Monument Mountain Wins Disputed State Bowling Title
UPDATE: The tournament committee on March 6 decided to declare Monument Mountain and St. John's co-champions for 2025.
CHICOPEE, Mass. -- The Monument Mountain bowling team is the 2025 Massachusets State Champion.
For now, at least.
The Spartans Saturday earned a 2-1 win over St. John's of Shrewsbury in the title match at Bowlero.
But the second game of that best-of-three final series was played under protest after a Spartan bowled out of order in the Baker format contest.
Monument Mountain won that second game, and, after a lengthy consultation among the state officials on site, Monument Mountain won Game 3, 151-147, to end the day but not the discussion.
During a brief post-match ceremony in which no trophies or medals were awarded to the finalists, State Committee Chair Lou Orazio told the crowd that the state officials will follow up as quickly as possible with officials at the U.S. Bowling Congress to get a ruling on how to address the errant bowler in Game 2.
Both finalists' coaches were proud of the way their teams fought through a difficult and confusing end to the high school team season in the Bay State.
"It really does say something about [the Spartans] that they were able to win that third game," Monument Mountain coach Wayne Wodard said. "Obviously, they were upset about it, but it didn't dampen their moods. They were able to come back, put their heads in the game and keep going."
St. John's coach Chris Whelan helped his Pioneers regroup after the disappointment of not having the on-site protest go their way and, instead, having to roll a third game in the final round.
"I told them in between, 'Act like we're gonna bowl a third game and stay fired up,' " Whelan said. "Our captains were saying, 'Take it. Take it.' The championship was open for us.
"I wish we could have eliminated the controversy by just grabbing it at the end like we wanted to. But Monument Mountain is a really good team."
The Spartans, who finished third in the Berkshire County League this winter, were in eighth place in the eight-team State Championship field after the first two games, where five players from each team each rolled a complete game.
But in the second phase of qualifying for the four-team playoff, the Spartans caught fire in the three-game Baker series, rolling games of 187, 203 and 153 to move up to fourth-place in the standings.
Monument Mountain then beat Chicopee Comp, the top seed from the qualifying round, in two straight games to earn a spot in the finals against St. John's, which beat Taconic in the semi-finals.
St. John's carried its momentum from a 2-1 win over the Thunder into the final match. not leaving a pin standing until the last ball of the 10th frame, a nine from Nick Cariglia.
The Pioneers picked up eight spares and rolled four strikes -- two from Cariglia in the ninth -- to take a 210-189 win.
In Game 2, St. John's started with a turkey from Nick Conte, Nick Pasquale and Michael Probst to take control early.
But the Pioneers could not shake the Spartans, who were still alive in the seventh frame when the controversial moment occurred.
The first ball of the frame left one pin standing, and the Spartans' Noah Walker substituted in to try to pick up the spare.
Substitutes are allowed in Baker matches, but they are supposed to be members of the team who are not already in the five-bowler rotation in that game. Walker was bowling the fifth and 10th frames for the Spartans.
He ended up not getting the spare, and the game proceeded.
Steve Woodard got a key strike in the ninth, and Walker went strike-spare in the 10th to give Monument Mountain a 189-181 win to even the match.
That is when the discussions began.
After a fruitless search of the rule book which offered no help and length talks among the veteran coaches in the room, it was decided that the consequence of Walker bowling out of order would be that his ball counted as a zero -- which it did anyway based on his throw.
St. John's contended that either the entire seventh frame should be tossed out or Walker should not have been allowed to re-enter after bowling out of turn. Either of those penalties would have flipped the result in the Pioneers' favor.
The teams were neck and neck in Game 3 until St. John's hit a rough patch in frames 6, 7 and 8, missing three straight spare opportunities.
Monument Mountain, meanwhile, got a key spare from Jeel Patel in the sixth and a strike from Woodard in the ninth that set up Walker with a chance to close things out.
Walker rolled a three-pin spare and an eighth to give the Spartans an insurmountable lead. Cariglia did what he could, registering a turkey in the 10th, but the Spartans prevailed, 151-147.
Many of the same bowlers will be back in action one more time this high school season when the state individuals tournament is contested on Sunday at Spare Time in Northampton.
But whatever happens Sunday and whatever comes of the discussion with the USBC, Wayne Woodard is proud of what his team accomplished this season.
"I can't commend them enough, really," he said. "Especially Jeel [Patel] and Chris [Paul], never bowled in any competition at all before. To go from that to at least second place in the state -- all these kids did so well. No matter what the ruling, I'm happy with my kids.
"It's just a great group of guys. You know, we could have finished in sixth place, and I'd say the same thing about them. They did so good. This just proved it right here."
Qualifying Round
1. Chicopee Comp, 2,373 pins; 2. Taconic, 2,159; 3. St. John's, 2,113; 4. Monument Mountain, 2,006; 5. Agawam, 1,950; 6. Lee, 1,942; 7. East Longmeaadow, 1,939; 8. Pope Francis, 1,911.
Semi-Finals
Monument Mountain 164, Chicopee Comp 154; Monument Mountain 208, Chicopee Comp 183.
Taconic 167, St. John's 137; St. John's 166, Taconic 157; St. John's 161, Taconic 147.
Final
St. John's 210, Monument Mountain 189; Monument Mountain 189, St. John's 181; Monument Mountain 151, St. John's 147.