Many times this winter, Cicero-North Syracuse’s Josh Cloute had bowled at Strike-N-Spare Lanes, including the Dec. 23 match where he notched a 300 game against Syracuse.
But no appearance at Strike-N-Spare compared in importance with Cloute taking part in Sunday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament, where tough competition, and tough condition, was the order of the day.
Cloute was part of the six-man Section III All-Star team, joined by Tyler Watchus (Baldwinsville), Andrew Bourgeios (Camden), Robert Kinville (New York Mills), Mark Morreale (Whitesboro) and Ryan Aylesworth (Homer).
In his opening game, Cloute fired a 183, but he improved to a 219 in the second game, his best of the day. A 177 concluded the opening session, and following a 145 struggle in the fourth game, Cloute rebounded to a 215 in the fifth game before concluding with a 167.
It amounted to a pinfall of 1,106 for Cloute and a 184.33 average, which put him in 32nd place out of 66 individuals, right in the middle of the pack, five spots behind Kinville’s 1,119 set. Bourgeis led the Section III side, with a 1,188 series and 237 high game that left him 14th overall.
Together, Cloute and the Section III team finished sixth out of 11 sides, with a total of 5,745. Section XI (Suffolk County, Long Island) won with 6,219, beating Section VI (Western New York) by 234 pins for that top spot, and Adam Zimmerman from that Section XI squad took individual honors with a 1,345 series, which included a 770 afternoon session.
