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babylon, january 1, 2005

a very spirited field of bowlers hit the lanes this past new years day as a2Z visited babylon lanes for holiday bowl III. Over $6500.00 was paid out in collective prize/scholarship funds to the bowlers. nearly $1800.00 was paid out in the form of scholarships for the purpose of continued education past the HS level! what a treat for sure!

the story starts in a place they call babylon on an island that they call "Long"....... (although it really is a peninsula.... A2Z just wanted to point that out)... but this is OUR story.... so its "Peninsula long".....

Former Suffolk County HS greats and teammates Doug Feldman, Copiague and Adam Sher, Commack found themselves in familiar territory this past New Years Day at babylon lanes for holiday bowl III. Competing against each other for the championship of the junior scratch division, feldman defeated sher in the championship game 191-172 and will now join sher in the ranks of "Major event Champion" on the a2Z tour. Sher was gunning for his second consecutive Major title. He won the 2004 labor day event.

Feldman and sher, teammates on the 2003 state champion all-star team composed of the best HS bowlers suffolk county had to offer, know what it takes to win. feldman has won several titles on the A2Z summer tour. in fact, the young man from copiague won back to back titles in 2002 winning consecutive events at smithtown and shirley. sher on the other hand had a monster summer of 2004 on the A2Z tour winning five times.  Sher set an all time record with just over $1200.00 in scholarship earnings and if that werent enough, he averaged just over 252 per game in the process. both feldman and sher graduated from HS in june of 2004.

Splendid job indeed by both young adults. the feeling here is we havent seen the last of them on the A2Z as well.

in other action, two current 2004-05 suffolk county HS Bowlers, northport HS girls bowling star tommi may mcnally and the up and coming 8th grade derek drago of west babylon HS battled each other the very end in the junior handicap division. mcnally went on to defeat drago 258-251 in the championship game and in addition, took home the top scholarship prize of $250.00. dont feel too bad for drago however, he pocketed a very cool $208.00 (including a second place finish in one bracket) as well!

in all, a total of $1763.00 in total scholarship dollars was paid out to the junior bowlers that "cashed" in the new years day event! those scholarship dollars will come in handy for sure come post HS continued education time.

on a side note, thomas gregg, lindenhurst came thisclose to hitting the junior 300 game fund with his 287 in game 4 of qualifying. thomas nailed the front 10 before an 8-count in frame 11 halted his quest for the gem. in addition, the adult 300 game fund was not hit as well.

and so the 300 game fund continuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuues.........

A job well done by all the competing junior bowlers.

turning to the adult divisions for the day, tommy genova, elmont, defeated mike williamson, bayside to win the adult handicap division. the victory however for genova had significance to it. the elmont gentleman joins nephew vito genova, franklin square in the winners circle For  "Major event" champions (click) on the a2Z tour. nephew vito had won the last two major events in the junior scratch divsion at babylon bowl on the A2Z tour. vito did compete this past saturday, however as he quite frankly explained it, "I just couldnt carry today. I was pleased with the way I threw the ball today, just a bad carry day from ball 1. Nothing i can really do about it. no excuses at all". uncle Tommy had no such problem! :o)

in the adult scratch division, steve faber, holtsville had one of those days. explained faber, "I actually wasnt going to bowl today to be honest. the last few weeks during league, my timing has been off a bit and I really wanted to take the day off and just get away from the game for awhile". judging from the end results, faber must be happy he made the trip to babylon lanes on new years day.

faber turned in a front three of 682 and a back three of 680 that resulted in him having just enough to get into the shotgun round qualifying third for the 5-game pre-lim. according to faber "I wasnt completely loose during qualifying at all. however, my scores were consistant and i knew i wasnt getting into trouble with them (the scores). I just didnt know if i had enough". it turned out he did have enough and made the best of it as well.

in the shotgun round, faber (269) out-gunned chris pisino, mastic (234) and joe tumbarello, kings park (224) in a very high scoring match that set up his championship match vs #1 seed and waiting in the wings george Mottern, riverhead.

mottern was spectacular in qualifying averaging 239.80 for the 5-games. mottern, one of the areas "old Pros" is one tough son of a gun come crunch time. faber was going to need the a+ game in order for him to win a championship match vs mottern. kudos to faber for doing so. in a battle to the wire, faber got the hit he needed in the 10th frame and went on to defeat mottern 259-247 to win the event.

in explaining the 264 average for the two playoff games, faber explained "I qualified on the high side. the finals were held on the low side and there was quite a bit more room on the low side. much more area to play as opposed to the high side. i played my momentum off the shotgun round and hoped for the best vs george. i knew who i was up against".

It is fair to say that steve faber turned "one" of those days into "Won" of those days. great job by a great competitor.

and so the story ends in a place they call babylon on the peninsula they call "Long"... :o) 

If you turn the page.... our next chapter will start in farmingdale... date to be announced in april.

Until then..... chow for now!

:o)

Babylon Qualifying Highlights (Scratch Series Order)

Junior Handicap Division qualifying highlights (200+/1000+):

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Junior Scratch Division qualifying Highlights (200+/800+):

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Adult handicap Division qualifying Highlights (200+/800+):

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adult Scratch Division qualifying Highlights (200+/800+):

Recapping the action for sayville:

Adult Scratch Division:  

shotgun round: Steve Faber, Holtsville 269 defeated Joe tumbarello, kings park 234  and chris pasino, shirley 224

Championship game: faber defeated  george mottern, riverhead 259-247

Adult handicap division: 

shotgun round: mike williamson, bayside 243 defeated Vito Genova, franklin square 239 and  rob O'Connell, riverhead 211

Championship Game: tommy genova, elmont defeated williamson 257-211

Junior hdcp division:

shotgun round: tommi may mcnally, greenlawn 311 defeated justin drago, west babylon 239 and matthew labate, north babylon 223  

championship Game: mcNally defeated derek Drago, west babylon 258-251

Junior Scratch division:

shotgun round: adam sher, commack 256 defeated scott schultz, northport 245 and jason cornacchio, shirley 199 

Championship Game: doug feldman, copiague Defeated sher 191-172

a total of 147 Bowlers participated.

Next Stop: To Be Announced

300 game incentives for to Be Announcecd!

Adults: $505.00 plus $1.00 per adult entry!

Juniors: $539.00 plus $1.00 per junior entry!

Standings after Qualifying