2/13/10 North Jersey 1A Sectional Finals - Boys

Wow. I mean, that's basically all I have to say, is wow. There were some monster scores at Bowler City today in the North 1A boys finals — monster to the degree that a couple of schools shot 1,000 games and still didn't make the State team finals; also to the degree that some competitors averaged 220 for the day and didn't make the State singles finals. As for those who are headed to Carolier...

High team score of the day: Bergen Catholic, which took home the Group 4 championship with a healthy 3,112. The Crusaders' lowest game was a 1,022. In their best game (1,056), four guys all shot 212 or better, and the only one who didn't — sophomore Charlie Long (157) — immediately bounced back and threw the third-highest game of the day, a 278. Remarkable. Senior Rob Grippo led the way with a 711, and if you think we're done talking about him OR about 700 series, think again... Now, if you happened to be following the NJBB's fancy Twitter account, you may have noticed The Messenger refer to the Group 4 runner-up as "Teaneck (!)". He was that surprised at how well the Highwaymen did. This should NOT be perceived as a knock, because TM has witnessed Teaneck bowl on several occassions and has duly noted that their top 4 is pretty solid. It's just that today, "pretty solid" turned into "eyebrow-raisingly awesome," particularly in Game 2, where the Highwaymen scored 1,084. Guess I need to give leadoff man James Hoover some credit for approaching The Messenger to call attention to his squad — Hoover (224–626) and anchor Joshuah Romero (232–646) all went over 200 each game, and No. 5 man Justin Stumpf, who averaged 156 in just 9 league games this year, went over his average every game on his way to a 191–519.

However, if you wanted to witness mega monster scores, Group 3 was the bracket to see. Pascack Valley, which was almost an afterthought at Counties, was back at full strength and defended its title in impressive fashion (3,102 to be precise). The man of the hour was junior anchor Brian O'Flaherty, who opened up with a 299 (darn flat 7-pin) and closed with a 682 series. Sophomore Tim Frantin got in on the act in Game 3, blasting 7 strikes in a row for a 225. And, now fully recovered from a bad hammy that kept him out for the first half of the season, Joey Farinelli chipped in with a 234–630. That makes PV 2-for-2 in sectional titles with Rob Folkers' wooden tiki doll as its mascot, and colorful senior left-hander Jon Frantin (the original Frantin, being Tim's older bro) hinted that the Indians may bring back the hiked-up baseball socks for next Saturday's team finals... Believe it or not, Ramsey actually had a 7-point lead on PV after the Game 1, getting deuces from 4 of its starting 5 for a 1,049. The Rams "slipped" to 927 in Game 2 (as if that's something to sneeze at) and wound up with a 909 in Game 3. Junior Kyle Landau rolled a 258-209-256–723 and did NOT get high series — see what we're talking about with the "monster" stuff? — and, despite occupying a transfer spot to Carolier for each of the first two games, Ramsey was overtaken by one of its arch-rivals... Indian Hills ensured that BOTH Group 3 qualifiers would atone for sub-par County tournaments, and Hills' outing may be even more astounding considering one of the Braves' best bowlers is no longer on the team (don't ask TM how it happened, because even he knows not of the details). On the other hand, it really should be all about the bowlers who were there for IH, and perhaps the one to step up the biggest was southpaw Andrew Wierzbicki, who started off well (179) and got better (222) and better (239) as the day went on. He also gets the "stealth bowler" award for throwing TM into a state of confusion, having used "Becky" as his nickname on the scoreboard. What, "Bicki" wasn't tough-sounding enough? Oh those wacky Braves...

The only bracket in which none of the teams hit quarduple digits on the day was Group 2, although Lyndhurst made a bid in Game 2 (989) on its way to picking up the sectional title with a 2,825. The Messenger didn't get to observe as many of the Group 2 schools, and kind of wishes he would have taken a closer look at the Golden Bears' scoresheet — they have at least two or three talented girls (including Nikki Villani, who's been pulling double duty all winter) and TM is now curious about what kind of contributions they made... Pascack Hills earned the second qualifying spot with a 2,689, meaning everybody in the Pascack school district gets next Saturday off for the State boys team finals! Oh wait...

