WEST MILFORD - The West Milford High School varsity bowlers had a very busy and remarkable week, winning a divsion title and qualifying for the state championship tournament.
The Highlanders took the top spot in its division by overtaking both Fair Lawn and Wayne Valley in match play, as well as qualifing for state sectionals, on Feb. 6.
The Highlanders took two games and total wood over Fair Lawn, the 2019 Bergen County Champions.
Amanda Finke started off the afternoon bowling a 185, a 204, and wrapped up with a 175.
Mikey Nicholas rolled a 171, 208, and a 183.
RJ Utter bowled a high series of 691 consisting of a 213, 244, and a 234.
Ty Nicol closed out the win shooting a 204, a 254, and 190 for a 648 series.
The team then competed the next day against Wayne Valley winning all three games and total wood to take the division title.
Finke started the series with a 168 with Colin Goldberg finishing the series with a 200 and a 210.
Nicholas rolled a 159 with Shane Yodice finishing up with a 194, and a 158.
Utter bowled another high series of 695 with a 269, 203, and a 223.
Nicol bowled a series of 615 with a 199, 189, and a 227.
Finally, on Feb. 9, the Varsity bowlers competed against eight other teams to qualify for the state championship.
Lead off bowler in game one was Finke who bowled a 156.
Nicholas, who tied for high game for the day, bowled a 279.
Shane Yodice shot a 266.
RJ Utter also tied for high game with a 279, and Ty Nicol bowled a 165.
Competing in game two of the tournament was Colin Goldberg who bowled a 179, Mikey Nicholas with a 160, Shane Yodice bowled a 164, RJ Utter with a 236, and Ty Nicol with a 213.
In the final game Colin shot a 193, Mikey bowled a 156, Nick Bartoli rolled a 158, RJ finished with a 204, and Ty shot a 201, which brought the team’s total pins to 3,009 to qualify in the state competition.
RJ Utter also qualified for individuals with a series of 719.
The final tallies were Indian Hills with a 3,023, West Milford 3,009, Pascack Valley 2,873, NV Demarest 2,772, Paramus Catholic 2,685, Ramapo 2,672, River Dell 2,584, Sparta 2,279, and Vernon 1,834 total pins.
Only two teams from each of the four groups qualified to compete in the state championship which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday.