The Lowdown!

Poppa Z Looks At The Hopefuls

Section XI 2005 Counties!

Bowlers, coaches and friends. "The Lowdown" is something that I really wanted to do this year. It was an idea that quite frankly just "came" to me one night on the way home from work. The more I thought about it...the more I became comfortable and confident that perhaps I could offer an insight that might be entertaining and more importantly, could be used as a great kitty litter pan liner if indeed someone actually prints the thing.

Quite simply, I love that I got a chance to be a part of something big for the bowlers of HS Bowlers of Suffolk County. Truth is, our website has gone way beyond expectations. Yes, it does get tiring. Yes I AM crazy for the time I spend on the website and not with my wife and family during the months of December, January and February. Yes, I am nuts for even thinking about writing such a "report" in the first place as I am doing tonight. And finally, Yes, I am sane enough to know full well if I even TRIED to do something like this with the girls program, that come the very next day, I would be better off taking the first plane out of town as opposed to crawling into Sayville bowl going unnoticed by Missy, Missy's Mom, Missy's Dad and Missy's dog and cat. Not a nice thought by the way.

I am not Mike Lupica. Although he is my favorite. What I believe I have done is offer an insight that hopefully will form a smile upon those that read it. For those that do not care for me personally, and yes, I do know who you are, please, I dont think anything I have written will upset you. On the other hand, for those that dont like me, exactly what are you doing here reading this in the first place? <gotchya>.

OK... here goes..... be nice...... its a grain of salt. But its my grain of salt. I did the best I could.

Poppa Z (Thanks Rich Ambrosino for giving me that name. I STILL love it)!

League 1 Champion Bay Shore has it all. Plenty of talent in regards to starters and a nice blend of talent from the "rescue" squad waiting in the wings if needed. Can’t be intimidated with Cliff Colazzo and Jonathan Trzcinski almost unflappable. Overshadowed Sr Nick Archillo however holds the team in tact with dependable scores that helps keep things close giving the free wheeling "Nasty Boys" a chance to do damage late.

West Babylon relies heavily on Suffolks best bowler in Junior Gary Haines and Super Freshman Paul Bajorski. Haines and Bajorski when hot, can cause major damage. The two bowlers combined for 31 games 225+ during the regular season. Strong supporting cast makes WB a legit threat to leave Sayville Bowl enroute to Albany in March. 

East Islip. Dynamic team that has 7 of 8 bowlers that competed during the regular season finishing over 200+ average wise. Late season slump of main cog Mark Marra can be tossed out the window. Marra showed signs of old self in the last match of the year vs WB. Chris Anderson rolled a 300 game in game 6 of the 2003 County Championships to help EI take home the gold. Need we say more? Keep an eye on Nick Figueroa. Quiet young man has a knack of coming up big when the chips are down. 

Coach Bob Slowey deserves Coach of the Year if there was an award of such magnitude. Lindenhurst Started season 0-9 losing heart breaker after heart breaker. Kept team in good spirits and blended in all his bowlers in gaining the final seed into the Counties on the final day of competition. Team is lead by underclassmen Sean Williams and Tom Greene. Slowey also has the luxury of starting 5 bowlers that have a 200+ average. Team is clearly on a roll. Don’t count them out.  

Defending 2004 Champion Commack pulled off the surprises of all surprises this year by winning League 2. When you lose as many stars as Commack did due to graduation in 2004, "rebuilding" is the first word that comes to mind when thinking about the future. Not so. All everything Sr. Billy Shannon and 8th grade sensation Dylan Russo lead Commack along with a strong supporting cast featuring Sr. Mike Ruggiero. This team has been against all odds all season, yet continue to impress as time goes by. Close knit group that has a "bunker" mentality. All for One... One for all. Expect the unexpected with this group.

For the most part during the regular season, Northport treated its opposition as though they were in the way. Northport led Section XI with a team average of 1030. Led by Srs. Jason Brochhausen and Bryan McKenna along with Junior Chris Kieser, Northport seemed destined for the League 2 crown. Late season roster matters however with the team may have stunned the team just enough costing them a league championship. All in all however, Northport has more than enough talent to overcome adversity and they have been given a full week to regroup and focus the lens. Freshman Al Becker when lit up can match any bowler strike for strike in the entire Section XI program. The bar has been raised for Northport. The thinking here is the bar is still within reach. Team may be on a mission.  