Finally, we come to Group 1. Always where the lowest scores are, right? WRONG. North Arlington (1,067), Queen of Peace (1,051) and St. Mary of Rutherford (1,005) all hit the millenum mark in Game 1, and Wood-Ridge did so in Game 3 (1,063). QP went on to repeat as group champion with a 2,902 and produce the individual champ, Andrew Suscreba, who shot — get this — 226-262-247–735. Suscreba averaged 245 to win. The Messenger will have to go back and check the archives, but this was the highest sectional series he can remember in quite some time. Two other individuals qualifiers came out of this bracket, and they were two of the usual suspects: Matt Priore (276–693) finished fourth and Alex Prell (235–683) fifth. The real eye-opener (as if we haven't documented enough already) between those two was that Priore shot a 148 in Game 2, getting saddled with at least 3 splits — and then he and North Arlington regrouped to hold off Prell and Wood-Ridge for the final transfer spot, 2,847 to 2,837.

And now, let us head for the big finish by taking a float down:
The Stream of Consciousness... didn't notice it until the end, but Hackensack competed with only four bowlers. Didn't get an explanation, so if anybody has one, e-mail the link at the end of this entry... other than O'Flaherty's 11-strike string in his 299, the most consecutive strikes TM witnessed was 10 in a row by Northern Highlands freshman Josh Taylor. Not coincidentally, he had the second-high game with a 288. Long had 9 strikes in a row in his 278, which got the BC soph third-high game honors... Ramapo advanced one individual to the State singles finals, but perhaps not the one that was expected. Senior Rob Andresen had a very nice 216–614, but sophomore Kevin Macchia stole the Green Raiders' spotlight with a 237–674 to earn a trip to Carolier on Wednesday. And if that's not enough, well, Ramapo won its first-ever league bowling championship, going into the history books as the final NBIL-1 champ ever... there were a couple of other brief flirts with perfection in Game 3, as Garfield's Vicent Mooney opened with 5 strikes, and Mahwah's Kris Jergensen started off with a 6-bagger. Jergensen then struck out in the 10th for a 232, helping the T-Birds to an 883, which coach James Dalessio agreed may have been their best five-man effort of the season... naturally, Don Bosco senior Ryan Cobb attacked the lanes like a linebacker, firing a 233–666 to come within 4 pins of qualifying as an individual. Okay, I'm pretty sure he's going to Virginia as a tight end, but the point is he's a tough sonofagun — dude had the thumb on his left (throwing) hand taped up and didn't shoot lower than 213... and The Messenger told you that he wasn't done speaking of Mr. Grippo, mostly because he wasn't done bowling at the end of the tournament. The BC anchor stuck around to play a "mano-e-woman-o" match with Highlands' Alex Hubelbank when it was all over... and he shot a 300. There were about 8 people milling around his lane, it didn't county for anything, but there it was: the first time TM ever observed the 12th and final roll of a perfecto. The best response — O'Flaherty was standing nearby and jokingly offered Grippo his high-game trophy.

And with that, I have nothing more to say that is either relevant or true. Roll credits!

