MATTYDALE – Though it didn’t climb all the way to the top, the East Syracuse Minoa boys bowling team did just about everything else it wanted to accomplish during Sunday’s Section III team tournament at Strike-N-Spare Lanes.
Most importantly, the Spartans secured a return trip to this same home facility on March 14 to vie for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Division I title.
In the sectional tournaments of seasons past, teams rolled six games and total pinfall determined who would win, but the format changed for 2025.
Now they would bowl four games, and the top four teams in both Division I (large school) and Division II (small school) would advance to two elimination rounds to determine the ultimate winner.
One added incentive was that Section III would get an at-large state tournament bid in both divisions, so whoever made it to the finals would advance regardless of the ultimate result.
ESM did not get off to the best of starts, its 1,025 opening game putting it in seventh place in Division I, but that all changed with a second-game 1,200 which was the best by any team in any of the four games.
Joe Gardner led the way with a 266. Alex Locke put up a 257, while Luke Liedka had a 234 and Zach Kassel a 231, Ryan Dablock rounding it out shooting 212.
Having climbed all the way to first place, ESM stayed there shooting games of 1,063 and 1,053 to finish at 4,341, 57 ahead of Baldwinsville’s 4,289 as Cicero-North Syracuse (4,284) and New Hartford (4,197) rounded out the top four.
They all went to the semifinals, switching to the “Baker” format where, instead of individual games, the team bowls together, with no individual getting more than two frames.
ESM, knowing a win over New Hartford would secure the state tournament berth, swept New Hartford in one semifinal, shooting combined games of 226, 228 and 218 as those other Spartans could not post a game better than 193.
The other semifinal was closer, C-NS and Baldwinsville splitting two games until the Northstars edged the Bees 211-210 in the third and 220-212 in the fourth.
Though both ESM and C-NS were safely in the state tournament, they still staged a classic final that went the distance.
The Spartans dominated the first game 225-161, but the Northstars absorbed that blow and, over the next two games, shot 208 in both of them to beat ESM’s totals of 176 and 191.
Then in the fourth game it was the Spartans staging its own comeback 205-176, setting up a decisive fifth game where C-NS strung together enough marks and won it by a score of 200-162.
Kassel and Liedka both shot four-game totals of 906 in the early rounds to tie for 10th place, Liedka closing with a 268, the fifth-best individual game of the day. Locke finished with an 873 series, ahead of an 850 series from Gardner and 806 series from Dablock which concluded with his top game of 226.
Fayetteville-Manlius finished 12th in Division I and ninth in Class A, the Hornets led by John Antczak, whose 837 series included games of 215, 213 and 225. Atsuto Urao had a 202 game, with Jacob Vaccaro shooting a 195 game and Cole Cox contributing a 188 game.
Christian Brothers Academy was in the sectional Division II tournament where it finished 10th in that division and seventh in the Class C race where Beaver River and Homer earned state tournament berths.
Tom Dearnaley provided the big highlight for the Brothers shooting a 10-strike 276 on his way to an 858 series. Only C-NS’s Garrett Arnold (297 game) and New Hartford’s J.P. Lazzaro (279 game) shot better individual games on this day as Jake Mason added a 733 series ahead of Luke Becker (706 series) and Demspey Horan (683 series).
Bishop Grimes earned 10th place in Class C/D with a total pinfall of 3,236. Individually for the Cobras, Zach Leto finished 40th overall with 803 thanks to games of 190, 206, 197 and 210. Victor Rizzo added a 641 total.