Scotch Plains Bowlers Make History

The 2010 Union County Bowling Tournament will long be remembered by the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High team, specifically, senior Peter Citera and junior Mike Tufaro, who made Raiders' history on Wednesday, placing fourth and fifth overall.

The two actually bowled three more games in the same pair Wednesday, with their high scores allowing them to advance to the championship round. Tufaro was on fire, rolling a 680 series, while Citera shot a 580. That set up a matchup against each another, won by Citera 238-192, nailing down the fourth spot for Citera and fifth-place for Tufaro.

Was it easy for the teammates to put aside their friendship for ten frames?

"I'd like to look at it that way, but I hate losing," Tufaro said. "I really hate losing. It doesn't matter who it's to, but I'd rather lose to Pete than anybody else. It was fine."

Citera said the experience sort of felt like bowling practice.

"We see each other's faces so often, you just have to buckle down and focus on the high game," he said. "I know Mike will be back here next year, and hopefully we'll have three bowlers back here, Nick Stawicki, Mike Tufaro and Greg Budis. Mike is going to have another incredible year next year and I'm gonna root for him. There's no doubt in my mind he can be better than he is now. In all honesty, he is one of the most incredible bowlers I know."

SP-F Coach James Mason noted that the organization of this year's county tournament benefited the team. It used to be whoever had the highest scores in the first round were declared individual champions, he said, but this year they made it more fair by separating it.

"It was nice for us to get two in the finals," Mason said.

It all started at Monday's qualifiers, where 30 percent of the individual bowlers got to advance to the final round of 24. Both Citera and Tufaro eclipsed the 575 cutoff, which set the stage for Wednesday's meeting.

"I placed 19^th out of 24 after the first day, so I came in thinking I didn't even have a shot at qualifying in the top ten," Tufaro said. "But I bowled pretty well today. I knew what I had to do and I was really surprised that I was able to qualify. I'm real happy. I had no expectations coming in. I didn't think I would make the top five, so I'm happy."

On the girls' side, Katarina Nier placed fourth overall out of six girls who advanced to championship day.

"Today wasn't my best performance," said Nier, who bowled a high of 182. "I did well in the second game, but I just couldn't find the line. I expected myself to do well. I don't want to put pressure on myself. I was happy that I made it here."

Meanwhile, the team finals will take place Thursday afternoon at Jersey Lanes in Linden, with a start time of 3:10 p.m. The Raiders qualified fifth out of six teams and since total pin fall does not carry over, all teams start on the same level.

"We're on an equal plane with the teams in front of us," Citera said. "I think we can definitely be in the top two."

But can they knock off top-rated Roselle Catholic, who is led by Joe Gramiak, who captured the individual title yesterday?

"Yes, definitely," Citera said. "Our 971 team average is the second highest average in the county. Roselle Catholic is above 1,000, but everyone on our team is capable of shooting over a 200. You can't go in thinking you have to make every shot. You have to throw a strike every ball. You just have to relax and play your game. I think that we can win. We had two guys finish in the top five and we had Katarina finish fourth in the girls, so we're pretty good. And our other two bowlers only missed the cut by ten pins, so I think we'll be pretty good."

No matter what happens in the team champs, Wednesday will always be a day to remember.

"We made history today, two bowlers in the top five," Citera said. "I don't even know in the history of the high school bowling team that we've had one bowler in the top five before, so we're going to look to continue to pave new history."