Happy Radio Bowling Day!

Over the past week, we've had Valentines Day, Presidents Day and Daytona 500 Day (yeah, it's not official, but just go with it)... comes now The Messenger's favorite holiday of the whole year, the one afternoon he gets to recap all of the action from last weekend's NJSIAA bowling finals on WGHT's Sports Overtime.

TM has been a part-time employee at GHT (a.k.a. North Jersey 1500) since 2002 and has been to the State finals at Carolier Lanes every year, save one; his streak of continuous appearances dates to 2004. Back when the boys, girls and singles tournaments were all held on Presidents Day, the following day became his one shining moment of the whole year to talk bowling on the airwaves.

Now, with all 3 tournaments spread out over one week... TM still only gets one day to recap everything. However, this year things have come full circle, and the annual bowling feature can be heard today at 2:30 PM on 1500AM, or online at ghtradio.com -- just click on the big ol' "LISTEN LIVE" button at the top.

A couple of folks inquired over the course of the past week about obtaining tapes of past editions of the Annual GHT High School Bowling Extravaganza (TM's title for it, not theirs). As noted on the NJBB last March, the Sports Department's sound archives were wiped out in the Giant Unforeseen Flood of Spring 2010 (also an original moniker). However, they were able to save the 2010 bowling feature and, naturally, will have this year's tape available following today's show. Just e-mail sports@ghtradio.com to request a copy.

Since The Messenger doesn't want to give away everything that's going to be on today's program, he is waiting for its conclusion to post his thoughts, ramblings, etc. on all of last week's action at Carolier Lanes... Also, it took him nearly this long just to compile all the spreadsheets, because darnit, when we said the NJBB would strive to include that extra info that they can't fit into the newspapers, we meant it... Also also, TM got mildly distracted by the other aforementioned holidays of last week, plus an old rerun of "Celebrity Bowling" on ESPN Classic yesterday that featured the late, great Pat Morita as one of the competitors. It's not a great excuse, but I'm not making this up, either.

So sit tight, oh loyal NJ Bowling Blog reader(s) -- the small-but-appreciated band that you are -- TM still has plenty of info to pass along before folding his tent for the spring. True, 2011 entries have been sporadic, but if you don't think we're running our annual Parker Bohn III/Johnny Petraglia All-Star teams, you don't know the NJBB! And if you do -- thanks for reading :)

See you on the other side...
-TM

Sectional scores revisited

You know, it's one thing if The Messenger doesn't quite have the time to pen 15,000-word blogs anymore, but it's quite another if he can't find a free moment to post the scores he's already typed up into his handy-dandy spreadsheets. And so, as TM prepares for his inaugural visit to the State singles tournament, why not take a moment to look back on some of what he's already seen in the past week or so?

2/7/11 -- North Jersey Girls Sectional Tournament

For the second time in as many years, this event was postponed due to snow. But also for the second time in as many years, a public school managed to upstage perennial power Immaculate Heart in Group 4... congrats to Ridgewood for claiming its first-ever sectional title, and also for that 1,010 that they posted in the final game, which led to what one of TM's colleagues referred to as the "headline of the year" - *his* words, not mine. In fact, I'm pleading divine inspiration on this one, because that seems to be the source of all my best material... if I'm not mistaken, Warren Hills won its second Group 3 title in three years after not participating as a team last year. Holy Angels (Group 2) and Mother Seton (Group 1) did continue to carry the banner for the Non-Publics in winning their respective group titles... and big ups to individual champ Nicole Linder of IHA for a monster 718 series. Following the 2-for-3 theme, she's the second Blue Eagle to accomplish that feat in three years (Lauren Rhein shot 715 to win the 2009 North title). The scores...