North 1A Sectional Tournament scores

GRP 4	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Bergen Catholic	1054	1022	1036	3112*
2nd	Teaneck	928	1084	897	2909*
3rd	Fair Lawn	994	935	907	2836
4th	Ramapo	986	894	954	2834
5th	Bergen Tech	952	944	865	2761
6th	Don Bosco Prep	896	912	944	2752
7th	Bergenfield	879	882	931	2692
8th	Paramus Catholic	948	879	849	2676
9th	Ridgewood	869	903	830	2602
10th	Hackensack	726	706	671	2103~
GRP 3	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Pascack Valley	1042	1041	1019	3102*
2nd	Indian Hills	982	945	1010	2937*
3rd	Ramsey	1049	927	909	2885
4th	No. Highlands	972	924	842	2738
5th	Old Tappan	958	917	839	2714
6th	River Dell	890	915	856	2661
7th	Garfield	806	901	856	2563
8th	Englewood	775	785	873	2433
9th	St. Joseph	827	820	710	2357
10th	Mahwah	720	714	883	2317
GRP 2	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Lyndhurst	939	989	897	2825*
2nd	Pascack Hills	858	938	893	2689*
3rd	Rutherford	870	801	903	2574
4th	Dumont	846	848	859	2553
5th	New Milford	772	909	862	2543
6th	Ridgefield Park	738	878	904	2520
7th	Leonia	809	917	786	2512
8th	Westwood	822	773	770	2365
9th	Elmwood Park	714	629	679	2022
GRP 1	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Queen of Peace	1051	978	873	2902*
2nd	North Arlington	1067	798	982	2847*
3rd	Wood-Ridge	861	913	1063	2837
4th	Becton	897	923	944	2764
5th	St. Mary (Ruth.)	1005	853	872	2730
6th	Wallington	793	961	889	2643
7th	Park Ridge	897	806	804	2507
8th	Midland Park	745	673	664	2082
9th	Ridgefield	712	624	601	1937

*Qualified for State team finals @ Carolier Lanes, Feb. 20
~Four-man team scores

INDIVIDUALS

PLACE	BOWLER/SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Andrew Suscreba, QP	226	262	247	735
2nd	Kyle Landau, Ramsey	258	209	256	723
3rd	Rob Grippo, Bergen C.	246	227	238	711
4th	Matt Priore, No. Arling.	269	148	276	693
5th	Alex Prell, Wood-Ridge	216	232	235	683
6th	Brian O'Flaherty, PV	299	226	157	682
7th	Kevin Macchia, Ramapo	237	211	226	674
8th	Joe Bocage, Becton	181	267	224	672
9th	Marc Solangon, B'field	189	237	244	670

Please e-mail any/all corrections to NorthJerseyBRG@gmail.com.

2/9/10 North Jersey Sectional Finals - Girls

Wait, you mean the North Jersey girls sectional tournament WASN'T postponed until the 13th? It was moved to the 9th and the 13th was actually the date for the BOYS tournament?? Okay, The Messenger got a little bogged down at work this week, where he was asked to do the job of 2 people but only get paid as one person, all while there was another snowstorm blanketing the state. Not that he's bitter about that sort of thing — well, maybe a little.

The point is, TM has finally made it back to his distant mountaintop sanctuary at NJBB Worldwide Headquarters (a.k.a. his family's house in Seaside Park) and has all Saturday afternoon to get caught up on the good stuff that has gone un-blogged this week.

So by now, it has been well-documented about Clifton shooting 2,542 to knock off Immaculate Heart (2,475) for the Group 4 championship, but the Blue Eagles holding on to second place by 16 pins over Bergen Tech (2,459) to advance to Carolier once again. Still, IHA's streak of 8 consecutive sectional titles came to a close (5 North Sectional crowns from 2002-06 + 3 straight North Group 4 titles from 2007-09, after the State split into groups)... BUT, if The Messenger is not mistaken, the string of Non-Public teams shooting the high series at the sectional tournament continues. DePaul (2,677) led the house this year, and a quick peek back at last year's NJBB entry reminds us that the last overall section champ before IHA began its run was Paramus Catholic in '01. So who was the last public school to lead the section in scoring? E-mail NorthJerseyBRG@gmail.com with the answer before our crack research staff (of one) comes up with it, and you will win a signed copy of The Messenger's scoresheet from this very tournament! Unless you don't want it. In that case, just go ahead and gloat, because we really don't have anything of monetary value to give out as prizes.

