When the pressure was at its greatest late in Sunday’s Section III boys bowling championships at Strike-N-Spare Lanes, East Syracuse Minoa displayed its best form.
As a result, the Spartans not only won the overall sectional and Class B team titles, it earned a berth in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament, set for the first weekend in March at Gates Bowl in Rochester.
None of it was given away, for though ESM was quite familiar with the Strike-N-Spare facility through its regular-season Onondaga High School League matches, the lane conditions were far tougher for this six-game tournament.
Quite early, the tournament took its main form, a duel between the Spartans and fellow OHSL contender Homer. Each team shot 951 in the opening game, with the Trojans going 843 to pull ahead in the second game.
Having scored 825 in that second game, ESM responded with the best team score of the entire day, a third game pinfall of 1,047 that gave it a total of 2,823 for the morning session, 79 pins ahead of Homer (2,744) midway through the tournament.
The afternoon session proved a struggle at first for the Spartans, and thought its total of 901 in the fourth game still gained 49 pins on the Trojans. Then a poor fifth game of 814 allowed Homer, with 879, to pull within 63 pins with one game left.
If ESM felt any extra pressure, they hid it well, managing a series of strikes early in the sixth game as Homer’s score tumbled. With a 962, the Spartans’ pinfall of 5,500 beat the Trojans (5,319) by 181 pins. Camden finished third with 5,314.
What was more, ESM had plenty of individual standouts. Ryan MacCombie shot the high game of 262, while Sean Timmons had an individual score of 1,225, second only to Camden’s Andrew Bourgeois (1,334).
Dan Marriott was third with a 1,189 aggregate and MacCombie finished 10th with 1,123. Hunter Borkowski, who shot a 300 earlier this season, had a 1,012 set.
Bishop Grimes and Christian Brothers Academy also had teams at the sectional tournament, with the Cobras finishing eighth in Class C with 4,178 and the Brothers taking ninth place with 3,948. Alex Moran led Grimes with a six-game total of 1,028.
Meanwhile, in the girls Section III tournament, ESM contended most of the way and earned the sectional Class B title while also finishing fifth overall.
In the morning session, the Spartans posted 2,394 and did a bit better in the afternoon with 2,415 to finish at 4,809. That was 354 pins behind Fulton in the overall standings as the Red Raiders, with 5,163, edged Utica Proctor (5,120) by 43 pins for the top spot.
Haley Youker, who shot a 300 in the same Jan. 3 match against CBA that Borkowski did, was seventh in the individual race with a score of 1,088 and a high game of 226. Just behind her, Stephanie Malson finished ninth with 1,074, including a 226 high game. Bishop Grimes finished seventh in Class C team with a team score of 3,654.
