In a recent post, the NJBB alluded to the magical season had by Ramapo; not only that the Green Raider boys had won their first-ever NBIL Division 1 championship (the girls got one in 1997), but also the tale of sophomore Kevin Macchia's 300 game and fifth place finish in the State individual finals. (This is the last time we're going to link said story, and we do so for those who are as forgetful as The Messenger can be). Both Macchia and head coach Pat Noto gave me a ton of great stuff when I interviewed them for the story — so to kick off our NBIL recap, I'm simply going to let the Green Raiders give you their story in their own words:
“[At] the beginning of the season, we thought we had a pretty good team. And we started off a little slow – we were in fourth place by the time the Christmas break happened. Then, right before the Christmas break, Ramapo had a pep rally, and everybody goes into the gym… it just so happened that the bowling team sat under the bowling banner. And, I looked up at the banner, and it was the only banner in the gym that did not have a championship on it…Macchia had plenty to add when TM spoke with him later that day. The stuff that didn't make the paper:
“So the kids went on the break, and then when they came back, this was their mantra: they wanted to win a league championship; nothing else mattered to them. And, actually, from the time we came back from break [on Jan. 4], we only lost one match for the rest of the season.
“The other thing that goes along with this is the fact that everybody on the team participated. Even though Rob Andresen, who’s the captain – and he’s been the best bowler on the team for the last four years – even though he’s the leader, if he had a bad game, Kevin Macchia came through, or even [one of the more inexperienced] bowlers on our team came through…
“It came down to our last two matches. [Against Northern Highlands on Feb. 8], Nick Fasolo was actually the one who saved us. We couldn’t afford to lose any points in this one, and he ended up bowling a 225 and a 185… he’s got a 165 average. And he sort of carried the first game for us, then the kids came through in the second game, and we ended up taking all 5 [points].
“Then, in our last match against Old Tappan [on Feb. 9], it was Paul Singman who came through and bowled a 225, and we won the first game. And that’s all we needed at that point, just to win one game to win the title…
“So then, Kevin got the opportunity to go down to the States for our team. And there we are – all the boys from our team are there, they’re all watching him bowl, and he bowls a 300 in the first game. It was just incredible… and again, that was just like the perfect end to the whole season.”
—Ramapo head coach Pat Noto, as told on 2/24/10
“I was a little nervous at first, because I was going to go practice [at Carolier Lanes] the day before [the State finals on Feb. 17], but I couldn’t because it snowed. So I went into the day not knowing how the lanes would be, because I’d never bowled there before…As I said, the words pretty much speak for themselves. So on we go with the recapping...
“I just kept throwing the ball, not really thinking about what was happening – and then, as it got later in the game, I’m like, ‘Oh geez, I have the first 8 or 9, this could be a 300,’ which would be my first one ever. And our senior captain [Andresen], who came to watch me – [and] who didn’t qualify, which I was very bummed about – he literally grabbed me by my collar and was like, ‘You need to stay focused. This is a normal 10th frame, don’t worry about what happened before, just go up there and throw like you normally do.
“So, I thought, ‘I need to do this, because it’s just a good experience, and it would be a very nice story to tell to my kids.’
“[On the first ball of the 10th frame], I hit the pocket a little light, and the 4 pin knocked over the 9 pin, but it happened so slowly that I didn’t know what was going to happen… the 4 actually fell over toward the 7 and then sort of rolled slowly into the 9, and it just tipped over. I heard all the parents in the background yelling, ‘Get down! Get down!’ And then as soon as it went down, it was just like an uproar…
“It didn’t even feel real after it happened. I literally walked back and sat down at the table with a group of my friends and teammates. And they’re like, ‘Dude, you just bowled a 300!’ I said, ‘I know, but it doesn’t feel like I did, it feels like this is all a dream. It was crazy.”
—Ramapo sophomore Kevin Macchia, as told on 2/24/10
After tying Indian Hills for the Division 2 title a year ago, the Ramsey boys (91-34) upped their team average by 35 pins and held off Pascack Hills (87-38) to claim this year's NBIL-2 championship outright. The Rams' trio of twins Kyle (league-high 227 average) and Ryan (206) Landau and Jarrett Floyd (200) — all juniors, btw — was a big reason for that, and if they show the same improvement curve from this season to next, as they did going from 2009 to 2010, this team could be scary good next winter. Remember, they sat in 2nd place in Group 3 through two games at sectionals, and missing out on such a goal often has a way of making returning players that much hungrier to "Git-R-Done" the next time around. Incidentally, Indian Hills (68-57) finished third in this division, so I'm sure it was no small consolation to the Braves that they were the ones who overtook Ramsey to earn a trip to Carolier.
Now to the girls. Trivia question: which team repeated as NBIL Division 1 champion this season? Answer: None of them! Trick question (sorry, had to)... with conference realignment whisking away defending champ Fair Lawn to the NJTCC, there was a shakeup in the NBIL alignment as well. So, after bringing home the Division 2 crown in 2009, the Bergenfield girls (113-22) moved up to Division 1 and cleaned up, taking the title by 20 points over Ramapo and Holy Angels (both 83-52). And, since TM does not recall pointing it out in this corner of the blogosphere before, the Bears' top two bowlers, Cassidy Fiore (173 average) and Sarah Esmenda (163) are both sophomores. Cleary, he has mentioned both of them on the NJBB, he just wasn't aware that they have two more years to carve out a pretty fine legacy — which, as a matter of fact, they've already begun doing. Lefty Samantha Griffenkranz (150) and Danielle Hayes, both juniors, will also be back next year to help Bergenfield shoot for its third different league title in three seasons (Big North, beware) and seventh straight overall.
