Once again, the Aces must express gratitude to the Big North coaches for maintaining their spectacular standings spreadsheet on Google Docs. And, once again, the standard operating procedure is that Big North teams bowl 3-game, 7-point matches, and the points are what count toward the division standings. You may notice an occasional case where the team with a better won-loss record finished behind a team with a better mark in points, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes…
FINAL 2015-16 BIG NORTH BOYS BOWLING STANDINGS
| UNITED DIVISION |
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| Team | Division Pts. W-L | Overall Pts. W-L | ||
| Bergen Catholic | 30 | 12 | 73 | 39 |
| Don Bosco | 21 | 21 | 53 | 52 |
| Paramus Catholic | 17 | 25 | 52 | 53 |
| St. Joseph | 16 | 26 | 32 | 59 |
Analysis: Bergen Catholic won its first United title since 2013 by defeating Don Bosco head-to-head on the final day of divisional play, 6-1. The two were neck-and-neck all season, and BC went into the Feb. 4 finale knowing that it only needed to win one game (two points) in order to clinch. Had the score been reversed & the Ironmen won 6-1, they would have taken the title by one point. But the Crusaders got it done and went on to cap a resurgent season by returning to the state team finals.
High game: Nathan Tombo (St. Joseph), 290
High series: Tombo, 730
Top 3 averages: 1. Tombo (SJR), 203.0; 2. Kyle Laube (BC) 196.4; 3. George Held III (PC), 189.7.
Division Coach of the Year: Larry Fierro (Bergen Catholic)
| LIBERTY DIVISION | ||||
| Team | Division Pts. W-L | Overall Pts. W-L | ||
| Passaic Tech | 68 | 2 | 103 | 2 |
| Clifton | 58 | 12 | 74 | 24 |
| Bergen Tech | 38 | 32 | 44 | 61 |
| Passaic | 32 | 38 | 32 | 66 |
| Eastside | 14 | 56 | 14 | 84 |
| Kennedy | 0 | 70 | 0 | 98 |
Analysis: Passaic Tech went 10-0 in this division for the third year in a row (and won it for the fourth straight). The Bulldogs also finished 68-2 in points for the third straight season. You could look at it and say, how the heck does some Liberty opponent keep managing to steal two points from them every year? (Kudos to Clifton, which did it this winter.) Taglines looks at it and simply marvels at such remarkable consistency… plus, getting the exact same number combo three years in a row might be as unlikely a feat as winning the lottery. A whole lot less expensive, too.
High game: Johann Gamo (Clifton), 290
High series: Isiah Tolbert (Passaic Tech), 759
Top 3 averages: 1. Tolbert (PCT), 225.2; 2. Anthony Rizzo (Passaic Tech), 219.8; 3. Antonio Napolitano (Passaic Tech), 205.5.
Division Coach of the Year: Audrey Jantzen (Passaic Tech)
| FREEDOM DIVISION | ||||
| Team | Division Pts. W-L | Overall Pts. W-L | ||
| Indian Hills | 68 | 2 | 110 | 2 |
| Paramus | 56 | 14 | 75 | 30 |
| No. Highlands | 36 | 34 | 76 | 50 |
| Ridgewood | 30 | 40 | 48 | 50 |
| Hackensack | 13 | 57 | 21 | 84 |
| Ramapo | 7 | 63 | 16 | 89 |
Analysis: Indian Hills was the other Big North boys squad that dropped just one game all season (kudos for that to Paramus, which might have won almost any other division)… and incidentally, the Braves (821) and Passaic Tech (809) were the only two teams in the conference to average over 800 per four-man game. Indian Hills’ Freedom title was its third straight following a runner-up finish to Hackensack in 2013.
High game: Craig Oriente (IH), 300
High series: Oriente, 742
Top 3 averages: 1. Oriente (IH), 215.o; 2. Jared Duncan (IH), 214.2; 3. Jonathan Mormando (IH), 210.7.
Division Coach of the Year: Mike Michels (Indian Hills)
| INDEPENDENCE DIVISION | ||||
| Team | Division Pts. W-L | Overall Pts. W-L | ||
| West Milford | 50 | 6 | 94 | 11 |
| Fair Lawn | 35 | 21 | 64 | 41 |
| Wayne Hills | 30 | 26 | 61 | 37 |
| Lakeland | 23 | 33 | 60 | 38 |
| Wayne Valley | 2 | 54 | 26 | 72 |
Analysis: Although West Milford’s win streak came to an end in a cross-divisional match with Clifton, the team added something in its 14-1 season that it did not have during last year’s 14-0 campaign — a Passaic County championship. The Highlanders gladly took that trade-off, and they were 8-0 against Independence foes for the second straight season, so two titles it is. Keep an eye out for runner-up Fair Lawn next year, the Cutters have some talent that is very young and good.
