If there was ever proof that The Observer’s circulation area was brimming with bowling talent, look no further than what happened last week _ and then what took place late last weekend, which will be addressed in these sports pages next week.
For now, we’ll concentrate on the achievements that took place at Kearny High School and Nutley High School last week, where both schools crowned county champions in bowling.
The Kearny boys won the Hudson County Tournament championship for the very first time.
And for the first time, both the Nutley boys’ and girls’ teams won the Essex County championships.
That’s a lot of proud success, dominating the areas in two vast stretching counties, but from such a short distance from each other.
First, the Kearny boys, which really had to work extremely hard to win the Hudson County title last week at Hudson Lanes in Bayonne.
You see, the Kardinals finished the regular season as the No. 3 seed in regular Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic League play, trailing both St. Peter’s Prep and Hudson Catholic in their own division, as well as perennial powers Dickinson and Union City from the other division.
So for the Kards to reign supreme, it was going to take some hard work.
“This was the first year that they decided to put us head-to-head against schools, so that worked to our advantage,” said veteran Kearny bowling coach Alan Correnti. “It was a little different, but it was a lot more competitive. This was a more exciting format.”
The Kards took on St. Peter’s Prep, the No. 2 seed, in the opening round _ and won in a close battle, 2,684 to 2,639.
Sophomore Christian Davidson was the lead roller for the Kardinals, posting a high game of 236, a second game of 227 and a series of 610. Senior captain Cody Evanchick rolled a 221 game.
Sophomore Donovan Battistus had a 204 high game. Another sophomore, Ryan Andrzejewski, had a 163 high game. Freshman Jose Escandon had a 193 game and freshman Thomas Stein chipped in with a 147.
In the semifinal round, the Kards knocked off divisional champion Hudson Catholic, winning resoundingly by a margin of 2,833 to 2,604.
“Hudson Catholic was awesome all year,” Correnti said. “We were happy to beat St. Peter’s Prep, but to beat Hudson Catholic? That was amazing and we beat them pretty good.”
Evanchick was unconscious, rolling a 726 series, with games of 258, 255 and 213. Battistus had a 656 series, with games of 234 and 232. Andrzejewski had a 194 high game.
“I think after that, we were on a roll,” Correnti said. “We really were going so well.”
In the championship match against Union City, it was more of the same, as the Kardinals won by a considerable margin, 2,795 to 2,560.
Again, Evanchick was unstoppable, rolling a 644 series with games of 226 and 223. Battistus had a 599 series with games of 223 and 198. Escandon showed no signs of freshman jitters by rolling a 214 and fellow rookie Stein had a 212.
“That was his highest score ever,” Correnti said.
Needless to say, the Kards came together at the right time and celebrated a first-ever county title.
“I didn’t expect it,” Correnti said. “We have a young team that has only one senior (Evanchick). We worked hard all year. This was an easy bunch to coach. We took on teams we were not supposed to beat and won the entire county.”
Meanwhile, the Nutley bowling program was having a fiesta at the Essex County Tournament at Eagle Rock Lanes in West Orange. In the past, Nutley’s boys have enjoyed its fair share of success, but never did the boys and the girls capture county crowns at the same time.
“No one has ever done it before,” veteran Nutley bowling coach George Ackerman said. “The girls won the county last year and the boys last won in 2013, but never the same year.”
Ackerman said that the Nutley boys were struggling somewhat until lately.
“It really was a tough year,” Ackerman said. “Sometimes, they were really good and sometimes they looked as if they were in need of repair. Two of the boys got sick and the team really never recovered. But they put it together for the county tournament. They just got stronger as the day went on.”
The Maroon Raider girls were trying to recover after losing two key bowlers from last year to graduation.
“The team has a whole crew of freshmen,” Ackerman said. “They just kept getting better as the season went on.”
As the Essex County championships began, both the Maroon Raiders were in first place.
“The boys just steamrolled,” Ackerman said. “I used the (Denver) Broncos (in the recent Super Bowl 50) as an example. They made adjustments in the course of the afternoon and so did we. Everyone started to make their spares and that was important.”
Senior Chris Liloia, who won the individual Essex County championship as both a sophomore and a junior, led the way with a 588 series and games of 213 and 206. His younger brother, Anthony, a sophomore, had a 624 series and a 233 high game.
“I was very impressed with the way Anthony stepped up,” Ackerman said. “All the sophomores did. They concentrated on making their spares. I can’t stress that enough.”
Sophomore Jordan Cacio had a 536 series, rolling a 207 in the first game and a 193 in the last. Fellow soph Dominic Torres has a 522 series and a 201 in the last game.
“He bowled over his head and showed what he was capable of,” Ackerman said of Torres.
Sophomore Andrew Irwin chipped in with a 448 series.
“The team is still young and growing,” Ackerman said. “We needed every single pin along the way. If a team missed a spare, it showed. Our kids really concentrated on them.”
The Liloia brothers both qualified for the individual championships, with Chris making it all the way to the finals.
“He was actually on fire,” Ackerman said of Liloia. “He bowled a 247 in the first round, then 255, then 244, then 238 to get into the finals. He just ran out of steam.”
Going for a third straight individual title, Liloia fell to Bobby Critices of Glen Ridge.
“It was a great run,” Ackerman said. “If we can keep the momentum going and keep working on the key components of the game, we should be in good shape for the future.”
As for the Nutley girls, they defeated Montclair by a 1,921 to 1,806 margin.
“Montclair won the regular season, so this was sweet revenge for our girls,” Ackerman said. “Our girls came to play. They were up by 150 pins after the second game.”
Junior Sayaka Imamura had a 438 series and a 158 high game. Sophomore Francesca Lentini, a true inspirational story after winning a lengthy battle against leukemia, rolled a 431 series and a 150 high game. The rest of the team is comprised of juniors Sofia Pramgioulis, Alyssa Pizzano and Natalie Fernandez. Fernandez is a first-year bowler who came up huge during the postseason tournament play when five bowlers are needed.
“There’s no way to describe this,” Ackerman said. “You can make very few mistakes during a tournament and still win. Both of our teams wanted it badly.”
And so did Kearny, making it a great week of local bowling _ and one that will get even better if you make sure to read next week’s Sports View in The Observer.
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Jim Hague | Observer Sports Writer
Sports Writer Jim Hague was with The Observer for 20+ years — and his name is one of the most recognizable in all of sports journalism. The St. Peter’s Prep and Marquette alum kicked off his journalism career post Marquette at the Daily Record, where he remained until 1985. Following shorts stints at two other newspapers, in September 1986, he joined the now-closed Hudson Dispatch, where he remained until 1991, when its doors were finally shut.
It was during his tenure at The Dispatch that Hague’s name and reputation as one of country’s hardest-working sports reporters grew. He won several New Jersey Press Association and North Jersey Press Club Awards in that timeframe.
In 1991, he became a columnist for The Hudson Reporter chain of newspapers — and he remains with them to this day.
In addition to his work at The Observer and The Hudson Reporter, Hague is also an Associated Press stringer, where he covers Seton Hall University men’s basketball, New York Red Bulls soccer and occasionally, New Jersey Devils hockey.
He’s also doing work at The Morristown Daily Record, the very newspaper where his journalism career began.
During his career, he also worked for Dorf Feature Services, which provided material for the Star-Ledger. While there, he covered the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets.
Hague is also known for his announcing work — and he’s done PA work for Rutgers Newark and NJIT.
Hague is the author of the book “Braddock: The Rise of the Cinderella Man.”