Finally, as the boys Division 1 race came down to wire, so did the battle for the NBIL-2 girls championship, which went to Indian Hills (117-18) over Pascack Hills (115-20) by 2 points. The Braves beat Mahwah on the final day of the season — seriously, it was the final NBIL match to be made up on Feb. 24 due to all the snow — to lock up the title (P.S. that was their sixth consecutive victory via sweep). TM is actually a bit bummed that IH and Bergenfield were not in the same division this year, as his 2009 postseason prediction of a "burgeoning rivalry" between the two teams' anchor bowlers did not necessarily play out head-to-head. (If you didn't feel like clicking, to refresh your memory: Fiore and Indian Hills' Bridget Pyryt were named All-Suburban co-Freshmen of the Year, or at least they would have been if The Ridgewood News had an All-Suburban bowling team.) Come to think of it, I easily could have written the same thing about the Braves' sophomore duo of Pyryt (169 average) and Emily Ostapczuk (174) as I did about Fiore and Esmenda in the previous paragraph. IH seniors Brana Parian, Heather Hoffmann and Tracy Galek chipped in this season, but since only its No. 4 and 5 bowlers are returning next season, it remains to be seen who will have Pyryt and Ostapczuk's collective "back."
A few quick tasty tidbits before we move on (courtesy of NBIL commish Howie Conklin, *HUGE* thanks for the work he does on the stat pack): Galek, Mahwah's Kris Jergensen, Prerna Kunte and Janice Kim and Northern Highlands' Lukas Favale all had their highest game of the year in the very first game of the season, while Jergensen, Kim, Kunte, Highlands' Danielle Wurtzell and Demarest's Jeff Sabo all had their highest series of the year in their first match of the season... Pascack Hills' Bryan Kist and Marina Consalvo, Old Tappan's Charles Clifford and Paramus Catholic's Marcia Gailes all had their highest game of the year in the final game of the season, while Clifford, Old Tappan's Scott Royse, Ramapo's Lauren Scheck, Ramsey's Floyd and Demarest's Kelly Bergman all had their highest series of the year in their final match of the season... Kist averaged 231.5 over a 12-game stretch early in the season, while PC's Steve Natoli averaged 226 over his final 12 games of the winter. Kyle Landau may have taken the cake, though, closing out the season with 25 consecutive 200 games, averaging an other-worldly 234 in that span. As a public service, The Messenger must advise these three gentlemen that Holiday Bowl has requested their help in getting the scorch-marks off its lanes... I'm looking right at the sheet, and I still can't believe it — Landau's 227 average was not only the highest in the league this season, it ranks as the highest in NBIL history... Also, if I'm reading this correctly, Bergenfield's Brian DeMarco became the first NBIL bowler to shoot a 300 since Bergenfield's Steve Sinko did so in the 2002-03 season. TM meant it when he said beware of the Bears... Props to Pascack Valley's Brian O'Flaherty, too, as his 555 series tied the highest in league history. Also, given his surname and the fact that his team wears green, TM will denote that as the "perfect end" to this St. Patrick's Day wrap-up...
FINAL NBIL STANDINGS - BOYS (Points Won, Points Lost, Team Average)
| Division 1 | PW | PL | Avg. |
| Ramapo | 95 | 25 | 950 |
| Paramus Catholic | 93 | 27 | 967 |
| Northern Highlands | 81 | 39 | 917 |
| Bergenfield | 40 | 80 | 868 |
| Old Tappan | 36 | 84 | 850 |
| Division 2 | PW | PL | Avg. |
| Ramsey | 91 | 34 | 935 |
| Pascack Hills | 87 | 38 | 922 |
| Indian Hills | 68 | 57 | 897 |
| Pascack Valley | 65 | 60 | 902 |
| Mahwah | 14 | 111 | 766 |
| Demarest | 5 | 120 | 754 |
High games: DiMarco (B'field), 300; O'Flaherty (PV), 297
High series: O'Flaherty (PV), 555; Kyle Landau (Rams), 541 (remember, it's a 2-game league)
High averages: 1. K.Landau (Rams), 227; 2. Kist (PH), 221; 3. Andresen (R'po), 213; 4. O'Flaherty (PV), 212; 5-tie. Macchia (R'po) and R.Landau (Rams) 206; 7. DiMarco (B'field), 205.
****************************
FINAL NBIL STANDINGS - GIRLS
| Division 1 | PW | PL | Avg. |
| Bergenfield | 113 | 22 | 727 |
| Holy Angels | 83 | 52 | 701 |
| Ramapo | 83 | 52 | 705 |
| Paramus Catholic | 70 | 65 | 682 |
| Northern Highlands | 55 | 80 | 659 |
| Old Tappan | 8 | 127 | 550 |
| Division 1 | PW | PL | Avg. |
| Indian Hills | 117 | 18 | 750 |
| Pascack Hills | 115 | 20 | 740 |
| Pascack Valley | 88 | 47 | 682 |
| Ramsey | 47 | 88 | 625 |
| Mahwah | 20 | 115 | 562 |
| Demarest | 11 | 124 | 558 |
High games: Fiore (B'field), 246; Consalvo (PH), 243
High series: Fiore (B'field), 430; Pyryt (IH), 421
High averages: 1. Ostapczuk (IH), 174; 2-tie. Fiore (B'field), Ana DeLeon (PC) and Megan McNally (PH), 173; 5. Pyryt (IH), 169; 6. Alex Hubelbank (NH), 168; 7. Esmenda (B'field), 163.
Again, a heaping helping of über-thanks to coach Conklin (gratitude for the statitude, perhaps?), a mathman after my own heart... special thanks also to IH coach Mike Michels for running off photo copies of said stat-pack for us and sending them in — clearly, a messenger after my own heart.
–TM
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