Montclair bowling spares no effort, Burns takes ECT title; Awad, Aiello stand out

The Montclair boys bowling team showed its might during the 2022-23 Super Essex Conference bowling season, as it brought home the conference championship.

For the Mounties girls, the highlight was coming close to winning the Essex County title, but they fell just short.

The boys team finished with a 12-1 record in the Super Essex Conference to take first.

"Boys placed first in the league, which is a huge accomplishment," bowling coach Jenna Totaro said. "It has not been done in years."

Totaro said she did not know how long it had been since the program won a conference championship, but a quick look at the record for the last decade shows that the team did not win a title. The boys qualified for the Group 4 tournament, where they finished eighth after finishing second in North 2 Group 4, behind only Seton Hall Prep. 

The Mounties girls could have really put a mark on the season but fell short to rival Nutley in the ECT. Montclair bowled a total of 1,976 to Nutley's 1,994.

"For the girls it came down to the last game, and Nutley just simply performed better," Totaro said. "They (Nutley) were able to close their frames and finish strong. It was close until the last couple of frames."

What is more impressive for the girls is that they lost to Nutley three times during the season and finished with an 8-4-1 record.

Individually, the highlight was junior Tai Burns, who took home the Essex County Tournament championship. In addition, sophomore Brooklyn Awad finished third and senior Hazel Aiello grabbed fifth.

Burns, who averaged 187 during the regular season, came into the county individual tournament as the fourth seed. He won the first two rounds before taking down the second seed, Seton Hall Prep's Nick Dragone, 237-202, in the semifinals on Feb. 15 at Hanover Lanes in East Hanover. 

And then, in the finals, Burns defeated another Seton Hall Prep bowler, top-seeded K.C.  Campbell, 267-248, in a match that came down to the end.

Burns added the 2023 county title to his winning the 2022 North 4B state sectional individual championship. This year he finished 38th in the state individuals.

The county individual title surprised Burns. "No, I didn't feel confident at all, honestly, because I was bowling bad and didn't think I would even make the cut," he said. 

He added that the goal was just to get into the second round. 

"Once I made the cut I just wanted to get past the first round, the next round I started bowling, I started to focus more, and the want to win became stronger," he said.

Totaro was especially pleased for Burns, since he did not qualify for the 2022 Essex County individual tournament and had thought the junior would have reached the knockout road last season.

"I was very proud of Tai for winning first place because last year he didn't even qualify for individuals, and I was shocked about that last year," the coach said. 

"This year, he was locked in. He bowled his butt off, and he was just on a roll until the very end. K.C. Campbell is an amazing bowler, but Tai was able to outshine him and close out his frames when it needed to be."

Burns added that he viewed the finals on video and will use it for future reference. "When I got home, I watched the match and saw how the ball really came out well for the most part, and I still look back at it while I practice the same form," he said.

In terms of All Essex/Super Essex Conference honors on the boys side, Burns joined senior Daniel Walker (176 average) on the first team.

"I'm very proud of the way Danny Walker bowled this year because he stepped it up from his junior season," Totaro said. 

Another senior, Hudson Zinn (157), collected an All Essex/Super Essex Conference second-team nod.

On the girls side, two bowlers led the way for the Mounties, senior Abby Price (123 average) and Awad (125), who made a big jump this season. Both collected All Essex/Super Essex Conference first-team honors. 

"Brooklyn Awad is a sophomore, and this was her first time coming out for bowling, and she had a great season," Totaro said. "I'm looking to see what the next two years have in store for her."

The trio of Montclair girls senior bowlers, Georgia Pendas (121), Aiello (121) and Diana Creaser (117), were named to the All Essex/Super Essex Conference second team.