Jack was "In the Box" for the better part of the season. Jack is now "out of the box". Jack Castellano that is. If Middle Country challenges for the county title, Castellano will be the reason why. No other bowler in Section XI has as big an impact for the team they bowl on as does Castellano. The powerful right-handed Castellano fought off an early season back injury and finished the season on a tear that included games of 299, 298 and series of 721 and 766.Sr. Steve Mazzurco and Jr. George Joseph are solid in the supporting role. The test for MC now becomes the 4 & 5 spots in the lineup. Plenty to choose from and quite frankly, the talent is there. However, plenty of inconsistency along the way during the regular season from these two spots make it all the more important that Castellano bring a pillow for his head to rest on while he stands on it during competition.  

Smithtown brings to the lanes a good chemistry in regards to bowlers with Andrew Ortsman, Adam D'auria and Brian Russel. All three bowlers mentioned have rolled series 700+ in addition to 40 games of 225+ collectively. Jr. Robert Gibiser gives Smithtown that 4th bowler that is sorely needed in a 6 game tournament such as Counties. For all the high scores that have been generated by this group, well, the low scores have been there as well. Up and down makes this team a hard sell, especially if things dont start off good from the get go. And there lays the question mark. Will they or wont they "show up" mentally? If they do..... the sky is the limit.   

Know this about Longwood, this is a tough, solid group of bowlers. Led by 2004 Section XI All Star Kevin Kearney and Sr. RJ Gocinski, Longwood got the boost they needed to win League 3 in Sophomore Sensation and 2005 Section XI All Star Andrew Turner. Turner led the team in average at 216 and has major big game potential at all times. The always improving Sr Robert Matz brings the total to 4 in regards to starters that averaged 200+ for Longwood during the regular season. Factor in student of the game Coach Doug Dwyer along with the intensity Dwyer brings to the lanes; you won’t have to look too far down the list in order to find out what place Longwood is in during the tournament. Longwood won’t quit either. Everybody on the team are bowlers bowlers. They treat each frame as though it could be the last frame.... ever.    

While Longwood was jumping out of the gate early that resulted in them winning League 3 rather easily, William Floyd for the entire first half of the season was going through an identity crisis. Loaded with tremendous talent, there was plenty of head scratching going on in regards to the reason why WF was having so much trouble. The team in fact bottomed out on January 6, 2005, exactly at the midway point of the season, getting destroyed by Longwood. Bottoming out found the silver lining. From the first ball of the midway point on, WF resembled the team that everyone was expecting. The team went 14-4 the last 6 weeks of the season including a payback to Longwood on the last day of the regular season. The catalyst was Dominic Giordani. Giordani went on a tear the last 3 weeks of the season averaging 222 and raising his season average to 216. When you add Jason Cornacchio (202), Joe Butler (205), Mike Komorowski (203) and Vinny Porcelli (205) to the equation, there isn’t a need for a magical formula in search of a solution when it comes to WF. The park police and visitors have been put on notice: The Animal Is Out Of The Cage.

Here come the “Shotmakers”. Bowling half your matches in a home house that quite frankly could be the most unforgiving bowling center in Suffolk County does have its advantages for sure. Bringing the “A” game is two-fold. Bring your head as well as your talent. Patchogue-Medford brings to the table a strong nucleus of core bowlers. Led by Sr’s Andrew Meyer (205) and William Knoth (194), Pat-Med brings to Sayville the leagues must underrated team. Jr John Court (197) along with a very healthy 4 and 5 spot make this team a very formidable choice in regards to competing throughout. In a tournament that is anticipated to be very high scoring, the Pat_Med gang should get many favorable breaks along the way in a “hitters ballpark” like Fenway West Sayville.

In an atmosphere of winning a championship, it is very hard to put justify predicting a "W" for a team that doesn’t feature one or two difference makers.That is what we have in Connetquot. With that said however, lets not lose track of what they do have.  Connetquot does have 6 very solid bowlers averaging near or over 190. These are the teams that "nobody" wants to deal with simply for the reasons these "190" guys can kill you at any moment’s time. Three bowlers in particular, all undergraduates, Joe Franza (192), Ryan Kane (193) and Tim Irvin (195) have had big games and series during the regular season. Take it one step further, the "core" bowlers for Connetquot competed last year at the county championships and have the experience in knowing how to deal with the hype and know what to expect noise level wise at the highest level of competition the season offers at the local level. Catching Lightning in a bottle is something we have all heard about yet few have witnessed it. This coming Saturday, we may experience it first hand courtesy of Connetquot. Connetquot also fields the only all underclassman team.   

