SP-F Bowling Team Continues Winning Streak

For the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School bowling team, seven is a lucky number. The bowlers defeated Plainfield Wednesday 7-0 to win their seventh straight match, keeping their perfect record intact.

"Very consistent, I'm very pleased," said SP-F Coach James Mason. "Everybody was right around a 600 series. We're just taking it one game at a time."

The Raiders were led by Peter Citera, who had a team-high 618, sparked by a pair 214 pin efforts in his first two games. Greg Budis had a match-high 245, which he rolled in the second game. The key right now is that the team is loose and bowling with confidence.

"Team chemistry was on a high today, a very loose environment, which contributed to some good bowling,"  Citera said. "We hope to keep it that way throughout the rest of the season."

"Our team is very strong," added Budis. "We're probably one of the top for counties right now. And if we all bowl very well, we should be able to win."

All five team members rolled a 566 or better for their three games, including Mike Tufaro (594), Budis (588), Nick Stawicki (582) and Katarina Nier (566). It's this type of balance that has the Raiders marching towards a league championship.

"As far as the standings are concerned, we're probably in second place because we didn't lose a match, but we did lose one game," Mason said. "There are a couple of teams that haven't lost a game yet,  so we would be two points behind them. Roselle Catholic is up there and I don't think Linden has lost yet."

And what about the pressure of being undefeated at this point in the season?

"We really don't have any pressure on our shoulders," Citera said. "Everyone knows how to handle themselves. We've been in situations like this before and we're all very well collected people. We've been bowling for awhile, we can handle this."

"They're just having fun and as long as we're doing that, I think we're going to be fine," added Mason.

This weekend, the team will head to Carolier Lanes for the Central Jersey Tournament Saturday morning to face some of the best teams in the state.

"We definitely want to be on top this year," Citera said. "There's a couple of good teams, Brick Memorial, Brick Township, Woodbridge, Roselle Catholic, they're all formidable opponents, but I think we're going to have a good day."