GRP 4	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Ridgewood	851	883	1010	2744*
2nd	Immaculate Heart	865	789	962	2616*
3rd	Bergen Tech	892	767	888	2547
4th	Bayonne	835	745	773	2353
5th	Clifton	780	785	763	2328
6th	Union City	710	756	764	2230
7th	Kearny	751	767	690	2208
8th	Bloomfield	778	658	743	2179
9th	Dickinson	652	553	652	1857
10th	Passaic Tech	551	676	566	1793
11th	North Bergen	639	536	575	1750
GRP 3	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Warren Hills	786	879	832	2497*
2nd	Paramus Catholic	759	754	846	2359*
3rd	Nutley	724	745	793	2262
4th	Fair Lawn	788	700	714	2202
5th	Hackensack	725	692	756	2173
6th	Wayne Hills	685	693	765	2143
7th	Belleville	660	661	571	1892
8th	Passaic Valley	608	673	584	1865
9th	No. Highlands	609	500	668	1777
10th	Demarest	617	485	583	1685
11th	Old Tappan	520	535	613	1668
GRP 2	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Holy Angels	840	749	911	2500*
2nd	Bergenfield	763	699	686	2148*
3rd	Lakeland	744	739	641	2124
4th	Indian Hills	700	731	660	2091
5th	Cliffside Park	682	682	674	2038
6th	Pascack Valley	709	687	616	2012
7th	Ramapo	668	562	572	1802
8th	Ramsey	599	598	572	1769
9th	Ridgefield Park	604	582	495	1681
10th	River Dell	563	527	560	1650
11th	Mahwah	493	459	582	1534
GRP 1	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Mother Seton	795	813	782	2390*
2nd	Westwood	750	669	802	2221*
3rd	Lincoln	644	758	677	2079
4th	Dumont	624	656	703	1983
5th	Holy Family	654	679	647	1980
6th	DePaul	664	738	518	1920
7th	McNair Academic	640	647	537	1824
8th	Mt. St. Dominic	551	593	634	1778
9th	Marist	460	476	528	1464

*Qualified for State team finals @ Carolier Lanes, Feb. 14

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS

PLACE	BOWLER/SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Nicole Linder, IHA	233	228	257	718
T-2nd	Bridget Pyryt, Indian H.	223	227	189	639
T-2nd	Sarah Rhodes, Sparta	245	245	149	639
4th	Shelby Taylor, R'wood	228	194	207	629
T-5th	Nicole Chanin, Sparta	171	237	216	624
T-5th	Laura Uzzell, Science	199	189	236	624
7th	Crystal Keller, Lenape V.	212	182	226	620
8th	Dominique Torio, MSR	204	200	214	618
9th	Kelly Skettini, R'wood	166	189	254	609
10th	Lexus Lopez, Lyndhurst	214	209	183	606
11th	Gia Bethea, University	224	226	156	606
12th	Nikki Villani, Lyndhurst	180	211	206	597
13th	Lauren Scholes, War.H.	207	189	200	596
14th	Brianna Boze, Summit	180	227	184	591
15th	Colette Malyack, DePaul	237	160	191	588
16th	Sonja Shirak, Clifton	209	196	179	584
17th	Kendall Tinston, R'wood	168	214	201	583
18th	Morgan Buckey, Angels	212	180	190	582

__________________________________________
2/12/11 -- North Section 1A Boys Tournament

Actually, quite a few observations from this one... Group 4 champ Paramus Catholic and Group 1 champ Becton each shot an 1,100-plus game, meaning a 220 average per bowler. Yikes strikes! The purveyors of PC's 1,102: Jim Entwistle (268), Brian Rizzi (214), Jaybee Buenaventura (162), Ted Failla (210) and Steve Natoli (248). The boys behind Becton's 1,130: Billy Justis (255), Seif Fahmy (187), Paul Kuprat (178), Joe Bocage (244) and Dean Hansen (266)... shout out as well to Northern Highlands, which rolled a pair of quadruple-digit games and reached the State finals for the first time ever, taking second in Group 4... Ramapo's resurgence continued with the Green Raiders' first sectional Group 3 title -- all they did was outscore defending champ Pascack Valley, 1,022 to 978 in Game 3 to unseat the Indians -- while Pascack Hills was very consistent in taking the Group 2 crown... had to feel for PV senior Brian O'Flaherty, who bowled a 299 in this exact same tournament last year, and there TM was watching him unleash ball No. 12 for another shot at perfection and-- stone 7-pin. Bummer. Can't imagine he was all that unhappy with a sick 767 series that won the section. Yes, TM said "sick". This is high school sports, after all. The scores...

