Varsity Bowling Finishes Second in Nassau County Championship

The Dalers boys varsity bowling team finished first for the regular season in their division and went on to represent at the Nassau County High School Bowling Championship on Feb. 5 at Garden City Lanes. 

The Dalers got off to a strong start, with an outstanding 705 series with 245, 224 and 236 games by junior Eric Kennedy, who led the team in the first three games of the match.  The team complemented Kennedy’s series with games of 224 by Joe Inzirillo, 216 by John Lombardi, and 257 by Steve Harris, which helped ensure the Dalers a semi-final round and a sixth place position going into the afternoon session. The Dalers continued to bowl throughout the day as one of the top teams of the tournament.   

In the semi-final round, the Dalers continued their way to the top overcoming a 127 pin deficit from the morning session with scores of 245 by Inzirillo, 215 by Kennedy, 259 by Lombardi, and a 237 by Harris in game four to capture the lead going into the final two games of the match.  Kennedy continued striking in game five with 10 strikes in a row and a 264 game finishing the afternoon session with a 660 series and a high series for the team with 1365 pins knocked down.  Team captain Harris was only a few pins away with a 1342 series for the day. 

In the final game, Farmingdale faced Sewanaka, who was ahead of the Dalers by only eight pins.  The game was effectively tied the whole way with scoring totals varying barely 20 pins in each of the frames.  Both teams were going shot for shot with spares and strikes up to the very end.  Despite strong performances by the entire Daler team throughout the day, including a 228 in game six by rookie Steve Hamlin, Sewanaka was victorious in the end handing the Dalers a second place finish beating them by only 19 pins.

“Even though our boys bowled their hearts out averaging over 210 pins per bowler per game we came up 18 pins short for the championship," said Farmingdale coach Joe Bianca. "They had a total of 6311 for the 6 games and we had 6293 pins.  Our team went from 6th place in the morning round to where we finished.  I am so proud of how they performed as a team for both themselves and Farmingdale."

The team will lose three graduating seniors this year including co-captains Steve Harris and John Lombardi both of whom helped lead the team throughout the entire 2010 – 2011 bowling season.  Harris finished the regular season with over a 200 average and competed against the other 200+ average bowlers in the league.  He will compete this Saturday back at Garden City Lanes.

Two of this years varsity members John Lombardi and Eric Kennedy are younger brothers of former Farmingdale varsity members Nick Lombardi and Mitch Kennedy, who bowled together in the most successful Daler season of 2006 - 2007. That year both varsity and junior varsity teams finished first in their division. The tradition of Farmingdale bowling excellence continues.