Ok, so back to the recapping — cheers to Clifton's Sonja Shirak for rolling the second-high game (255) and series (695), but also to the Mustangs' Kortney Casperino, who not only turned in a quality 226–626 but also (by TM's unofficial count) threw the ball that put her team over the top and clinched the Group 4 title, a 7 on her first roll in the 10th frame of Game 3. As for the ball that vaulted IHA over Bergen Tech for second? Well, we mentioned it was well-documented, so I'll throw a bone to our rival blog on this one. You win this, round, CC!

Group 3, to me, provided one of the most feel-good stories of the day. Submitted for your approval, more documentation (scroll down to the second-to last graf before the scores) of the triumph of Bergenfield, which led wire-to-wire and laid claim to the championship trophy with a 2,425. In trying to elicit some quotes about redemption or something of the ilk, I brought up last year's one-pin miss to some of the Bears, which brought about a sarcastic ribbing (sarcasm from a Howie Conklin-coached team? nahhh...) that TM attempted to shake off of by shifting the focus to said trophy, as well as the third-place high game (247) and series (666) medals won by Bergenfield anchor Cassidy Fiore. Actually, when the Bears were summoned forth to claim their prize, the question overheard was, "is it shiny?" The answer — more so than the shiny mailroom that Buddy the Elf worked in, less so than Lightning McQueen's lucky 'bolt' sticker... second place in Group 3 went to Hackensack (2,223), which produced a 782 in Game 3 to hold off a challenge by Nutley (2,123), who only trailed by 19 after Game 2.

We've already made mention of Group 2 champ DePaul, a first-year squad that really didn't bowl like one since, well, their anchor Colette Malyack (224–614) gained plenty of experience last year tallying one of the top averages for the then-coed Spartans and helping them earn a trip to the State finals. As a freshman. DePaul actually beat Clifton for the one and only NJTCC-Passaic girls title this year, and their pair of Rebeccas — Dykstra (221–565) and Nemeh (218–562) — both qualified for the State individual finals... the Spartans shared lanes with another first-year team and league rival, Lakeland (2,197), which started off in second place before Holy Angels (2,279) came on strong and did what they always do: the Angels have now punched a ticket to North Brunswick every year the Group format has been in effect.

In Group 1, Hudson County Prep was going for a fourth straight title, and it ended up being pretty close... for second place. Mother Seton (2,401) was just too much and emerged as another wire-to-wire winner, breaking the Hurricanes' monopoly on the bracket (boy, there were dynasties ending all over the place). Bearing one of The Messenger's all-time favorite nicknames, the Lasercats of High Tech held a slim, 18-point lead over County Prep for second place after 2 games, and even though the 'Canes scored an 806 in Game 3, the 'Cats picked up the gauntlet and answered back with an 805, grabbing the final transfer spot, 2,170 to 2,153.

Now, for some of the unofficial awards that the NJBB likes to dole out from time to time...

The Phil Connors History Repeating Award: Nicole Chanin of Sparta won her second straight North Jersey individual title with a leave-no-doubt series of 228-213-278–719, taking medals for both high game and series.

The Bob Walk Ironic Name Award: Has to go to Bayonne anchor Katie Zero. I really hope the Bees' softball coach has looked into making her a pitcher, because that is the surname I would want for someone who's key stat is earned-run average. Maybe during bowling season she should legally change her name to Katie Striker, or something like that. Seriously, really cool last name, but really ironic given her sport.

The Clairol Best Hair Color Award: tie between Kelsey Rafter of Nutley and Liz Gould of High Tech. Both decided to show school spirit by (ostensibly) going with team-colored 'dos. I give Rafter credit for trying to pull off Maroon, but if I had to do a tiebreaker and choose only one — I mean, Goold managed to rock Lasercats Purple and help her team qualify for States, and those are some serious double prizes.

The Gratuitous Award of Gratuitous...ness: To the Kearny trio of Mariana Torres, Antoinette Cocuzza and Erika Valente. Three lefties, ALL IN A ROW. One more, and The Messenger might have renamed the Parker Bohn III All-Stars in their honor.

