Ridgefield Park senior Alex Vorhees was one of four North Jersey bowlers to roll a 300 during the 2013-14 season. (Photo/Joe Camporeale)
Maybe it’s taken Taglines some extra time to post the final bowling blog of the season since, well, this was a really good and memorable season, the kind to which it’s tough to say goodbye. North Jersey bowlers gave the Aces so much good stuff to write about in 2013-14, it’d take forever to post the links to all their stories. (Fortunately, northjersey.com has it covered with whole category pages for both boys bowling and girls bowling.)
Think about it — the season started with a 300 by Ridgefield Park’s Alex Vorhees in the very first week and ended with Glen Rock’s Jake Rollins tossing the most talked-about 300 in my 12 years of covering bowling at the state individual finals. I was honored to be a guest at the Bergen County Coaches Association Winter All-County dinner last Monday, along with the Aces’ own Darren Cooper, and to help present Mr. Rollins with the Ron Fox Award for sharing The Record Male Athlete of the Season honors with Bergen Catholic wrestler Johnny Sebastian. (Here’s the link to Coop’s recap.) As a quick aside, I’m also extremely privileged to work with Ron Fox for the northjersey.com Weekly Division… truly, he is the best storyteller in the biz and just an all-around mensch.
But now, on the eve of Opening Day for boys volleyball (and, incidentally, the Yankees), the time is here once again for Taglines’ annual bowling season sendoff in the form of The North Jersey 300 List…
Kudos to Bergen Catholic senior Simon Lezaja on a stellar four-year career.
First, a couple last points of order bear mentioning. Two names on said list, Simon Lezaja of Bergen Catholic and Cory Heitler of Fair Lawn, had their perfect games back in 2012 and were still going strong this winter, though I’m not sure Taglines got to mention them too often. Heitler had the highest average in the Big North Independence Division at 200.1 and has one more season to go. Lezaja was third-best in the Big North United at 202.7, and after a solid four-year career with the Crusaders, the right-hander deserves a proper sendoff. I mean, 33 games of 200-plus this season (with a high of 278) and a high series of 707… that’s worth of a picture in the paper. Or on the blog. Which can also be printed into paper form.
Speaking of series, the best 3-gamers thrown in North Jersey this season, ladies first:
*2013-14 TOP 5 GIRLS HIGH SERIES: 760, Kelly Skettini (Ridgewood)… 721, Nikki Vucak (Paramus Catholic)… 719, Dana-Marie Laloo (Teaneck)… 714, Kelley Grippo (Holy Angels)… 706, Emily Young (Lyndhurst).
*2013-14 TOP 10 BOYS HIGH SERIES: 776, Tyler Keefe (North Arlington)… 775, Keefe^… 764, Tyler Knipping (Lakeland)… 753, Daijon Smith (Lyndhurst)… 744, Jake Rollins (Glen Rock)^… 743, Kyle Schellberg (Dumont)^ & Andrew Cirillo (Westwood)… 742, Welmer Paquay (Hackensack) & Isiah Tolbert (Passaic Tech)… 741, Steven Doughty (Bergen Tech)^ & Zachary Seegers (Wallington)… 730, James Kane (Paramus Catholic)… 723, Dean Edwards (Bergen Tech) & Ryan Vasel (Pascack Valley).
^Part of 6-game series at Bergen County or state individual tournament
Next, and before these points start running long — at last Monday’s dinner, the BCCA announced two Teams of the Year for boys bowling, one small school (Groups 1-2) and one large school (Groups 3-4). Pascack Valley took home the latter award, as the Indians finished second in Groups 3-4 at the Bergen Tournament and won the North 1A, Group 3 sectional title. Lyndhurst earned the Groups 1-2 honor, and since The Record Boys Bowling Team of the Year didn’t get a formal picture in the paper (and since I decided to give the Blackberry camera-phone one last chance), here are the Golden Bears with their award:
The Lyndhurst Golden Bears co-ed bowling team, BCCA Groups 1-2 Team of the Year
(P.S. Taglines is asking Santa for a new camera phone next Christmas. If that one doesn’t work, I’ll request a new photographer for Christmas 2015.)
