A popular question around North Jersey bowling houses recently has been, “When is The Record coming out with its rankings?†The answer comes on Saturday… well, actually, it comes today, since this entry is meant to inform you that Saturday’s edition will be the first to carry rankings in the paper.
However, if you can’t wait that long, here’s a sneak peek at what you can expect to see in the Boys Top 10 and Girls Top 5, as well as some extended breakdown of last weekend’s tournament action…
In the interest of chivalry, ladies first… At the Fairleigh Dickinson-sponsored New Year’s Team Challenge at Parkway Lanes, the five North Jersey girls teams with the highest league averages advanced to the six-team Baker playoffs, along with Shore Conference standout Howell. (Quick aside — FDU assistant coach/tournament stat master Lisa Friscioni bowled for Howell in the early 2000s before going on to star with the Knights, so the Rebels have been venturing north for the Team Challenge every year since. And have won the last seven girls titles.)
Anyway, the quintet of Holy Angels, Teaneck, Paramus Catholic, Westwood and Fair Lawn have the inside track to filling out the North Jersey Top 5. We’ll end the suspense now by saying that, barring any wacky upsets between now and Saturday, the Angels will be No. 1. Right now, they have the best four-bowler league average (705), are unbeaten in Big North-United play and took Howell to five games in the Team Challenge Baker semifinals… Of course, Westwood has a strong case, having knocked off Teaneck and PC to reach the Baker finals last weekend, and let us not forget their run to the 2013 Bergen County Baker finals. The Cardinals have plenty of crunch-time experience… PC also can make a strong argument for the top spot, since the Paladins beat Holy Angels in the season-opening Tom Irwin Crusader Classic and finished ahead of the Angels in qualifying at the Team Challenge, though the Angels won the teams’ first league match-up, 7-0. I didn’t have space to mention it in the paper (thank goodness for Twitter), but it bears mentioning that PC had the high team game in qualifying with a 1,038 that featured Nikki Vucak’s 278 and Lilly Sigona’s 227.
The bottom line? To use 2013 NFL Playoff parallels, the Angels are like the Carolina Panthers — solid, consistent, and they make the necessary plays to win… The Paladins right now are the New Orleans Saints — sure, they’ve had some ups and downs, but they can score with anybody, so if they get on a hot streak, watch out… Westwood is the San Diego Chargers — underestimate/take them for granted at your own risk.
Seems like the perfect time for the Bergen County tournament to roll around and give these teams a forum to settle things on the lanes… and what do you know? That happens on Saturday.
As for the boys… The top four seeds for the Team Challenge Baker playoffs were (in order) Passaic Tech, Lyndhurst, Indian Hills and Pompton Lakes. That seems like a pretty solid North Jersey top four, especially with Indian Hills averaging an outrageous four-man 801 (yup, 200 per bowler), Passaic Tech posting the best tournament score (3,077) among locals to date, and Lyndhurst winning the whole thing by averaging 221 in its final seven Baker games. Pompton and Hawthorne are the only two Top 10 candidates for which I don’t have team averages, and oddly enough, they bowl in the only five-man league in the area, the NJIC Colonial. Other than those five, expect to see Westwood, Pascack Valley and Paramus Catholic in the rankings mix — all three made the Team Challenge Baker playoffs — along with West Milford and Northern Highlands.
Incidentally, Lyndhurst got its championship due in the recap story, but the team that had the next-best Baker round on Saturday may have been Paramus Catholic. Yes, fine, the Paladins are getting lots of “ink†this entry, but they leave me no choice because they keep doing stuff like this… Senior anchor Brian Rizzi was the 10th-frame man for PC in Baker games. With the first-round series on the line, he went strike-strike-9 in the final frame against North Bergen to punctuate a 6-point win… In the first game of the quarterfinals, he went strike-strike-9 in the 10th to seal a 4-point win over Passaic Tech… And in the quarterfinal clincher, he struck out in the last frame to cap a 2-point win over the No. 1 seed. What do those intentionally-badly-drawn ESPN commercials always say? CLUTCH.
Quick note on Northern Highlands: their boys and girls teams took part in last Saturday’s Jefferson Falcon Frenzee Tournament up at Sparta Lanes (near where some of the Taglines Clan dwells), as did Mahwah. According to Highlanders coach Bob Tschinkel, his boys squad shot in the mid-2,500s despite missing some varsity regulars and finished 7th. The girls shot around 2,390 and finished 3rd behind champ Warren Hills and Mahwah. Those are the only tournament results I’ve gotten from anywhere, and apparently, the Jefferson scorekeepers still haven’t emailed the official final results out to all participating coaches. Next time, I’ll have to enlist some of the Lake Mohawks Tags to scope out the Frenzee as reporters by proxy.