So it's on to Monday (and Wednesday for the individuals), which has become an NJBB holiday of sorts — yes, TM will be there to work; and yes, he has allotted time to both Twitter and blog before the day is out; bottom line, it's gonna be some good old-fashioned fun at Carolier on Presidents' Day. Wouldn't want it any other way...

North Jersey Sectional Tournament scores

GRP 4	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Clifton	850	817	875	2542*
2nd	Immaculate Heart	803	810	862	2475*
3rd	Bergen Tech	761	859	839	2459
4th	Bloomfield	699	732	829	2260
5th	Bayonne	754	725	730	2209
6th	Ridgewood	727	705	741	2173
7th	Fair Lawn	651	723	764	2138
8th	Kearny	633	683	645	1961
9th	Paramus Catholic	620	653	623	1896
10th	Passaic Tech	507	573	552	1632
GRP 3	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Bergenfield	853	765	807	2425*
2nd	Hackensack	741	700	782	2223*
3rd	Pascack Valley	682	721	804	2207
4th	Nutley	629	793	701	2123
5th	Ramapo	643	645	697	1985
6th	No. Highlands	727	604	651	1982
7th	Passaic Valley	692	624	635	1951
8th	Wayne Hills	585	674	592	1851
9th	Belleville	606	579	661	1846
10th	Old Tappan	531	505	544	1580
GRP 2	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	DePaul	957	873	847	2677*
2nd	Holy Angels	728	835	716	2279*
3rd	Pascack Hills	738	778	694	2210
4th	Lakeland	752	737	708	2197
5th	Indian Hills	690	808	675	2173
6th	Ridgefield Park	599	713	638	1950
7th	Ramsey	700	606	573	1879
8th	Dumont	570	633	544	1747
9th	Mahwah	549	515	490	1554
GRP 1	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Mother Seton	764	792	845	2401*
2nd	High Tech	742	623	805	2170*
3rd	County Prep	698	649	806	2153
4th	Holy Family	727	690	734	2151
5th	Westwood	678	666	653	1997
6th	Marist	664	651	606	1921
7th	McNair Academic	600	623	653	1876
8th	Mount St. Dominic	581	592	607	1780
9th	Harrison	552	604	576	1732
10th	Newark Vocational	547	528	529	1604

*Qualified for State team finals @ Carolier Lanes, Feb. 15

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS

PLACE	BOWLER/SCHOOL	TOTAL
1st	Nicole Chanin, Sparta	719
2nd	Sonja Shirak, Clifton	695
3rd	Cassidy Fiore, Bergenfield	666
4th	Crystal Keller, Lenape V.	647
5th	Jersaine Lacibal, Bloomfield	643
6th	Sarah Esmenda, Berg'field	631
7th	Kortney Casperino, Clifton	626
8th	Stacey Fernandez, RP	620
9th	Colette Malyack, DePaul	614
10th	Nicole Linder, IHA	606
11th	Heather Van Dyk, Jefferson	590
12th	Christina Romano, Millburn	581
13th	Kimberly Ercolino, Bergen T.	579
14th	Katarina Nier, Scotch Plains	571
15th	Rebecca Dykstra, DePaul	565
16th	Katherine Lee, Leonia	563
T-17th	Jaclyn Lima, Linden	562
T-17th	Rebecca Nemeh, DePaul	562

Please e-mail any/all corrections to NorthJerseyBRG@gmail.com.

1/23/10 Bergen County Boys Tournament @ Bowler City

This week's episode: "PC left-wingers and NA righties." It probably would have been edgier if North Arlington was abbreviated "NRA," but the point is, The Messenger eschews political jokes UNLESS he can take a poke at both sides equally. Now back to our primary purpose, before Big Brother sics a horde of bi-partisans on NJBB headquarters...