Okay, time for the big finish…
REMINDER: This list only goes back to 1985, because that is as far back as The Record’s online (read: easily searchable) archives go. Finding any varsity 300s from 1984 or earlier would require A.) going through 20 times more library microfilm than I’ve ever scanned — and trust me, I’ve reviewed quite a bit — or B.) waiting for someone to e-mail us any such info. If you do have such info, or you spot another addition/correction that needs to be made, please notify the Aces immediately:
300 GAMES BY NORTH JERSEY BOWLERS (IN VARSITY MATCHES)
^New entries from 2013-14 season highlighted in green
GIRLS
Brittany Hovan (Paramus), Bowler City, 12/19/2012
Nicolette Vucak (Paramus Catholic), Bowler City, 1/31/2011
Dyanne Robles (Immaculate Heart), Bowler City, 1/19/1999
> To Taglines’ knowledge, the next girl from Passaic County to bowl a 300 in a varsity match will be the first.
BOYS
Jake Rollins (Glen Rock), Carolier Lanes, 2/12/2014*** 
Jordan Lopez (Lyndhurst), Wallington Lanes, 1/27/2014
Ryan Donohue (Lyndhurst), Wallington Lanes, 12/16/2013
Alex Vorhees (Ridgefield Park), Bowler City, 12/6/2013
Jake Rollins (Glen Rock), Parkway Lanes, 2/6/2013
Jordan Lopez (Lyndhurst), Bowler City, 1/19/2013*
Cory Heitler (Fair Lawn), Bowler City, 12/6/2012
Dan Wuhrman (Park Ridge), Carolier Lanes, 2/15/2012***
Simon Lezaja (Bergen Catholic), Bowler City, 1/12/2012
Tim Frantin (Pascack Valley), Holiday Bowl, 1/3/2012
Jason Prezant (Pascack Hills), Parkway Lanes, 2/3/2011
Tim Frantin (Pascack Valley), Bowler City, 1/11/2011
Kevin Macchia (Ramapo), Carolier Lanes, 2/17/2010***
Tim Scott (West Milford), T-Bowl II, 1/28/2010
Zach Zuravner (Lakeland), T-Bowl II, 1/16/2010*
Chris Ferrara (Wallington), Wallington Lanes, 1/12/2010
Brian DiMarco (Bergenfield), Holiday Bowl, 12/9/2009
Nick Corvelli (Bergen Catholic), Bowler City, 1/26/2009
Perrin DeFreitas (Hackensack), Bowler City, 1/16/2009
Rob Grippo (Bergen Catholic), Bowler City, 1/14/2009
Lawrence Jackson Jr. (Leonia), Wallington Lanes, 1/7/2008
Jeremy Corporan (Teaneck), Bowler City, 12/20/2007
Dylan Caruso (Secaucus), Wallington Lanes, 1/8/2007
Vinnie Milano (West Milford) AND Aaron Danielson (Newton), T-Bowl II, 2/11/2006**
JC Klein (Paramus Catholic), Bowler City, 1/30/2006
Carlos Duarte (Passaic Tech), T-Bowl II, 1/18/2005
Carlos Duarte (Passaic Tech), T-Bowl II, 12/16/2004
Steve Fernandez (Ridgefield Park), Bowler City, 1/18/2003*
Steve Sinko (Bergenfield), Parkway Lanes, 12/16/2002
Mike Riccardi (St. Joseph), Bowler City, 1/19/2002*
Jason Tenorio (Passaic), Bowler City, 1/17/2002
Joe Anagnos (Ridgewood), Bowler City, 2/10/1999
Joe Bonser (Garfield), Lodi Lanes, 1/31/1996
Tony Park (Demarest), Feb. 1995
Joe Pelissier (Garfield), Parkway Lanes, 3/6/1993**
Dan Blair (Teaneck), Bowler City, 2/13/1991
Dave Nagelhout (Fair Lawn), 2/26/1990
John Epps (Montclair), Bowler City, 2/6/1990
Damon DeLise (Wayne Valley), Butler Bowl, 1/3/1989
Frank Mockenhaupt (Rutherford), Feb. 1988
Jonny Santiago (North Arlington), Wallington Lanes, 2/10/1987
Ray Adam (Wood-Ridge), Wallington Lanes, 1/15/1987
Mike Russo (Bergen Catholic), 1/7/1985
Russ Van Housen (Hawthorne), 1985
* County tournament
** Sectional tournament
*** State individual finals
So that’s it. Time once again to swap strikes for spikes – in case you’re wondering, northjersey.com has a whole page for boys volleyball, too. Early far-out predictions: Fair Lawn will regroup from the graduation of Chris Nugent better than the Yankees will regroup from the retirement of Mariano Rivera, and there will be neither snow nor a 300 game at the state finals in June. Well, there won’t be a 300, anyway.
See you ’round the courts…
—GT