Despite Standout Performances, Belleville Bowlers Lose to Bengals

When Bloomfield High School's boys bowling team and Belleville High School's team matched up Friday, both were coming off a win.

Something had to give. Belleville fell to the Bengals, 2223-2030, in straight games.

“Whenever we play against Belleville, I think we both bring out the best in each other, for whatever reason," said Bengals' Head Coach Susan Schotka. "We are competitive since we’re surrounding towns."

While Schotka felt her team rose to the competition, Belleville Head Coach Michael Early feels differently about his team’s performance.

“They are struggling today," said Early. 

The Bengals took the first game, 768-673, behind a strong showing from Captain Joey Stefanik, who notched a solid 213 in game one for the Bengals. Stefanik just barely edged out Belleville’s Aldo Mogro, who produced an equally impressive 211 in game one.

“The lanes were a little dry, but we worked around it as a team,” said Stefanik.

Game two provided little relief for Belleville as Stefanik continued his phenomenal day en route to a 201 game two score and a 712-660 victory.

“He’s unbelievable, he has two 200 games. Sometimes he gets to 200 and then goes down to 117, but [today] he’s having a really good day,” said Schotka.

Teammates Andrew Coco and Christian Vega contributed with a 176 and 167, respectively.

“We would have won the second game if they got their [usual] marks," said Early. "Everyone is struggling,” said Early.

As Bloomfield flourished in game two, Belleville struggled to knock down strikes and critical spares which would've gotten them back into the contest. Mogro tried to carry his team with a phenomenal 226, including six strikes in his first seven frames, but he couldn't carry the team to victory.

“As the game went on, I felt my ball good and I was able to hit my mark,” said Mogro.

Belleville posted their best score of the night in the third game but still failed to defeat the Bengals, who took game three, 743-697. Manuel Perez, who struggled in the first two games, posted a very respectable 190. Emil Amparo notched a 186 to help raise the team's overall average, which was eventually lowered when Mogro tired out with a 165. Belleville was more consistent in this game posting all marks within 35 points of one another, but high marks from Stefanik and Vega negated any chance of a victory.  

Belleville hopes they can shake this bad day from their memories going into the Essex County Championships today with a 26-30 record.

“We have to work on the spares, we give up a close game every time,” said Early.

Bloomfield improved to 31-25 with Friday night's win.

“We want to just keep the momentum going and boost their average up,” said Schotka.