HURRICANE CARLISI DOES IT AGAIN
The boys bowling season is two and a half months of practices, matches, individual tournaments, team tournaments, Baker tournaments, sectional tournaments and team state finals. Ryan Carlisi, through no fault of his own, doesn't get to be a part of any of that. Instead, he came in right at the end, smoked the sectional individual tournament and proceeded to overwhelm the field at the State Individual TOC with the force of a tropical storm. He is the New Jersey state individual champion for the second straight year, the first bowler to ever accomplish the feat.
nj.com article here
northjersey.com article here
hs-bowling blog here
GAME ONE
It didn't take long for the fireworks to start. Just twenty minutes into the TOC, everybody seemed to be aware that Carlisi had the front seven, front eight, front nine. He was bowling right in the center of the lower house, giving everyone a chance to watch as he took the approach in the tenth. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. He was demonstrative and confident and throwing with ungodly power, and the 300 went into the books.
Carlisi wasn't the only boy going big right off the bat: Fifteen broke 240, including John Drost of Woodbridge and Nick Thies of Jefferson (247 each), Pascack Valley's Henry Tipping (249), James Fitz of Linden (245) and Jivan Persaud of Hudson Catholic (244). Always-in-contention Evan Weinberg of Dayton sat in fifth at 268, with Howell's Brian Garofano continuing a red-hot postseason with a 277 game in fourth. Justin DeMartin of Hunterdon Central has also been fantastic in the postseason, and shot 278 to sit in third. In second place was a bowler who left more than one observer marveling at his youth and power, sophomore Eddie Ross III of Absegami, who was routinely popping over 20 mph on his way to an opening 280 game.
Brian Skettini of Ridgewood sat on the cutline (top 18 move on to the second round of qualifying) with a 231 game, and there was plenty of time left for a whole lot of bowlers.
GAME TWO
Twelve bowlers broke 240 in game two, with only Carlisi (256 for a 556 total and a 44 pin lead on the field) and Maple Shade's Dan Kenny (257-245) turning the trick in each game. Matt Turnipseed of Bishop Eustace (269) and Rob Murray of Morris Knolls (257) had huge bounceback games after rough starts. Jason Bilawsky of Woodbridge (247) and RJ Utter of West Milford (256) moved into contention with strong game twos.
The very best game two scores came from Toms River South left Kyle Oliveri, whose 277 moved him into third overall, and a pair of 279s: Tyler Klein of Mahwah, who improved nearly 100 pins from game one, and Michael Milligan of Pompton Lakes, who moved into fourth overall at 509.
Carlisi, Garofano, Oliveri, Milligan and Kenny were followed by Sophomore Preston Williams of Jackson Liberty (256-238), still hot from his 773 at sectionals. DeMartin, Bilawsky, Weinberg and Hunter Perry of Hawthorne (254-216) completed the top ten. Derek Lewandowski of Ridgefield Park was sitting on the cutline at 452 after a nice start, but things were very, very competitive, with thirty-four bowlers within thirty pins of a spot in the finals.
GAME THREE
The pressure-cooker. The guys at the top at trying to maintain their position, while the rest of the field is just trying to make sure they get a chance to keep bowling. Somehow, Carlisi managed to fire the biggest game in the field again, posting 268 to complete an absurd 824 series and take a substantial lead on Garofano (246-758), Milligan (247-756) and Oliveri (237-749), all of whom were lights-out themselves.
Also lights out and moving into fifth off a 257-724 was NJ's top average, Daniel Lenk of East Brunswick. Weinberg (248-718), Ross (244-705) and DeMartin (705) all shot opening sets over 700, with Robbie Wetzel of Howell jumping eleven spots in game three to sit in ninth at 694.
Sam Bortnick of East Brunswick, who had been just outside the number after two, busted into the top ten with a 689 set, while Williams, Kenny and Perry survived the cut despite slipping a bit in game three. Johann Gamo of Clifton (667) and Klein hung on to advancer spots as well.
