East Meadow rolls into county tournament

East Meadow captured its third consecutive conference championship in boys’ bowling with a sweep of Hicksville on Jan. 20 (849-806, 966-755, 773-743), highlighted by freshman Jeff Juarez’s perfect game in the second game of the series.

“He put on a show,” coach Andrew Ghirardi said of Juarez. “Every shot was buried. He put 12 shots in the pocket.”

For Juarez, the perfect game came at the perfect time for the team leader with a 210 average. “It was nice to be in a zone and break out,” Juarez said of the 784 series. “I’ve been struggling a little. It was the most confidence I had all season. I felt as soon as I released the ball, it was going to be a strike.”

The Jets (10-2 overall) needed to win just one of the three games to take the conference title, but also happened to turn in one of their best matches at the perfect time—just before the Nassau County championships at Garden City Bowl this Saturday. In knocking off the Comets, East Meadow also grabbed the second seed. “We made up a lot of pins [in that final week] and in the last match,” Ghirardi said. “Something clicked, and I told the guys they had picked a good time to come out of their shell.”

Seeded second this Saturday—the Jets finished four pins behind top-seeded Baldwin in average pin count (803-799)—East Meadow is hoping to continue climbing forward after a third-place finish in 2009 and a second place finish last season. “We’ve got to buckle down, make shots and execute,” Ghirardi said. “Making spares is going to win that tournament. That goes for every team, and every team knows that.”

While Juarez, a Top 10 bowler in Nassau County, was a known commodity entering the season, the Jets’ fortunes have also been boosted by senior Matt Viola and junior Andrew Gold, each of whom has improved his average by more than 20 pins. Viola enters the County tournament with a 198 average, while Gold has jumped to 193. “They are definitely the most improved,” Ghirardi said. “They’ve been clutch when we needed it and a lot more consistent. We’ve usually needed them to step up and it was nice to see them [do that].”

Sophomore Vinny Napolitano started the season with the JV team, and his strong performances carried over to the varsity level after a late-season callup. He averaged a 195 over the last four matches that included a 229 in the first game of a three-game sweep over Hempstead on Jan. 18. Napolitano also has experience at the county tournament after suiting up as the Jets No. 5 bowler last winter.

In terms of sheer work ethic, sophomore Matt Newman, like Viola and Gold, put in plenty of time at the lanes during the summer and is now seeing that effort pay off.