So, how about Paramus Catholic lefty Steve Natoli? All he did at the Bergen County boys bowling tournament on Saturday was fire the second-best game ever in the 37-year history of the tourney, a 299 in the final game of the morning session. Naturally, The Messenger was astute enough to observe the 4 strikes he put together at the beginning of said game before deciding, "I'll come back if he keeps it going." Yours truly then got distracted and did not start walking back to PC's lane until after the roar went up following strike 11. And, then TM still didn't get there in time to see the final ball, which left the Southpaw's Nemesis (the 7-pin) standing and gave Mr. Natoli a 299. So, still the only two bowlers to rack up a 300 in the BCT are Mike Ricciardi of St. Joe's (2002) and Steve Fernandez of Ridgefield Park (2003), the latter of whom is now the head coach at Bergen Tech. Which offers a nice segue to mention of several other flirts with perfection on Saturday:

Game 6: Bergen Tech's Steven Patchen started off with 8 strikes in a row before a 9-open in the 9th. He wound up with "only" a 257.

Game 4: Ridgefield Park's Sean Carmody came within 3 strikes of cementing the Scarlets' reputation as BCT perfectionists, stringing together 9 strikes before a flat 10-pin ruined the moment on ball No. 10. He finished up spare-strike for a "measly" 279.

Game 4: Moments prior to Carmody drawing a crowd, folks were gathered around Fair Lawn's lane, as Chris Auld blasted 8 straight strikes but was sabotaged by a 7-9 split on ball No. 9. He ended up with a "mere" 256 and tied for fifth-high series (1,314).

Game 2: Hackensack's Edmund Park opened with an 8-bagger before an 8-spare in the ninth and "settled" for a 277.

Point of order: the next 300 game The Messenger throws will be his first. In fact, the next 200 game he throws will also be a first.

As for the man who carried the most pins on the day, North Arlington right-hander Matt Priore continued his bid to win every trophy possible this season, adding a second Bergen individual title in three years with a 1,399 series. His lowest game was a 220, and his morning total of 701 was the only 700 series I noticed in the AM/PM breakdown. Natoli shot a 299 game and a 1,366 series and all he got was second place — oh, and a team championship as well. Let's not forget about that aspect of the whole deal.

Paramus Catholic's 5,966 to 5,807 victory over Bergen Catholic gave the Paladins their first title since 2002, when they won Groups 3-4. Their last prior overall championship had been back in 1991, when they capped a run of three titles in four years. Coach Audrey Lelyo watched all five of her bowlers top the 1,100 mark: Tim Lisa (221-1,106), Jim Entwistle (231-1,115), Ted Failla (213-1,125), anchor Matt Vanderhoof (244-1,254) and Natoli. Granted, PC no longer calls Bowler City home now that the team is in the Holiday Bowl-based NBIL, but the NNJIL refugees certainly made it seem like they never left.

Other notes, nuggets and tidbits of interest from this year's County event:
I tought I taw a tournament — Behold, the NJBB has found a sensible use for Twitter! For the first time, we were able to provide up-to-the-minute tweets about a tournament, and it worked out so well that we plan on working Twitter/blog combo for the remainder of the season. The Messenger's pigeon will still deliver approximately once a week — you have been warned about this site's aspirations to be the Tuesday Morning Quarterback of varsity bowling — although we have yet to define a name/role for whatever bird will carry our Twitter messages. "Tweety Bird" is sort of trademarked already.

Mixed-up, shook-up standings — Paramus Catholic not only emerged as the County champion, but also led a pack of standings-jumpers that finished nowhere near the same place as they did in 2009.

THE BIGGEST GAINERS: PC (17th in '09 to 1st in '10)... St. Mary of Rutherford (19th to 3rd overall AND the Gaels won their first-ever Groups 1-2 title behind nice days from Evan Downey [235-1,297] and Stephen Marciniak [267-1,230])... Fair Lawn (11th to 5th)... Don Bosco (9th after not entering in '09)... Wood-Ridge (22nd to 10th)... Northern Highlands (24th to 13th, may even have been their best finish ever)... Paramus (29th to 16th, more on them in a bit).

