Cranford Bowlers Roll Season’s Best

The young, but improving Cranford bowling team found their groove Monday by coming from behind to defeat Roselle 5-2 at Jersey Lanes in Linden.

Junior captain Chris Juliano led the Cougars with a 606 series.

"I'm real happy with my team's performance," said Cranford coach Richard Goldstein. "They went out there, they knew what they had to do, they took care of business, they improved their average significantly."

"It felt great, I was so excited," said Juliano. "I had a shaky first game, but the second game I went in there thinking positive and it worked out well for me. I hope to bowl higher in the future."

Cranford lost the first game to Roselle by 112 pins, but they quickly fought back in the second game, led by Juliano's career-high 247.  Junior Mike Milwicz added a 187 and Tim Coda a 162 which helped even the match, outscoring the Rams 870 pins to 690.

"I told them, just pretend it's a practice," added Goldstein, "because it seems like they fold under a lot of stress these days when we're actually going to the matches. I said, go out there, just like it's a regular team practice, roll with it, do what you normally do, and you'll be successful and that's what they did."

"I think that was a big confidence booster, and there are a lot more wins to come," Juliano said. "I'm just trying to help my teammates out, fixing their problems. I can help some of my teammates with the curve and the spin on the ball. At practice, we do spare practices and that's helped us a lot."

The third game saw sophomore Scott Belmont roll a 220, a career-high. Juliano rounded out his series with a 189 and Milwicz finished with a 182. Tim Coda rolled a 171 in the third game, as the Cougars had a season-high game of 892 pins. The Cougars' final pin total for the match was 2,458, beating Roselle by 312 pins.

"We did good, Scott Belmont's been picking up his game a lot," said Milwicz. "I was doing pretty well, in the high 180's. We were more consistent, now we're doing really well."

"They came out fighting," said Goldstein. "They knew they were down the entire season, They really knew what they needed to accomplish, so after the first game, we had a little talk, I told them to relax, concentrate, do what we do in practice, and it will come to you. I really think it boosted their confidence, they know they can do it, they improved their game and it's what they've been trying to do."

The Cougars will take that momentum into their next match versus Arthur L. Johnson on Thursday at 4 p.m. at Jersey Lanes.