Comsewogue had League 4 wrapped up so early this season they actually could be compared to the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL in terms of keeping the players sharp and interested during the latter stages of the season. One bowler that certainly had a keen interest for the duration was Jr. Anthony Desaro. Desaro finished second overall in high average for the County, thus securing his spot on the Section XI All Star team. Desaro however is surrounded by a wealth of talent with this particular group especially the starters. Sr's James Pastor, Jesse Vater, Mike Vecchio along with Jr. Pat Bellamo. Comsewogue was a bit of a disappointment at last years county championships in terms of end results. The team going into last years championship was considered one of the favorites to win by Poppa Z. However, disappointment coupled with one more year and one season later under the belt could result in a higher sense of urgency with this group come February 12, 2005. Factor in 3 key bowlers that will be saying good-by for good this coming June due to graduation should make Comsewogue a serious threat to win the trip to Albany outright.   

Sayville is the team that had the highest single team game this past season when they rolled a 1214 vs Bellport on December 9, 2004. This team has very big game capabilities. Sayville is led by Jr Dan Capurso and Sr's Chris Monaco and Tim Gozaloff. Consistency seems though to be an issue though with this team. They obviously can be very good at times based on the fact they had a collective team average this year of 991. However, there are times they resemble a team that appears to flounder and lose focus on the issue at hand. Competing on home turf is going to be a major plus for this team and if anything, the familiar surrounding of Sayville Bowl will only help. They have already displayed the ability to get nasty as they did vs Bellport. They will need to remain nasty in games 1 through 5 in order for them to be in a position in game 6 of the counties and win outright. If Sayville can keep the lid upstairs on tight, they could win the tournament outright based on ability they have. No doubt it could be Sayville that will be on the bus headed towards Albany in March if they show an interest and can brush off a possible rough start.  

Adriel Torres, Dan Dixon, Matt Dennis and Shawn Jackson lead Islip into Sayville with hopes of winning it all. In order for Islip to compete for a championship, the four bowlers will need to perform at a very high level and then pin the hopes on getting support out of bowler 5. Coach Blaine Weisman has done a masterful job of shuffling in and out the balance of his team all year long and will rely on his “Fearsome Foursome” to help ease the pressure a bit. Torres and Jackson both went over 700 this year for Islip. They certainly are not strangers to big scores. Plenty of potential and a coming out party from the bench will place Islip in position in game 6 to make a run

This is what we knew based on opinion days prior from last year’s county championships in regards to Westhampton Beach. They have no shot. They have no bowlers of significance. They have a team average of 941. They bowl in the boonies, just “aint” happening. This is what we know based on fact and reality in regards to Championship Saturday 2004 at Sports Plus. There was ONE team that rolled 1000+ for ALL six games that day. Only ONE team that finished every game no lower than 4th for any given point in time for the tournament. There was ONE team that almost blew the roof off the joint that day and that ONE team was WHB. A team that we may add finished 3rd for the day. Coach Guy Buckley brings the League 5 Champions into Sayville Bowl once again as they have earned the right to compete for a county championship based on yet another fine season. WHB features solid as a rock Sr. Eddie Barton and Jr. Steve Manella along with 1,2,3,4 not 5 but 6 freshman into Sayville with hopes of leaving as champions. Keep in mind, this is WHB, they have a team average of 931. They have no shot. They have no...... yackity, yackity, yack..... The greatest sports stories come from events that weren’t expected. History tells us that. In addition, history books always need to be re-written. Teams like WHB make that possible.     

East Hampton could be sleeper of all sleepers when it comes to this particular tournament. Bowling in League 5, EH visits only one house of synthetic nature leaving them in a grind them out wear them out mentality. Led by Jrs. Michael Graham (202) and Robert Wooding (197), EH could benefit from the predicted high scoring tournament and could get comfortable and giddy from the moment they announce the lanes are on for practice. Coach Steve Graham will offer the advice and words of wisdom in order to settle his team down if they get too excited. Graham also has a keen knowledge of Sayville and will transcend those thoughts onto his bowlers for sure. Rocky Balboa is in the house!    

If there is one team from out east that is catching fire at the right time it is Eastport. Eastport has been truly amazing the last 9 weeks of the season racking up W/L record of 24-3. RJ Sherron in particular has rolled 700+ in two of the last 4 matches Eastport has been involved with. The team features 6 bowlers averaging in the mid 190's all the way up to Sherron at 206. Depth is also strength of Eastport as they weave in and out all the bowlers on the team and every one of them is capable to spring very impressive scores. Proof of the high scores is Eastport as a team has rolled 1000 or better on 15 different occasions and has totaled wood of 3000 or better 4 times during the year. Playing with matches get you burnt. Playing with fire gets you in trouble. If Eastport gets the opportunity early and finds themselves within the pack of hopefuls, the spark could ignite an all points alert brushfire.