THE BIGGEST DROPS: This is *not* meant to be a shot at the teams that fell off, in fact most of these either had big graduation losses or were missing some key bowlers. Still, interesting to note — Pascack Valley (2nd in '09 to 11th in '10 after graduating a couple big guns)... Indian Hills (3rd to 31st; one bowler missed the morning due to SATs, two others were indisposed with Confirmation)... Old Tappan (4th to 23rd, another graduation-loss victim)... New Milford (5th to 28th, a byproduct of lack of experience at the 5th spot, according to one source).

I can't believe it's not buttering up, Part I — Sure, The Messenger was going to mention Paramus Catholic because they won. He suspects, however, that the Paladins could possibly be trying to curry favor by employing not one but TWO left-handed bowlers (Natoli and Vanderhoof) — heck, Coach Lelyo saw the south-pawed TM transcribing scores and commented on how she likes having lefties on her team. It is also possible this phenomena is borough-based: the Paramus Spartans employed port-siders Shane Sassone and Neil Sheth en route to their 16th-place finish, and one of them contributed to the team's coveted quadruple-digit output in Game Two. Sure, we expect 1,000s from PC, BC, Bergen Tech, Queen of Peace and Pascack Hills... but Paramus? Believe it. Sheth (212), Gordon Chen (224), Michael Wirth (200), Mike King (216) and Matt Silver (222) combined for a 1,074 on a squad that otherwise averaged around 832 on the day. A noteworthy accomplishment indeed, but again — how can the lefty-loving Messenger not be slightly suspicious? Well, maybe because he still only has about four Twitter followers. Just a hunch there.

I can't believe it's not buttering up, Part II — The Wood-Ridge Blue Devils, meanwhile, took things to an entirely new level. Not only did they employ a pair of lefties — Pat Horan and reigning North Jersey Bowler of the Year Alex Prell — they also got five solid games from the almost aptly-named Giuseppe Tartaglione. Seriously? A bowler with the same great initials and nearly identical awesome last name as The Messenger's alter ego? I have no choice but to proclaim blatant favor-currying, or at least I would, if I'd ever actually met the Wood-Ridge coach in person. Hey, TM has enough publications to write for as it is — just give him a few more years, and he should be up to knowing about half the coaches in Bergen County.

Shot of the Day Award — Probably could have filed this one under the last two sub-headings, but we like to change things up to keep the NJBB relatively fresh. Ramapo's Rob Andresen fired all deuces on the day, and to cap his 217 in Game Two, he struck out in the 10th with a little help from our favorite pin: the messenger. Andresen got the 7 to slide across a nudge over the 10 on his final ball, thereby cementing Shot-of-the-Day status on his way to tying Auld and Prell for 5th with a 1,314. Of course, there may have been countless other messengers sent flying on the day (there were over 2,300 frames thrown in the tournament), but TM only has two eyes. However, he also has a still-not-yet appropriately named e-mail address, so if you saw any that he missed, drop us a line: NorthJerseyBRG@gmail.com

Sectionals aren't for two weeks, but a number of league seasons are drawing to a close during that time, so The Messenger will continue to keep an eye out. See you on the other side...