High game: Matt Goldberg (West Milford), 299
High series: Patrick Mayer (Wayne Hills), 717
Top 3 averages: 1. Dan Hecker (Lakeland), 206.3; 2. Goldberg (WM), 204.1; 3. Andrew Finke (West Milford), 202.0.
Division Coach of the Year: John Callie (West Milford)
| NATIONAL DIVISION | ||||
| Team | Division Pts. W-L | Overall Pts. W-L | ||
| NV/Demarest | 60 | 10 | 91 | 28 |
| Pascack Valley | 56 | 14 | 92 | 34 |
| Bergenfield | 37 | 33 | 47 | 51 |
| Teaneck | 30 | 40 | 37 | 68 |
| NV/Old Tappan | 27 | 43 | 36 | 62 |
| Tenafly | 0 | 70 | 0 | 98 |
Analysis: According to Northern Valley/Demarest coach Damon Affinito, this is the Norsemen’s first league bowling title, and the program has been around almost as long as the school, which opened in the mid-’50s. NV/D won all 10 of its divisional matches, including a sweep of Pascack Valley, and that helped break the Indians’ three-year stranglehold on the division (PV had won four straight titles, 2012 was in the Patriot Division). And the Norsemen still had to win their final National match just to stay in front, so they earned it.
High game: Nicholas Reyes (Bergenfield), 276
High series: Reyes, 733
Top 3 averages: 1. Henry Tipping (Pascack Valley), 201.3; 2. Reyes (Bergenfield), 199.9; 3. Jordan Tse (NV/D), 189.5.
Division Coach of the Year: Damon Affinito (NV/Demarest)
| PATRIOT DIVISION | ||||
| Team | Division Pts. W-L | Overall Pts. W-L | ||
| Mahwah | 49 | 7 | 72 | 33 |
| Westwood | 33 | 23 | 79 | 54 |
| River Dell | 26 | 30 | 46 | 59 |
| Ramsey | 17 | 39 | 32 | 66 |
| Pascack Hills | 15 | 41 | 22 | 76 |
Analysis: Mahwah went 7-1 against division opponents and broke Westwood’s string of three straight Patriot titles (the actual streak was four, Cardinals won the American Div. in 2012). And although this initially was believed to the the Thunderbirds’ first crown since 2003, the Taglines research staff couldn’t find any evidence of a Mahwah league championship since 2000. So… we’ll just do this the easy way: congrats to the T-Birds for winning their first division title since the Big North Conference began in the 2010-11 season!
High game: Kyle Rivers (Westwood) & Zach DiPirro (River Dell), 266
High series: Rivers, 729
Top 3 averages: 1. Rivers (Westwood), 205.0; 2. DiPirro (RD), 204.8; 3. Devin Crowley (Ramsey), 192.9.
Division Coach of the Year: Jim Dalessio (Mahwah)
| AMERICAN DIVISION | ||||
| Team | Division Pts. W-L | Overall Pts. W-L | ||
| Ridgefield Park | 29 | 13 | 70 | 28 |
| Fort Lee | 28 | 14 | 73 | 25 |
| Dumont | 27 | 15 | 53 | 52 |
| Cliffside Park | 0 | 42 | 2 | 96 |
Analysis: Ridgefield Park also captured its first divisional crown since the Big North began, and they did so despite losing senior Brandon Gerber and his 200 average to an arm injury midway through the season. The Scarlets deserve the props, and perhaps Fort Lee deserves the “Defibrillator Award”, since this was the third straight season that the Bridgemen helped decide the American title on THE final day. In 2014, they won their finale to nip Dumont by one point. Last winter, Fort Lee led the Huskies by three points before defeating them 7-0 in the season-ender.
This time, the same two teams met in the Jan. 29 finale — Ridgefield Park already had completed its six divisional matches — and the ONLY thing that could have prevented either Dumont or Fort Lee from tying or overtaking RP for the title was a 4-3 final score (either way). Well, the Huskies won the first game thanks to a perfecto from Kyle Schellberg, the Bridgemen came back to win the next two, but Dumont still took total wood, so guess what? The final score was 4-3 Fort Lee, and the title was the Scarlets’ to enjoy outright.
High game: Kyle Schellberg (Dumont), 300
High series: Schellberg, 774
Top 3 averages: 1. Schellberg (Dumont), 221.2; 2. Derek Lewandowski (Ridgefield Park), 210.3; 3. David Grant (Fort Lee), 208.6.
Division Coach of the Year: Melissa Iannacone (Ridgefield Park)
—GT