GRP 4	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Paramus Catholic	966	1102	1031	3099*
2nd	No. Highlands	1059	959	1001	3019*
3rd	Don Bosco	983	981	959	2923
4th	Bergen Catholic	891	979	955	2825
5th	Hackensack	963	956	892	2811
6th	Teaneck	993	968	848	2809
7th	Bergen Tech	885	954	884	2723
8th	Ridgewood	903	945	862	2710
9th	Old Tappan	823	867	905	2595
10th	Fair Lawn	867	827	790	2484
GRP 3	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Ramapo	985	1023	1022	3030*
2nd	Pascack Valley	930	1081	978	2989*
3rd	Indian Hills	1029	803	961	2793
4th	Tenafly	909	977	904	2790
5th	St. Joseph	794	842	872	2508
6th	River Dell	798	779	864	2441
7th	Garfield	811	760	714	2285
8th	Mahwah	763	664	842	2269
9th	Demarest	758	714	716	2188
10th	Cliffside Park	575	639	675	1889
GRP 2	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Pascack Hills	965	995	906	2866*
2nd	Ramsey	947	929	963	2839*
3rd	Lyndhurst	940	972	894	2806
4th	Rutherford	964	897	918	2779
5th	Ridgefield Park	869	949	938	2756
6th	Leonia	928	955	832	2715
7th	Dumont	820	922	960	2702
8th	Westwood	957	885	848	2690
9th	Glen Rock	887	857	905	2649
10th	New Milford	696	610	647	1953
GRP 1	SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Becton	1130	880	853	2863*
2nd	St. Mary (Ruth.)	900	973	972	2845*
3rd	Wallington	924	897	987	2808
4th	Queen of Peace	853	907	918	2678
5th	Wood-Ridge	854	908	796	2558
6th	North Arlington	754	803	850	2407
7th	Park Ridge	713	760	726	2199
8th	Bogota	787	711	672	2170
9th	Midland Park	645	663	552	1860

*Qualified for State team finals @ Carolier Lanes, Feb. 18

INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS

PLACE	BOWLER/SCHOOL	GAME 1	GAME 2	GAME 3	TOTAL
1st	Brian O'Flaherty, Pasc.V.	221	299	247	767
2nd	Steve Natoli, Par.Cath.	265	248	215	728
3rd	Jim Entwistle, Par.Cath.	215	268	234	717
T-4th	Justin Stumpf, Teaneck	231	279	177	687
T-4th	Dean Edwards, Berg.T.	236	221	230	687
T-4th	Sean Carmody, Rid.Pk.	195	256	236	687
7th	Mike Carr, Ramapo	215	259	210	684
8th	Adham Kadaj, Leonia	237	244	192	673
9th	Dylan Laloo, Teaneck	257	226	185	668

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

2/13/10 Crunch time

Hm, this seems like a familiar spot... oh, right! It's the blog we started because varsity bowling wasn't getting enough coverage in North Jersey (and beyond) -- and behold, the NJBB has fallen into the same trap as so many other media outlets before it. *Sigh*

Well, The Messenger could give you a billion excuses, but in the interest of at least owing a fair explanation... we're broke. That's right, as much as we love this particular corner of the blogosphere, it still ain't netted the folks at NJ Bowling Blog World Headquarters a dime since it began. And, needing desperately to spend the time on more lucrative endeavors (however slight the lucrativity may be), TM has been, well, abysmal at maintaining this site this winter. I'm sorry.

