores

GRP 4	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Jackson Memorial	1094	1054	1085	3233*
2nd	Brick Memorial	1112	1043	1015	3170
3rd	Bayonne	1017	1151	951	3119
4th	East Brunswick	1081	974	1050	3105
5th	Livingston	1096	1098	829	3023
6th	Northern Highlands	1009	1057	858	2924
7th	Paramus Catholic	878	978	904	2760
8th	Hunterdon Central	908	1017	798	2723
9th	Union	862	865	986	2713
10th	Clifton	849	904	862	2615
GRP 3	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Woodbridge	1090	1013	1118	3221*
2nd	Sayreville	1046	1104	1041	3191
3rd	Jefferson	1124	1030	1022	3176
4th	Sparta	956	1123	993	3072
5th	Ramapo	982	1084	969	3035
6th	Nutley	972	895	1025	2892
7th	Brick Township	922	972	897	2791
8th	Pascack Valley	1013	873	893	2779
9th	Burlington Township	929	852	848	2629
10th	West Milford	816	782	766	2364
GRP 2	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Ocean Township	1075	1040	951	3066*
2nd	Wall Township	1039	982	1037	3058
3rd	Manchester Township	1123	896	952	2971
4th	A.L. Johnson	1087	993	887	2967
5th	Pascack Hills	867	1026	915	2808
6th	Morris Hills	982	925	882	2789
7th	Deptford	901	944	899	2744
8th	Hopatcong	942	908	837	2687
9th	Wallkill Valley	868	834	810	2512
10th	Ramsey	765	870	837	2472
GRP 1	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Keansburg	1007	1150	1082	3239*
2nd	Secaucus	989	993	950	2932
3rd	Bordentown	997	961	897	2855
4th	Becton	838	1005	966	2809
5th	Sussex Tech	990	925	863	2778
6th	Roselle Catholic	944	933	840	2717
7th	Middlesex	905	913	871	2689
8th	Monsignor Donovan	886	845	954	2685
9th	Science Park	892	834	820	2546
10th	St. Mary (Rutherford)	859	862	821	2542

*Group champ, advanced to Tournament of Champions

T of C - SEMIFINALS	BAKER 1	BAKER 2	BAKER 3	BAKER 4	BAKER 5
1) Keansburg	200	217	227	204	237
4) Ocean Township	173	218	203	216	235
2) Jackson Memorial	185	225	226	165	232
3) Woodbridge	216	203	216	218	202
T of C - FINALS	BAKER 1	BAKER 2	BAKER 3	BAKER 4	BAKER 5
1) Keansburg	179	244	255	215	-
2) Jackson Memorial	235	200	199	177	-

_______________________________________________
Unofficial Season-Ending Blogspot Bowling Challenge

Hanna Jane (V&V) def. The Messenger (NJBB), 122-91

Please e-mail any/all corrections to NorthJerseyBRG@gmail.com. Please, no corrections for the Blogspot Challenge...