EAST BRUNSWICK RULES THE DAY
This was a pretty amazing day; three of the four groups went right down to the wire and involved big comebacks while at the same time nearly every team in the mix had a good final game. The other was the biggest upset of the season. Lots of fun at Bowlero, great way to end the season.
nj.com story and results
GROUP I
We expected Pompton Lakes to be a big factor here, and they came out swinging, shooting a big 1054 behind Esteban Garcia (266) and Nick Cilento (253). The other expected contender, Manasquan, wasn't far behind, thanks to a 238 by Austin Devereux and a huge 290 game by Dylan Wolfe. Roselle Park looked good, with Sean Fava's 266 leading to a 985 team game, and Hudson Catholic shot a balanced 967. But the big story was Maple Shade, only ten pins behind the leaders after Dan Kenny's 289 helped his team to a 1044.
Game two separated the top four from the rest: Another solid number from Roselle Park (994, led by Luis Castano's 247) left them 87 pins back. Devereux's 237 kept Manasquan in striking distance after a 1022 game. Maple Shade showed they weren't going away when Evan Deibert (233) and Victor Diaz (248) helped them to a 985 game. But Pompton was still on top, posting a 1012 game with a big 258 from David Neil; the lead after two games was just 37 pins.
Some pretty good-sized sparks flew in the final game. Becton & Dayton finished 8th and 9th, but each posted their highest sets of the season. Hudson Catholic put up a monster 1104 with all five at 200+ (Jivan Persaud 245 and Geoffrey Origenes 226 led the way), but the hole was a bit too deep and they finished fifth. Maple Shade faded just a bit and wound up fourth, but their season-high series of 2970 (and Diaz & Kenny going 684-682) meant it was a great day. Castano put up 235, Aaron Heimall 234 and Sean Fava finished a 666 set, which put Roselle Park at 1060/3039, beating their season-high by over 200 pins and taking third place.
Pompton Lakes didn't fold: Garcia (221-689) and Cilento (223-656) powered a 975/3041. But Manasquan had an awful lot in the tank in the final game, as Wolfe (244-703), Kyle Bauter (245) and Devereux (226-701) took the Warriors to a huge 1083 game, a 3110 set, and the state Group I championship.
GROUP II
None of the teams in Group II put up a season-high, but that didn't make it any less exciting. Erik Kattermann's 226, Matt Chang's 230 and a huge 290 from Peter Ho got Montville off to a great start, posting an 1132 in game one (the biggest game any of the 40 teams would shoot all day). Lacey was a surprise sitting in second, as big games by Clayton Humcke (224), Brian Huebler (237) and John Truland (267) led to a 1086. Doug Rhoades' 257 game helped Ocean Township put up 1031, and this was looking like a 3 team breakaway with the other seven at least 155 pins back.
Except it wasn't; not really. Montville slid a bit, but maintained a 34 pin lead after two, and Ocean Township was even better than the first game, with Brian Davis's 247 helping them to a 1050 game. Two other ranked teams crashed the party as well: John Hoban (248) and Joe Chrobak (237) powered St. Joseph's to a 1062 game and moved them into fourth place, and the defending champs from Sussex Tech forged a 1083 game behind Tim Zayac's 279 and moved into 3rd. The top four were within 86 pins, and it was anyone's title to take.
James Podolski (721) and Jacob Boris (669) put up strong sets for Lyndhurst and Seneca, respectively, but their teams couldn't quite get into contention in this strong field.
In game three, Hoban (235-651) and Chrobak (228-689) were great again for St. Joe's (1012-3041), but they couldn't quite make up the distance. Montville put up another strong game, 992, with Peter Ho (223-701) and Matt Chang (237-659) leading the way, and finished at 3107. But Sussex Tech had it rolling by now, with all five bowlers at 195+, a 248 from Chris Strum and Zayac finishing a 702 set, and the Mustangs took their second straight state championship by just three pins over... the other Mustangs.
GROUP III
How do I put this? There were 40 NJSIAA postseason team bowling events in 2017. This result probably surprised me more than the other 39 combined. Monroe is a good team, with a great anchor, Louis Folgore, and a strong #2 in Ryley McKiernan, but Group III, the most loaded Group in the state (7 of the 10 teams broke 1000 in game 1), had serious powerhouses with huge averages up and down the lineup like Woodbridge, Toms River South, Brick Township and Indian Hills, as well as ranked teams Pascack Valley and Warren Hills. The Falcons simply went out and lit the place up, shooting the highest score in each of the three games. It was amazing. Folgore (676) and McKiernan (625), did their jobs, and the scores from the rest were mind-boggling: Trevor Kresan, 171 average: 600. Zac Waynor, 179 average: 644. Zack Volkman, 183 average: 225-235-222=682. After one game, you think, ok, nice job, but let's watch the big boys run them down. Instead, Monroe just got better, and even though Woodbridge went 1068-1047 the last two, they lost by 137 pins. Bowling is supposed to be, should be, an any-given-Sunday type sport at this level, but so rarely do we get to see something like this. Exceptionally well done.
