Cranford Falls to Westfield in Bowling

Two young teams took to the hardwood at Jersey Lanes in Linden on Tuesday afternoon. Of the two, it was Westfield who knocked the most pins down, rolling past Cranford 7-0.

Junior Michael Milwicz led the way for Cranford with a team-high 491, topped by a 187 in the third and final game.  Junior Chris Juliano, averaging 179, had a high of 169 on the day.

"Like I said from the beginning, we have a lot of building to do," said Cranford coach Richard Goldstein. "We're going to take today's loss and turn it into a positive and focus on the future."

Tim Coda continues to improve for Cranford, rolling a 161 in his first match.

"I usually do well in the warmup and have a good first game," said Coda. "I'm not a consistent bowler. I only bowl in the season, so I try my best, I bowl straight, I hope soon to learn how to curve it, maybe that will improve it. I'm glad I was more consistent than last time."

But it was a big day for the Blue Devils, who were led by the golden arm of anchor Lucas Cruz, who came in with a team-high average of 212, one of the highest in the county. Cruz rolled a 213, 233 and 211 on his way to a match-high total of 657 pins. John Ettinger bowled a 200, with Eric Saunders rolling an impressive 224 in game one. Adam Firestone knocked down a 189, while Theresa Carlino and Feliz Estevez helped the Blue Devil cause.

Westfield head coach Mike Tirone is beginning to see the improvement he's been looking for since day one.

"They were pretty solid today," said Tirone. "Actually, they're a young team, but they're really coming around. I think in the next two or three weeks, we're going to get a little more practice in, we might make a little noise as time goes along."

"Today was a head game for our team as well," said Goldstein. "I think playing Westfield, one of their largest competitors, got into their head. I think when they went in here, there wasn't a huge gap between the two teams this year, that might have hurt them. I hope that after today's game, we take a look back and realize we have a lot of rebuilding to do and hopefully over the break, the students will focus and they'll be ready to come back."

As for the Blue Devils, who have a long list of championship credits, they're finally catching the eye of their coach, who has developed a number of very good teams in the past.

"Well, actually, I see the same type of potential," said Tirone. "Because our kids will not bowl out of season, it takes us three, four five weeks to really become competitive in-season. They're following the same pattern as the other kids we've had in the past, except that they're a lot younger. I think we'll do even better come tournament time."