Let's see if we can hit some highlights from the week that just ended before we start a new one.
Tournaments
Just to put a bow on the Snowball Classic last Monday, the top 5 NJ teams in qualifying:
Boys:
Seneca (4341 over 4 games, 1st overall)
Brick Memorial (4323, 2nd)
Toms River South (4162, 3rd)
Cherry Hill East (4083, 5th)
Shawnee (4049, 7th)
Also, Brick Memorial won the playoffs to take the championship, which I somehow forgot to mention.
Girls:
Warren Hills (3952, 1st)
Brick Memorial (3843, 3rd)
Lacey (3572, 6th)
Eastern (3447, 7th)
Brick Township (8th)
Individual accolades go to Brick Memorial's John Boughton for top game (299) and set (997), Eddie Cashwell of Seneca (928, 2nd), Jacob Boris of Seneca (296, 2nd) and Mitch Tippin of Seneca (277, 3rd).
On the girls side, Michelle Bello of Pennsauken had the top set (888) and 3rd high game (249) while Warren Hills' Katie Winch had the high game (277) and 3rd high set (872).
The Greater Middlesex Conference took the week off as teams and held the individual tournaments. Lanasia Neal of South Plainfield dominated the girls event, shooting 744-617 and defeating Sam Salzone of Edison (who was great also, firing 611-639) in the stepladder final. Third went to Woodbridge's Deanna Calantoni, Fourth to Emily Alvarez of South Brunswick and Fifth to Bridget Bolan of Monroe. 600s were thrown in qualifying by Trinity Gray of North Brunswick (604), Alvarez (623) and Victoria Sasicky of Monroe (618).
Cameron LaPlant of JP Stevens took the boys title, winning 3 matches to take the stepladder from the #3 spot and shooting an unofficial 703 in the playoff. Second through Fifth: James Stoveken of Woodbridge, Angelo Salici of South Plainfield (who amazingly shot the only other 700 of the boys event, a 708 on day one), Chris DeOcampo of Sayreville and Daniel Lenk of East Brunswick.
Several county tournaments happened on Saturday. Bergen County Boys & Passaic County events are, as always, well-covered by dybuk75. I love these county tournaments, because it gives us a nice glimpse at how the 4-bowler teams will adapt to tournament season. Probably gives the coaches a nice look as well.
The Monmouth County tournament featured some playoff upsets. Keyport shocked top seed Ocean Township in the semifinals but fell to a Howell squad that's been improving all season. Similarly, the Colts Neck girls surprised top-seeded Howell in the semifinals but fell to Ocean Township in the final. Keyport's Henry Young (653) and Freehold Township's Sarah Orensky (634) had the top individual scores.
Finally, the Woodbridge Classic took place on Saturday as well. The college-inspired format was cool: 2 traditional games followed by 5 Baker games, which puts the totals on the same footing as the usual 3-game sets. Brick Memorial won the girls side handily, shooting a 2934 that included a 289 Baker game in their last effort. Brick Township (2637), an impressively resurgent Woodbridge team (2511), Toms River South (2484) and Toms River North (2433) round out the top five.
The Boys event was considerably tighter: the top four were only separated by 44 pins. A Woodbridge 289 in Baker Game 2 made up a huge deficit, and the Barrons and Brick Memorial went back and forth until Woodbridge took charge in the last 2 games to win with a team total of 3031. After Brick Memorial (2997) came Montville (2990), Brick Township (2987) and a surprisingly strong Scotch Plains-Fanwood team (2917) that outscored a few ranked teams to reach the top five.
Regular Season
Can't get to all of them, but here are a few of the week's top matchups.
#1 Brick Memorial girls dropped their first regular season game of the year against #3 Brick Township last Tuesday, but put away the match 2-1 / 2784-2621. Any talk of a slump ended with a huge 3063 in a sweep of #7 Toms River North on Friday; Amanda Shelters (653), Tori Bird (623) and Jill Stuart (665) led the Mustangs.
#2 Warren Hills (2888) and #2 Ocean Township (2817) put up the next best series this week; each are undefeated in their conferences. #7 TRN made a statement by sweeping #6 TRS behind Kamerin Peters' 734.