There are always some impressive jumps above the cutline, and this year we had, besides Wetzel and Bortnick, Park Ridge freshman Joseph Mahoney leaping 10 spots into 14th with a 235 game, 673 set, and South Brunswick's Nick Delacruz who passed eleven competitors with a final game 229 to make the cut on the number (660).
The final member of the 18-bowler advancer class was Leonia's Andy Hong, who followed up his unlikely sectional run with an equally impressive 210-245-205=660 set in the first round of states.
Bilawsky (659), Trevor Lauber of Pascack Valley (653) and Kyle Bauter of Manasquan (653) came agonizingly close to advancing, with seventeen more shooting 600 sets, headed by Kyle Cunningham of Cherokee (643), Ray Schmitt of Lakeland (642) and Livingston's Michael Liu (639).
Falling short of the cut despite excellent numbers in game three were Jeff Wilkinson of Southern (246), Matawan's Zach Grillo (243) and Demarest senior Jordan Tse (239).
GAME FOUR
Not a whole lot of movement in game four, as most of the men at the top of the standings bowled well enough to stay there. Garofano had the second-best game in the field at 248, which pulled him within twenty pins of Carlisi for the overall lead.
But the top game in field belonged to Kenny, bouncing back from a tough game three with a huge 265 to jump from twelfth place all the way up to #6, just two pins out in the hunt for the five stepladder positions.
GAME FIVE
Lenk moved into second place with a field-leading 268, but really everyone in contention was bowling so well at this point that there still wasn't much movement. Delacruz shot a nice 247 but was nearly 100 pins out at this point. Bortnick's 228 left him 41 pins back in ninth.
Kenny was just 20 pins out of fifth following a 225 game. DeMartin had put together 226-234 in the back half to position himself just 19 pins off the stepladder.
While Carlisi (247), Lenk, Garofano and Oliveri (234) were all sitting above 1200 in good position, the fifth and final stepladder spot was very much up in the air, as Weinber (223-243) and Ross (232-247) were firing big games and stood in a tie for fifth.
GAME SIX
Lots of big scores among the contenders meant that a huge jump to the stepladders was nearly impossible. Carlisi finished round two at 713, earning the top seed by over fifty pins at 1537. Oliveri closed with a big 277, giving him a 735 set and the two seed.
Lenk was right behind, having shot 748, and Garofano's 236 kept him in the top five at #4. Finally, Weinberg gave no chance to the rest of the field, firing 264 to make the stepladder for the second consecutive season.
Kenny's 248 finished a 728 second set, putting him in sixth place. He was followed by Ross, DeMartin, Bortnick and Gamo to complete the top ten.
Williams, Perry, Mahoney and Delacruz all shot 617+ to earn spots eleven through fourteen. Milligan, Klein, Wetzel and Hong weren't quite able to sustain their morning momentum and took spots fifteen through eighteen.
STEPLADDER
Weinberg built a big lead on Garofano and finished it off 236-184, ending the Howell junior's brilliant postseason in fourth place.
Weinberg and Lenk put on an exciting show, with Lenk carrying one extra strike to earn the victory 230-224, and the Dayton senior's exceptional career ended with a fourth place finish.
Oliveri was as consistently brilliant as anyone all day, having shot 749-735 to qualify 2nd. But the senior from Toms River South never quite got on track against Lenk and took third place after dropping a 233-183 decison.
And so, the final was set, pitting the state's best high school bowler (Lenk) against the state's best bowler who happens to be in high school (Carlisi). That's a distinction that may come up again.
You couldn't have asked for more from either bowler. Both Lenk and Carlisi threw perfect shots - each started with the front six, with the pressure of the moment growing with each frame. Neither man blinked, but the lefty, Lenk, was stymied by three solid seven pins in the back half of the game, and finished with eleven of eleven in the pocket and a 248 game (which completed yet another 700).
That was never going to be enough against Carlisi, not on this day. The Steinert senior buried every shot and looked very likely to end his day the way it started, with another 300. A single pin on the final shot denied him that honor, but that's the only thing that didn't go his way. The 299 in the final gave Carlisi his second consecutive state individual title and earned him a spot on a very short list of the best to ever compete in the sport here in New Jersey. I don't think we've heard the last of him.
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