The good news is twofold: A) The Messenger's tweeting-bird has been quite adept at delivering results in a timely fashion, even if the carrier pigeon is on life support; and B) TM's alter ego has been quite busy in supplying several of the local weekly papers in the Northern New Jersey region with a fair amount of high school bowling coverage this winter. You know, when he wasn't buried under 79 inches of snow. Submitted for your approval...

BERGEN COUNTY GIRLS BOWLING TOURNAMENT COVERAGE:

• IHA tops RHS for 7th straight County crown (The Ridgewood News)
  
• Mahwah shares ties that bind (Suburban News)
  

BERGEN COUNTY BOYS BOWLING TOURNAMENT COVERAGE:

• Kotellos, Maroons make County's top-10 list (The Ridgewood News)
  
• Landau, Carr claim County hardware (Suburban News)
  

NORTH JERSEY SECTIONAL GIRLS BOWLING TOURNAMENT COVERAGE:

• For Ridgewood, 1,010 wins it (The Ridgewood News)
  

Due to higher directives, you will note that certain towns always have to be in the lead to the story for most papers... but, if you scroll down, you should be able to find ample info from other teams/aspects of said tournaments. Stories from the boys sectional tournaments that occurred yesterday haven't been published yet since -- well, the papers only come out once a week.

As you know, however, this upcoming week represents perhaps The Messenger's most favorite of the calendar/school years: State finals week at Carolier Lanes. True to his word, he has taken off the entire week (although unlike past years, there is a slight departure in that his beloved Daytona 500 will take place at the end of it all) and plans to be on hand for all of the action at Carolier Lanes, team and singles tournaments both.

In the interim, TM hopes to be able to post some sectional scores, as well as pass along some of the league standings he has accrued as the season wraps up. Again, we apologize that it's not quite our intense coverage of old, but the NJBB is still here and still alive! For now, anyway.

Good luck to everyone headed to North Brunswick this week. See you on the other side...

- TM

1/1/11 Singular sensation

Let The Messenger state for the record, right off the bat... Happy New Year! But right after that, let him state that the title of this post is a reference to today's date -- one of four this calendar year that will be made up of all 1's (just wait until we get to November). And no, October does not count because there are zeroes in there.

TM is not referring to himself -- although, quick aside, a young The Messenger did once have a role in a junior-high production of A Chorus Line several lifetimes ago -- but being the stream-of-consciousness creature that he is, he can't help but think in Showtune terms with the events of this week coming up.

For the first time in quite some time, the NJBB will be unable to cover a weekend tournament in its general coverage area. In this case, it will be next Saturday's North Jersey Singles Classic in Elmwood Park. Not that TM looks forward to missing any type of Garden State-based bowling event... but a rather rare opportunity has come to pass, which will place his person in the Sunshine State for seven days from Jan. 3 thru 9.

After taking some classes to pursue a long lost passion of his, TM is headed to Orlando to perform at the Actors, Models and Talent Competition (check out details at amtcworld.com if you are so inclined). Hey, when someone not only tells you that you should follow your dreams Muppet Movie-style, but also provides an opportunity to do so, how can you say no?

So, while it is with mild regrets that he will not be in his primary element next Saturday, The Messenger must find out if an A, M or T is, as Kermit T. Frog put it, "something that I'm supposed to be."

(If only science would get its act together with teleporting -- the Group Improv competition is slated to coincide with the Singles Classic lunch break!)

Good luck to everyone at Parkway Lanes next weekend, and remember always the words of one of the wisest sages of TM's generation:

"Life's like a movie
Write your own ending
Keep believing, keep pretending
We've done just what we set out to
Thanks to the lovers... the dreamers... and you."
- Jim Henson

See you on the other side...
- TM

12/11/10 A creature is stirring...

After a long summer's nap, The Messenger is back on the scene, ready for the 2010-11 season of varsity bowling in New Jersey. Today, he is at Parkway Lanes in Elmwood Park for the 9th annual FDU Holiday Team Challenge.

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