Comeback carries Elmira High School boys bowling team to NYSPHSAA Division 1 title

The Elmira boys bowling team played catch-up to Section 5's Hilton all day, finally passing the Cadets in the sixth and final game to complete a sterling comeback that gave the Express the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Division 1 championship Friday night at AMF Strike 'N Spare Lanes in Syracuse.

Elmira's final pin total was 6314. The Express entered the last round down 49 pins to Hilton, but a 1036 to 936 advantage was enough to give Elmira a winning margin of 51 over the Cadets (6263) and 92 over third-place finisher New Hartford (6222) of Section 3.

"What we did today was nothing short of special," said junior Alex Smith, Elmira's top scorer Friday. "We were down (139) pins after three games. We knew we had to work, grind and that’s exactly what we did. We deserve every single second of this.

"This is the best feeling in the world. I can't put it into words who special it is."

What It Means

They became the first team state champion in Elmira High School history and the second in Elmira City School District history. Southside High School's boys bowling team gave the district its first title in 2005, when there was a single team state champion for the boys.

There are considerable family ties between bowlers on the champion teams: Smith's uncle is Joe Fulkrod, Frankie D'Angelo's uncle is Jordan D'Angelo, and Alex Gublo's dad is Greg Fish.

Elmira competitors Friday included a seventh-grader, a freshman, two sophomores and a junior, setting the Express up for future success.

More:Section 4 bowling: Results, top performers from 2022-23 season

Keys to the crown

Smith epitomized the steady performance of the Express boys with a pinfall total of 1345 that ranked second among 40 boys who played all six games. He posted games of 242, 217, 232, 240, 209 and 205.

Elmira's Trent Belloma tied for sixth with a score of 1301. His scores were 235, 190, 244, 234, 173 and 225, with the last score tops for the Express in the deciding game.

Skylar Shadduck also came up big in the final game for Elmira, registering a 224 to finish with a 1283 total that put him 10th. His other scores were 178, 207, 218, 222 and 234.

Also for Elmira, D'Angelo ranked 23rd with a score of 1194 and Gublo was 24th with a score of 1191. Top game for D'Angelo, a seventh-grader described by Express coach Tim Crout as a spark plug, was a 230 and high game for Gublo was a 238.

Hilton's early lead was buoyed by a 300 game from Brendan Stephenson as part of his third-place 1343 total. John Jay East Fishkill's Jayden Conto had a 1385 for the high boys score. Middletown's Colby Stoehr also had a 300 game.

How Express rallied to become state champs

Elmira outscored the Cadets in each of the final four games after trailing by 190 pins through two.

After the first set of three games, Hilton a score of 3276 and Elmira was at 3137. The Express put together games of 1134 and 1007 before its closing 1036. Hilton's scores over the final three games were 1082, 969 and 936.

Crout said there was a great deal of energy from those watching, including Elmira's girls team, as the championship was decided.

"We knew going to that second set we had to come up big at the start and that’s exactly what we did," Smith said. "We did exactly what we needed to all day. We picked up our spares, we threw good shots, we executed and we deserved the state championship for it."

Other teams in order of finish: Section 2's Shenendehowa (6203), Section 6's Frontier (6005), Section 11's Longwood (5983), Section 1's John Jay East Fishkill (5977), Section 9's Middletown (5672) and Section 8's Division Avenue (5553).

More:Section 4 bowling: Who's headed to states and which school made history

Elmira had been in comeback spot before

Elmira's season included memorable and high-scoring matchups against Corning, which beat the Express twice in the regular season and again in the Section 4 Class A tournament. Corning won the Southern Tier Athletic Conference title while Elmira took the end-of-season tournament for teams that didn't compete for the STAC crown.

The Express came back against Corning in the state qualifier, which covered nine games and included results from the sectional tournament.

"We came into the state qualifier trailing by 28 pins," Crout said. "It was the same exact atmosphere as today. ... We just chewed away, chewed away. It came down to the sixth game, it came down to the 10th frame. I felt bad for (Hilton), but very amazingly happy, satisfied for these boys. I've been telling them all year they had the potential, but getting beat by Corning three times, it was hard sometimes to get them back up."

Express girls place 5th in New York

The Elmira girls team coached by Crout took fifth out of nine schools with a six-game score of 5064. Section 3's Baldwinsville won with 5680, followed by Section 11's Longwood at 5651, Section 2's Mhonasen at 5300 and Section 1's North Rockland at 5244.

Top scorer for the Express was Madison Smith with a total of 1053 that ranked 15th and included two 188 games. Teammate Abby Cunningham finished 16th at 1031 (214 high game) and Elmira's Abby Hink was 18th at 1013 (192 high game).

Also for Elmira, Hayle Avery finished 21st (984 with a 179 game) and Bella Wood 23rd (983 with a 197).

Baldwinsville's Jenna Speich had a six-game total of 1277 to top the field.

Other teams: Section 5's Fairport (4927) in sixth, Section 6's North Tonawanda (4918), Section 8's Mineola (4838) and Section 9's Kingston (4823).

Quotable

Said Crout, who was told he became the first person to coach both a sectional all-star team and a school team to titles at the state tournament: "I’m so ecstatic. I was thinking about packing it in this year and retiring, as my wife is going to retire in July. These guys are begging me to please stay. I’ve got a tough decision to make. The girls won the STAC West, the girls won sectionals, the girls won state qualifier. Now the boys win the STAC open, the state qualifier and the state championship. As I coach I couldn’t be happier, I couldn’t be prouder of the work and dedication they put in for me."

What's Next

Section all-star team competition is scheduled for Saturday at Strike 'N Spare Lanes, with the Division 2 team competition Sunday. The Waverly boys and Union Springs/Port Byron girls will represent Section 4 in Division 2.

The Section 4 girls all-star roster includes Horseheads' Emily Huntley, Maine-Endwell's Rylee Roe, Windsor's Alexis Barton, Greene-Oxford's Halia Tallet, Bainbridge-Guilford's Catherine Fuller, Candor's Janelle Marsh and Greene-Oxford's Brianna Fowlston.

Section 4's boys roster includes Hancock's Anton Leonard, Chenango Forks' Landon Butenko, Horseheads' Michael Rennells, Corning's Cameron Kennedy, Johnson City's Lucas Card, Unadilla Valley's Jacob Prentice and Corning's Camryn Stefanini.

Follow Andrew Legare on Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare. You can also reach him at alegare@gannett.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today

This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Elmira High School capture NYSPHSAA title in boys bowling