CENTRAL NEW YORK – Area high school bowling teams eased their way into the regular-season homestretch, most of them able to score victories against league foes – and no one was better than the boys side from East Syracuse Minoa.
Back on Tuesday, the Spartans topped Oswego 3-0, with Ryan Buffum’s 246 game starting a 649 series as Charlie Euson had a steady 584 series (high game 211) and Luke Leidka closed with a 231 in his 546 series.
ESM went from there to a 3-0 shutout of Cortland on Thursday afternoon that nearly saw Buffun reach perfection.
After a 258 opening game and a 191 in the second, Buffun rolled 11 consecutive strikes and, on his final ball, left hit the pocket again – but left a 10-pin standing for a 299, all part of a 748 series.
Not to be left out, Leidka shot a 253 second game after a 202 in his 616 series, while Mike Saunders opened with a 231, closed with a 202 and had a 612 series. Charlie Euson contributed a 532 series.
The ESM girls absorbed a 3-0 defeat to Cortland that same afternoon. Olivia Nissen’s 425 series was the best the Spartans could muster as Kendall Keep led the Purple Tigers with a three-game total of 524.
This memorable week for the ESM boys was capped by handing 10-0 Central Square its first defeat of the season Friday afternoon in a 2-1 battle.
Though the Redhawks had a pinfall of 3,618 to the Spartans’ 3,557, ESM got the points as Liedka, closing with a 233, earned a 633 series and Saunders had a 610 series.
Kyle Nissen had games of 227 and 218 in his 603 set as Joe Gardner’s 246 opened a 583 series and Buffun got a 566 series, just ahead of Charlie Euson’s 562 set. Central Square lost despite a 266 from Colin Edwards in his 666 series and a 265 from Owen Schuester in his 635 set.
All this happened as ESM’s girls shut out Central Square 3-0, led by Emily Blakeman, whose 166 game opened the day and 156 game closed out a 433 series ahead of Alana Tuberville’s 422 set.
Fayetteville-Manlius won its boys match over West Genesee last Tuesday 3-0, and got some spectacular performances from the duo of Adam Koss and Michael Nanno.
Nearly perfect in his 267 third game, Koss capped off a 729 series that included games of 223 and 239. Nanno wasn’t far behind, his games of 238, 223 and 257 producing a 718 series.
Ryan Yenny’s 571 series featured a high game of 217 as Brandon Disque bowled just two games, but that included a 220 as Luke Teta had a top game of 196.
Nanno stood out in Thursday’s 3-0 win over Liverpool at Flamingo Bowl, getting 10 strikes in a 279 second game and nearly equaling it with a third game of 265 that was part of a season-best 753 series. Yenny opened with a 242 in his 586 set.
Then F-M stumbled a bit Friday, falling 2-1 to West Genesee as it struggled at Solvay Recreation Alleys. Yenny’s 163 was the best of any game as Alex Bigelow, with a 476 series, paced the Wildcats.
The undefeated Christian Brothers Academy girls bowlers shut out Altmar-Parish-Williamstown 7-0 last Tuesday as Elianna Occhino shot 238, 237 and 214 in her 689 series, with Cadence Malicek closing with a 211 in her 525 set.
CBA’s boys also won 7-0 over the Rebels, improving to 7-2 overall as Ryan Mulhern’s second-game 222 led to a 559 series and Tom Dearnaley closed with a 209 in his 522 set.
Bishop Grimes won a pair of 7-0 decisions over APW, with Nathan Schultz shooting a 460 series to lead the boys Cobras as the girls led by Stephanie Michlovitch’s 329 set.
Each of CBA’s teams won again Wednesday against Weedsport, with the girls 7-0 win involving Occhino shooting games of 224, 211 and 218 in her 653 series and Malicek closing with a 189 in her 497 set.
Dearnaley’s 526 series and 193 high game keyed the boys Brothers’ 5-2 win over the Warriors, with Jake Mason adding a 496 series (188 high game) and Mulhern putting together a 463 set.
Bowling again on Thursday, the Grimes boys lost, 7-0, to Chittenango, with a 448 series from Schultz and a 443 series from Dom Betz trailing the 600 set from the Bears’ Jacob Podunajec. Twin 7-0 losses to Homer followed on Friday.