Bergen County Boys Tournament team scores
1. Paramus Catholic, 930-984-1,091-991-975-995—5,966
2. Bergen Catholic, 1,018-996-903-877-1,026-987—5,807
3. St. Mary (Rutherford), 948-916-974-1,006-946-909—5,699*
4. Bergen Tech, 1,004-842-1,071-902-849-991—5,659
5. Fair Lawn, 927-969-889-984-894-952—5,615
6. Queen of Peace, 889-1,087-937-934-927-750—5,524**
7. Pascack Hills, 928-1,017-877-972-805-906—5,505
T8. Ramapo, 916-928-900-893-890-938—5,465
T8. Don Bosco Prep, 924-886-1,049-898-864-844—5,465
10. Wood-Ridge, 791-885-940-990-883-951—5,440
11. Pascack Valley, 930-954-858-998-786-886—5,412
12. North Arlington, 824-966-893-922-888-849—5,342
13. Northern Highlands, 999-961-854-938-780-800—5,332
14. Ramsey, 953-846-914-866-846-890—5,315
15. Ridgewood, 891-867-941-904-839-827—5,269
16. Paramus, 845-1,074-807-893-762-854—5,235
17. Teaneck, 892-809-909-863-844-869—5,186
18. Leonia, 750-803-816-985-944-886—5,184
19. Garfield, 808-959-768-850-924-866—5,175
20. Lyndhurst, 891-856-840-797-811-949—5,144
21. Hackensack, 810-937-841-876-888-770—5,122
22. St. Joseph, 837-853-893-864-820-802—5,069
23. Old Tappan, 808-846-868-887-772-857—5,038
24. Westwood, 929-808-798-896-814-778—5,023
25. Becton, 829-887-915-767-734-863—4,995
26. Ridgefield Park, 875-822-782-965-803-743—4,990
27. Bergenfield, 875-957-880-735-753-768—4,968
28. New Milford, 852-783-814-917-854-705—4,925
29. Englewood, 727-843-828-852-844-812—4,906
30. Wallington, 854-869-837-746-891-703—4,900
31. Indian Hills, 745-793-743-954-803-858—4,896
32. Park Ridge, 854-893-805-738-807-756—4,853
33. Rutherford, 811-797-865-736-710-720—4,639
34. Mahwah, 658-764-813-697-719-784—4,435
35. Fort Lee, 778-730-642-759-763-729—4,401
36. Dumont, 706-809-674-764-676-741—4,370
37. River Dell, 834-679-686-695-811-648—4,353
38. Cliffside Park, 723-720-679-636-563-619—3,940
39. Elmwood Park, 550-627-642-674-649-577—3,719
* Groups 1-2 champion
** Groups 1-2 runner-up

INDIVIDUALS (1,200 and above)
1. Matt Priore (North Arlington), 220-233-248-234-224-240—1,399
2. Steve Natoli (Parmus Cath), 204-180-299-194-233-256—1,366
3. Robert Grippo, (Bergen Cath), 254-207-221-224-191-236—1,333
4. Kyle Landau (Ramsey), 213-226-258-180-207-237—1,321
T5. Chris Auld (Fair Lawn), 245-239-211-256-164-199—1,314
T5. Alex Prell (Wood-Ridge), 217-242-209-223-197-226—1,314
T5. Rob Andresen (Ramapo), 222-217-247-208-206-214—1,314
8. Steven Patchen (Bergen Tech), 247-199-215-191-204-257—1,313
9. Evan Downey (St. Mary), 207-223-202-235-223-207—1,297
10. Bryan Kist (Pascack Hills), 258-248-167-221-183-208—1,285
11. Brian Galbraith (Pascack Hills), 224-257-215-201-163-216—1,276
12. Matt Vanderhoof (PC), 182-244-189-237-211-191—1,254
13. Vincent Siekierski (Don Bosco), 187-228-246-245-165-173—1,244
14. Brian O'Flaherty (Pascack Valley), 208-201-215-239-191-189—1,243
15. Mike Parsons (BC), 211-198-176-186-224-237—1,232
16. Stephen Marciniak (St. Mary), 191-173-197-267-180-222—1,230
17. Nick Gavron (Queen of Peace), 170-227-246-192-202-190—1,227
18. Mike Wuhrman (Park Ridge), 221-235-203-139-216-199—1,213
19. Bob Klein (Indian Hills), 214-220-190-212-190-179—1,205
20. Edmund Park (Hackensack), 149-277-211-174-198-194—1,203
21. Brian DiMarco (Bergenfield), 214-242-206-190-159-190—1,201