In the event any Jefferson tourney scores come across the Varsity Aces desk, we’ll try to post them here, so check back later if you’re statistically inclined. For those such individuals, we are happy to share the complete results from the New Year’s Team Challenge, including some numbers that didn’t make the paper:
FDU NEW YEAR’S TEAM CHALLENGE RESULTS
[Jan. 4 at Parkway Lanes, Elmwood Park]
Boys Qualifying Results (Top 12 advance):
1. Passaic Tech 1,039-1,014-1,024—3,077
2. Lyndhurst 952-1,076-1,025—3,053
3. Pompton Lakes 965-918-1,079—2,962
4. Indian Hills 1,044-982-878—2,904
5. Howell 2,785
6. Union City 2,752
7. Westwood 2,683
8. Paramus Catholic 2,669
9. North Bergen 2,663
10. St. Peter’s Prep 2,662
11. Pascack Valley 2,644
12. Fair Lawn 2,643
13. Fort Lee 2,608
14. Ridgewood 2,578
15. Dumont 2,535
16. Bergen Tech 2,485
17. Bergen Catholic 2,480
18. Ramsey 2,479
19. Demarest 2,356
20. Lenoia 2,339
21. Clifton 2,220
22. Secaucus 2,218
23. Ridgefield Park 2,117
24. Hackensack 2,051
25. DePaul 1,790
Boys First Round (Best-of-3 Baker games)
(1) Passaic Tech, (2) Lyndhurst, (3) Pompton Lakes and (4) Indian Hills had byes
(5) Howell def. (12) Fair Lawn, 151-142, 216-212
(6) Union City def. (11) Pascack Valley, 186-158, 172-146
(7) Westwood def. (10) St. Peter’s Prep, 211-177, 175-157
(8) Paramus Catholic def. (9) North Bergen, 193-201, 234-161, 176-170
Boys Quarterfinals (Best-of-3 Baker games)
(8) Paramus Catholic def. (1) Passaic Tech, 215-211, 211-209
(2) Lyndhurst def. (7) Westwood, 141-213, 160-146, 204-169
(6) Union City def. (3) Pompton Lakes, 206-188, 255-184
(5) Howell def. (4) Indian Hills, 144-211, 187-179, 172-163
Boys Semifinals (Best-of-5 Baker games)
(2) Lyndhurst def. (6) Union City, 256-222, 204-172, 233-182
(5) Howell def. (8) Paramus Catholic, 133-236, 184-158, 199-168, 211-192
Boys Final (Best-of-5 Baker games)
(2) Lyndhurst def. (5) Howell, 231-137, 214-173, 210-159
Boys All-Star Team
1. Daijon Smith (Lyndhurst), 708; 2. Isiah Tolbert (Passaic Tech), 689; 3. James Kane (Paramus Catholic), 682; 4. Dean Edwards (Bergen Tech), 673*; 5. Frank Magyar (Pompton Lakes), 673*.
*NOTE: Edwards, Magyar and Lyndhurst’s Ryan Donohue finished in a three-way tie for fourth, so a high-game tiebreaker was used. Edwards’ high was 257, followed by Magyar (254) and Donohue (235).
Girls Qualifying Results (Top 6 advance):
1. Howell 962-894-1,010—2,866
2. Paramus Catholic 7676-834-1,038—2,639
3. Westwood 2,575
4. Holy Angels 2,486
5. Fair Lawn 2,193
6. Teaneck 2,143
7. Immaculate Heart 2,138
8. Hackensack 2,057
9. North Bergen 1,900
10. Bergen Tech 1,727
11. Dumont 1,597
Girls Quarterfinals (Best-of-3 Baker games)
(1) Howell and (2) Paramus Catholic had byes
(3) Westwood def. (6) Teaneck, 154-130, 194-180
(4) Holy Angels def. (5) Fair Lawn, 170-114, 192-133
Girls Semifinals (Best-of-5 Baker games)
(1) Howell def. (4) Holy Angels, 140-162, 187-165, 129-149, 210-190, 182-136
(3) Westwood def. (2) Paramus Catholic, 193-142, 182-152, 172-136
Girls Final (Best-of-5 Baker games)
(1) Howell def. (3) Westwood, 171-125, 165-212, 211-182, 140-215, 166-166, 108-69 (5-frame tiebreaker)
Girls All-Star Team
1. Nikki Vucak (Paramus Catholic), 657; 2. Kristen Natoli (Howell), 619; 3. Michelle Gulino (Howell), 594; 4. Clarissa Hernandez (Holy Angels), 585; 5. Kim Klein (Howell), 583.
See you ’round the lanes…
—GT