#13 Eastern, coming off two solid tournament performances and a 2466 on Tuesday, hooked up with Washington Township for a match that featured something we don't see often outside the Shore Conference: both teams hitting high totals. Washington Twp tossed a season-high 2602 (on the heels of a big 2552 on Tuesday) and won the match 3-1 over Eastern's 2498.
A couple of teams put up season highs: Franklin shot 2366 and came closer to taking a point off of Warren Hills than anybody else has. Kearny is 70-0 in conference play and shot 2245 in a sweep of Bayonne on Wednesday. Ramsey put up a nice 4-bowler 2050 in their upset of Westwood (who was pretty good themselves at 2024). Ewing may be down a bit from recent years, but they're still great in conference play. I have them unofficially at 14-1, and they put up a nice 2345 on Tuesday.
Big long list of honor scores coming at the end, but special mention for the girls who shot 700 this week (aside from Peters & Neal). Michelle Bello of Pennsauken, who has been on a serious roll, fired a huge 753. And Millburn Senior Lauren Potechin shot 740 this week, tying for the top series in the SEC-Colonial, boys or girls (and that league has some pretty good bowlers).
On the boys's side. There were only 3 matches where both teams broke 3000:
#1 Brick Memorial def. #6 Brick Township 2-1 / 3150-3115
#7 Toms River South def. #6 Brick Township 3-0 / 3402-3282 (highest scoring true 5-man match of the season)
#12 Montville def. Morris Hills 7-0 / 3152-3062 (season high for MH)
The rest of the best: Brick Memorial (3150 & 3299), #5 Ocean Township (3182), Montville (3191), #13 Sussex Tech (3141 to all but clinch the NJAC-North), #20 St. Rose (3122 in a win over #9 Manasquan)
Pompton Lakes (2517 & 2599) put up the top 3 4-man scores of the week. Hammonton shot a season-high 3065 in a sweep of Deptford. Lenape pulled off a huge 3-1 upset over #8 Cherry Hill East with help from Jayen Patel's 738.
Joe Ocello of St. Rose was the individual star of the week, rolling a scorching 799, which made me think: have we really not seen a single 800 since Andrew Abbonizio's on opening day? That seems hard to believe given the talent in the state. I'm guessing we may see one or two before the season's up.
Girls 600s
Rhianna Smith, Hopatcong 618
Aimee Sherman, Jackson Memorial 667
Amanda Shelters, Brick Memorial 616
Kamerin Peters, Toms River North 654
Anna Foo, Manasquan 649
Kristina Scimone, Eastern 600
Katie Robb, Kingsway 665
Michelle Dekowski, Linden 618
Emily Mamunes, Northern Highlands 644
Danielle Quitola, Ridgefield Park 624-609
Dana Henry, Ocean Township 671
Jenn Ingulli, Ocean Township 670
Claudine Rosca, Wayne Valley 607
Emma Thies, Jefferson 618
Alize Stevenson, St. Mary's 648
Jenna Henderson, Warren Hills 656
Kelcie Mannon, Warren Hills 629
Madison Perry, Hawthorne 636
Gabby Pangaro, Clifton 623
Victoria Vucak, Paramus Catholic 630
Justina Janzen, Wallkill Valley 608
DorrieAnne Rizzo, Wallkill Valley 606
Boys 700s
Brent Ayres, Deptford 710
Jordan Malizia, Brick Township 736
Jacob Boris, Seneca 747
Matthew Young, Eastern 758
Dan Kenny, Maple Shade 744-710
Sean Harris, Cinnaminson 716
Esteban Garcia, Pompton Lakes 708
Nicholas Quinones, Rahway 718
Peter Ho, Montville 731
Chris Pagliuso, Shawnee 746
Steven Nicholsen, Jackson Memorial 707
Colin Dromgoole, Caldwell 716
Louis Ferrante, Paramus Catholic 703
Anthony Susino, Toms River East 707
Ryan McIntire, Toms River East 725
Nick Cilento, Pompton Lakes 721
Rich Prozzo, Toms River South 731
Tim Zayac, Sussex Tech 714
Erik Katterman, Montville 726
Luis Torres, Roselle 712
Nick Gross, Brick Township 726
Nick Kafarski, Brick Township 747
Andrew Lazarchick, Brick Memorial 726
Johann Gamo, Clifton 719
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