By Marc Raimondi
No bowler had ever rolled a 300 game in CHSAA history.Unfortunately for two-time defending champion Archbishop Molloy, it was the former accomplishment that occurred Friday and not the latter – though in his final roll of the match, Stanners senior captain Paul Cianciaruso came up just four pins short of 300.After being defeated on Dec. 21 by Molloy for the Brooklyn/Queens title, St. Francis Prep knocked off the Stanners 3-2 at White Plains Bowl to win their first city championship since 1988, despite Cianciaruso's bid for a perfect 300.By the time the senior had a thought about that milestone in the second game, a Terriers win was almost a foregone conclusion.St. Francis Prep, which finished in first place in the regular season, dominated the first game. Led by junior Greg Finger's game-high 265 the Terriers entered the second game with a 151-pin advantage over the Stanners.Finger ended the first game, and Molloy's hopes for victory, emphatically by knocking down six straight strikes.”I always count the opens (no strike or spare),” Molloy coach Vinny Leonardo said. “They only had three opens in that whole game. They just shot better.”Added Cianciaruso: “I'm happy for them that they won. They were just relentless.”The only hope going into the final game of the Stanners' season was to beat the Terriers by more than 151 pins, which would secure the match and city championship – a feat Leonardo compared to St. Francis having a sixth bowler rolling against his team.The lead was certainly significant, but by no means insurmountable.”They had a history of coming back strong in second games,” Zientarski said. “I told (my team) that (the first game) was very encouraging, but take nothing for granted.”Cianciaruso's 296, the second highest score in league history, allowed his team to win the second game, but not by enough pins to secure Molloy its eighth city title in Leonardo's 11 years.”You want to win every year but you can't always win every year,” Leonardo said. “It's bad to think you're always going to win because that's not how it really is.”St. Francis Prep was just the better team Friday; in fact they became better as soon as they felt the city championship within their grasp. The Terriers bowled two games of over 1,000 pins in beating Xavier in the semifinals last Wednesday and rolled a 1,000 and 953 against Molloy.”We just had a great week here, they love playing here,” Zientarski said. “Gregory (Finger) was fantastic but they all did their part.”Zientarski, whose team has a player from every grade level, said he owed the victory to the balance it had, especially in what he called an “awesome” first game.As for Molloy, after winning the previous two city championships and 7 of the last 11, they're stuck thinking about next year.”We're still the best program in New York City,” Leonardo said. “Even the Yankees don't win every year.”Reach Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
