On Tuesday, December 16th, the Hawks boys bowling team matched up with the Westwood Cardinals at Bowler City.
The match marked the fifth game of the Hawks’ season and the fourth for the Cardinals.
The roster for the match was senior Justin Spano, junior Henry Wacks, junior Henry Arturi, sophomore Jack Leahy, and freshman Jin Jang.
Coach Kleinfelder has been moving some people around, including slotting freshman Jacob Diaz into the lineup in a previous match against the Pascack Hills Broncos.
However, Kleinfelder’s season-opening roster remained untouched this day as the Hawks got ready to face the Cardinals. Junior Henry Wacks noted that while Westwood had been troublesome in the past, he had faith that this Hawks team would be able to get a win over River Dell’s rivals.
Wacks got the team into a huddle, and with some final words of encouragement from Arturi, the Hawks set off to try and beat the Cards.
In the first game, Wacks was the Hawks’ high bowler, as he netted 184 pins. Behind him was Spano, who rolled a 157 after bowling a great combination of strikes and spares. Not far behind were Jang and Arturi, who bowled a 154 and a 153, respectively. Finally, Leahy bowled a 142 to give the Hawks a total of 790 pins, compared to the Cardinals’ 575.
The Hawks had won the first game against the Cardinals by 215, and the boys hoped to improve upon it and keep the momentum flowing.
In the second game, Jang improved on his score of 154 by 19 pins, bowling 173 pins. Wacks added another 151, and both Arturi and Spano kept pace, with Arturi bowling a 147 and Spano bowling a 142. Leahy added 37 pins to his last game’s 142, getting 189 pins in the second game, giving the Hawks a total of 802, a 12-pin improvement from the previous game.
The Cardinals improved as well, jumping from 575 total pins in the first game to 737 in the second.
Still, the Cardinals’ swing back wasn’t enough to stay alive, and the second game’s loss meant the Hawks had won the match.
“It feels great to get a win, and I feel we really earned this after working very hard to achieve it,” said bowling team member John Tsokanos.
But like their previous matches, the Hawks, now having already won, looked to keep applying pressure and sweep the Cardinals with a win in the final game.
The Hawks all showed up, as Wacks bowled a 176 and Leahy bowled a 190. Jang bowled a 148, and Spano added another 128. Arturi also added 108 to the score, giving the Hawks a total of 750 pins in their final game against the Cardinals. Despite the Hawks’ mathematically lowest pin total of the match, they still had more than the Cardinals, who managed to put up a solid 649 pins in the final game.
With the final game won, the Hawks won the battle of the birds and swept the Cardinals. The Hawks totaled 2,342 pins across all three games, compared to the Cardinals’ 1,961.
“I think everyone did a great job bowling today,” said JV player sophomore Joseph Bushi. “I’m personally happy with my performance, but I’m always looking to improve, which I think is the mindset of a lot of members of the team,” he finished.
“I really appreciated the kindness and goodwill that our opponent showed us,” Tsokanos said.
In the end, the Hawks improved their record to 2–3, while the Cardinals fell to 1–4. The Hawks’ final match before winter break will be on December 19th against the 5–0 Big North Liberty Division juggernauts, Passaic Tech.
The Hawks’ win over the Cardinals puts them at a 2–3 record against the Cardinals since 2024. The Hawks and Cardinals are set to match up again on January 29, 2026.
