Bowling titles on the line tomorrow

Some of the finest bowlers in the Shore Conference, if not the state, will roll for Freehold Regional District titles tomorrow at Country Lanes in Manalapan.

Howell's girls and Manalapan's boys are the defending champions, while Howell's Meghan Kelly and Freehold Township's Andrew Bohn rolled the high games of last year's championship.

The boy's championship is up for grabs. Although Howell sits atop the Shore Conference Class B Central Division at the moment, defending champion Manalapan or either Freehold Township or Colts Neck could all win it. All four teams have taken turns beating each other during the conference season.

Howell has been the steadiest team, led by Lou DiGirolamo. Coach Dave Clampffer has a deep line-up that includes Matt Testa, John Romeo and James and Jon Springer, who were all members of last year's team that closed the season strong. The Rebels have been getting help during the season from players like Nick Grassi, who have made this the deepest squad that Clampffer has had.

Defending champion Manalapan still has the nucleus of last year's state championship team in Chris Cherin, Mark Feldstein, Tom Dulovitz, Kyle McGrather and Adam Kirshenbaum. That alone makes the Braves dangerous.

Freehold Township has more than Andrew Bohn going for it. The Patriots have James Caraluzzi, Joe Ushkowitz, Cody Bennett and Devin Dziuba back from the team that won the Monmouth County championships in 2006.

Colts Neck has had a good year and is led by Matt Sobel, who has been the high-scorer at the District championships before, and Jon Cody, Scott Fugan and Matt Villar.

Howell's girls have been rolling along and are on their way towards winning a seventh straight division title. After a slow start, the Rebels are 24-3 and hold a 4 1/2 game lead over Jackson Memorial (19.5-7.5). Freehold Township is third (15-12).

The Rebels are deep and they are experienced, led by Meghan Kelly. At the recent Brick Tournament that brought together a state-wide field at Ocean Lanes, Lakewood, Kelly rolled the high game of the day, 266. Her 615 series was third.

Howell A was fifth (2,773) in the field of 31 teams, many of them ranked in the top 20 in the state. The Rebels are so deep that Clampffer sent three teams to Ocean Lanes.

Kelly, Amanda Stefan and Brittany Budra are the core of this year's squad. But Katie Raffele, Casey Alberti, Marissa Regad and Kerry Cocchetto have been making contributions.

Freehold Township, 15-9, has become a serious contender this year thanks to the way Pinar Huseyin has been bowling.

At the Brick Tournament Huseyin had the second best series, 650, trailing only the 661 series of Brick's Katarina Kisell.

The Patriots finished 13th in the loaded field (2,503).

In a dual meet loss to Howell, Huseyin had the high games (276) and series (656) although the Rebels won 3-0 and all but took the Patriots out of the division race.

Manalapan, which is currently in fourth place (11.5-15.5), is led by Laura and Beth Krumholtz. Colts Neck (10-17) has an experienced squad that has a contender in Lindsay Mauser.

In recent meets, Howell's boys have taken charge of the B Central race. After last week's action they stood at 22-5 after beating Freehold Township, 2-1. DiGirolamo had the high game (257) and tied for high series (658).

"It took a little a while for them to believe in themselves," said Clampffer.

Jackson Memorial is just 1 1/2 games behind the Rebels, however, at 20-4.5. Freehold Township (13-15), Colts Neck (12-14.5) and Manalapan (11-13) have fallen back, but are dangerous and could get on a roll.

"All five teams have beaten each other," Clampffer. "It's going to come down to consistency."

Howell will meet Jackson Memorial for the third time today at Howell Lanes in a match that could decide both division titles.

This will be the last time the Jackson girls will have a chance to make up ground head-to-head and cut into the Howell lead, while for the boys, Howell could extend the lead with a sweep, or the Jackson boys could take the lead.