nj.com story here. Full results here. This was an amazingly competitive and exciting event, everything you hope and expect high-level high school bowling to be.
GROUP I
Well, this was crazy. Four good teams came in with a reasonable shot, and all four teams engaged in a back-and-forth battle where anything could have resulted. Matawan took an early lead with a 986 in game one behind good games by Chris McShane (217), Travis Sweeney (211) and Ryan Nesbitt (210), while Bishop Ahr was right behind at 963 thanks to Andrew Funk's 247. The favorites bounced back in game two, with #8 Manasquan posting 983, powered by Austin Devereux's 257 and Chris Heilos's 224. #17 St. Rose was one stick better than their Shore rivals, as Joe Ocelo (214) and Carter Vanderslice (219) pushed their team to 984. But Bishop Ahr was even 3 pins better than the Roses, firing a balanced 987, led again by Funk (226). Ahr took a 68 pin lead into the final game, but it was anybody's to take as the four teams were within 98 pins and all were capable of going big. Nobody backed down in the finale: Ocelo (214) and Jarrett Toth (215) helped St. Rose to a solid 947, but the teams' 2829 would come up just short. Bishop Ahr got 206s from Erik Gonzalez and Kyle Heyman, as well as 231 from Funk (completing a 704, 8th best in this loaded sectional) and reached a total of 2889. Matawan made a dynamite run at the leaders, firing 1027 behind Ryan Nesbitt (210), Sweeney (208) and a big 245 from Matt Nesbitt, but came up 10 pins short of Bishop Ahr. Still, that would have been good enough for a slot at the TOC, except that Manasquan got a nice 224 from Kyle Bauter and a devastating perfect 300 from Austin Devereux, which landed the Warriors a 1059 game, a 2913 set, and the Sectional championship (as well as landing Devereux a 772 set and the individual title). Fantastic bowling all around and very touch placement: Central had the top FOUR scores in Group I for the entire state, but only two can advance.
GROUP II
This one, too, folks. Three teams got off to fast starts: #16 St. Joseph's (Metuchen) put up 996 behind John Reggio (234) and Joe Chrobak (216). #6 Ocean Township was only 2 sticks behind after a balanced 994 led by Matt Redbord's 222. And an underdog got involved, with Ewing tossing 989, powered by Chase Springett (227) and Reese Hunt (219). All three took a step back in game two, and South Plainfield roared past everyone with a 989 game on the strength of Ryan Berardi's 213 and Angelo Salici's big 277. That left St. Joe's on the outside after two, but the Falcons were having exactly none of that. They put up a monster 1129 in game three, with all five bowlers shooting 200 (Justin Biancamano 204, John Hogan 214, Giovanni Santiago 221, Chrobak 224 and Reggio 266 to complete a 679 set, putting him in the individual TOC). St. Joe's was safely in first at 3025, but second place was wide open until Ocean Township put it away with a 971 game, thanks to newly subbed-in Jack Henry (204), Brian Davis (212), and TOC qualifier Redbord (226, for 682). I guess in the end, the two favorites advanced, but nobody made it easy. Great bowling.
GROUP III
This one, too? Absolutely. #2 Woodbridge had vastly superior season-long numbers than Monroe and Sayreville, but all three GMC squads showed up ready to bowl: all three topped 1000 in game one. Monroe's 1020 was the product of huge games by Louis Folgore (268) and Ryley McKiernan (266); each would shoot 668 and qualify for Wednesday's individual event. Woodbridge came in at 1034 thanks to a great game by James Stoveken (278) and another big number from John Drost (236). But Sayreville, the defending state champ, had the early lead behind a huge 1061: Ryan Johnson (239), Eddie Peterson (218), Chris DeOcampo (237) and Dylan Gilligan (201) all broke 200 for the Bombers. Woodbridge and Monroe would separate themselves in Game 2, each breaking 1000 again, and while Sayreville bowled well, they would be unable to make up the ground. Monroe's Tyler Kresan put up a huge game 2 with 267 and Zac Waynor's 225 was big as well. Stoveken (227) and Drost (230) again paced the Barrons. Monroe took an eleven pin lead over the state's #2 team into the final game, and Folore & McKiernan's continued excellence, with help from Zack Vollemann (203) was enough to take the title, though Stoveken fired 224 to complete a 729 set, good for 5th in the sectional. Great job by Monroe, and Woodbridge may have gotten a huge wake-up call before States on Friday. Also of note in Group III, Freehold Township, whom I listed without comment in the preview, put up 2758, by far their best score of the season, to finish a surprising fourth. Very nice job.
GROUP IV
I'm not going to pretend that this one was as thrilling as the craziness in the other three groups, because #4 East Brunswick simply decimated the field and looked very much like the best team in the state, at least for one day. The Bears put up THREE games over 1100 and an astounding total of 3400, which was only the top sectional score in the state by 225 pins. Three East Brunswick bowlers finished in the top eight of this loaded sectional: Jack Deruvo (255-256-242=753) came in fourth, with James Reitano (710) and Sam Bortnick (682) also moving on to the individual TOC. Daniel Lenk (628) and Ethan Shamin (627) were very good as well. Just an outstanding performance.
The battle for 2nd was a good one, though. Howell took the early lead with a 972 in game one, led by Joseph Inserra (212) and Brian Garofano (215). #11 South Brunswick came back big in Game 2, shooting 987 behind Anthony Fama (235), Chan Woo Ang (202), and held a 72 pin lead over Howell, with Old Bridge only six pins further back. South Brunswick finished with a solid 984 for a total of 2903. Howell made a nice charge, shooting 1004 with big games from Inserra (209) and Garofano (235), but came up 52 pins short. Old Bridge was another story. Gerard Chidichimo's 201, Peter Mattson's 200 and the big one, Doug Titmas's 284 (which also landed him in the TOC with a 677 set) pushed the Knights to an excellent 1053, but their 2894 was a scant nine pins short of a qualifying spot.
INDIVIDUALS
15 qualifiers with the cutline at a very high 668. We covered individual champ Devereux, as well as Deruvo, Stoveken, Reintano, Funk, Redbord, Bortnick, Reggio, Titmas, Folgore and McKiernan. Cameron LaPlant of JP Stevens was brilliant, shooting 227-259-279=765 to finish second. Ethan Goldring of Watchung Hills fired 715, his third 700 on the season, to take 6th. That leaves two bowlers that entered as individuals. Ryan Carlisi of Steinert put up a nice 679 to qualify for Bowlero. And Justin Pavlik of Ridge scored a fantatic 228-300-233=761 to take third. A really wonderful collection of bowlers here.
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