There were some good stories down the list: James Stoveken of Woodbridge put up a monster 760 and teammate Kyle Bilawsky posted 677. Jon Mormando shot 697 for Indian Hills. Jaime Golden led Sparta to a solid 6th place finish with a 649 in her final high school action (great career, Jaime.) Wayne Hills got four 600s to finish a surprising 3rd, posting a 3018 set to complete an excellent postseason, and beating the top two teams from their conference in the process.
GROUP IV
All right, I whiffed badly on Group III, but I had a pretty good handle on this one: the top four teams in Group IV were a significant cut above the other six and pretty even with each other: they would all finish within 69 pins. To be fair, Dickinson had a great day, staying in the mix through at least game one and shooting a season-high 2955, mostly because Matthew Burzynski (280-246-248=774) is on an absolutely amazing roll in the postseason (Ray Ramos's 646 helped a bunch, too.)
After game one, it looked like maybe South Brunswick would leave everyone in the dust. Despite missing regular starter Noah Li, the Vikings got big games from Anthony Fama (246), Nick Delacruz (229) and Chan Woo Ang (254) and posted a big 1105 game, taking a 114-pin lead on the field.
But the South Brunswick train slowed down in game two... well, except for Delacruz who tossed a sweet 287 that kept his team from a serious tumble. Their 990 allowed the other contenders to play some catchup: Adam Crognale (222) and Anthony Mathis (223) helped Cherry Hill East to a 1058 game. Jack Deruvo (239) and Daniel Lenk (224) led East Brunswick to a 1059 game. And Shawnee's senior superstars, Andrew Abbonizio and Chris Pagliuso, powered the Renegades' 1071 (we'll get back to them.) The top four were all within 48 pins with one game to go.
South Brunswick gave no groud in the final game. Fama shot 242 to complete a 668, Tyler Kohutanycz shot 233, Delacruz finished off a 698 set and Chan Woo Ang put up a strong 257 to wind up at 699. 1057 was the game and 3152 was the set the others had to chase.
CHE gave it their best shot, with Emerson Levy posting 222 and Mathis finishing a 675 set with a big 269 game, but they couldn't make up any ground with a 1050 game. Tyler Gates's 220 helped Shawnee shoot a very solid 1049, but again, not quite enough. Abbonizio (244-242-245=731) and Pagliuso (258-257-223=738) were absolutely brilliant throughout the day, ending any debate about the best 1-2 punch in the state this year.
That left East Brunswick. The Bears needed to put up an 1100 to take the title, and with all five guys breaking 200, they got it done, posting an 1116 game for a 3166 set and a 14-pin victory. Stars Lenk (208) and Sam Bortnick (228) did well, but this team effort needed everyone, and big games from James Reitano (234) and 191-average Ethan Shamin (245) make all the difference. A 3166 series without a single bowler over 644 is its own brand of awesome. Sincere compliments to each of the top four teams in Group IV.
INDIVIDUALS
Official awards for high series aren't given out, so I'll list the top 10 here (with thanks to Bryan Vargas for compiling the data).
1. Matthew Burzynski, Dickinson 774
2. James Stoveken, Woodbridge 760
3. Chris Pagliuso, Shawnee 738
4. Andrew Abbonizio, Shawnee 731
5. James Podolski, Lyndhurst 721
6. Dylan Wolfe, Manasquan 703
7. Tim Zayac, Sussex Tech 702
8. Austin Devereux, Manasquan 701
9. Peter Ho, Montville 701
10. Chan Woo Ang, South Brunswick 699
TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
Sussex Tech looked great in the Baker semifinals, putting up incredibly strong 236-241 the first two games. Unfortunately, East Brunswick looked close to unbeatable, stuffing the pocket for 11 strikes in game 1 (298) and throwing enough strikes to take game 2 with a 246. The third game was a runaway, 245-169, and the Bears advanced after shooting a Baker set of 789 (that's good, right?)
The other semifinal was a war of attrition, as Manasquan and Monroe had trouble hitting the pocket as well as converting spares. It went the full five games, with Manasquan pulling away at the end. Only two of the ten Baker games broke 200, which didn't seem like a good sign for 'Squan heading into the finals.
It wasn't. Manasquan kept game 1 close before Lenk & Bortnick put it away 224-201, and stole a very close game 2 191-188, but the rest of the match wasn't close: East Brunswick carried extremely well, and just like in the girls' final, they had a left anchor who didn't seem even capable of missing the pocket (aside from the fill ball on the 298). Manasquan had a great day and took a deserved state title home, but the best team won. Congrats to the Bears.
All right, now the silly season starts for me. Final Boys & Girls Rankings next week. Boys & Girls All-State teams sometime after that, then a stupidly early look at 2017-18, and some final thoughts on the season. Thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment