Boys Bowling: Huge second day lifts Minooka to state title

O’FALLON - The area’s best state bowling tournament in history concluded Saturday afternoon at St. Clair Bowl with Minooka claiming its first state title in school history. In addition, the Indians also had the individual champion in sophomore Ethan Caruso.

The Indians previous best finish was runner-up in 2019. It is the third title for the area after Plainfield South won in 2010 and Lockport in 2013.

Minooka started the day trailing Harlem by 198 pins after Friday’s six-game series. After the second game Saturday, Joliet West vaulted into the lead, but Minooka came back with a 1,244 third game to take the lead and never looked back.

It was the highest game bowled in the 12-game tournament as the Indians beat Harlem by 105 pins, rolling a 12-game total of 13,014. That total was the sixth-highest winning total in the 18-year history of the sport.

“I still can’t believe it,” Minooka coach Derrick Rapsky said. “We’ve bowled well in the past on the first day and always seem to have been snake-bitten on the second day. In that third game today, we were just so locked in, it was incredible. This is truly a testament to the guys on this team for their mental toughness. We were down 198 pins starting the day and Harlem is good. Then Joliet West brings it, but we were just so mentally in it today. We shot a three-game state record of 3,520 in those first three games.

“I have to give a shoutout to Harlem’s team for the class it has and the respect I have for the program. Also, to our area teams and individuals on the performances we had over the last two days.”

Joliet West finished third, which matched its best finish from 2019. Lockport was fifth and Lincoln-Way West took seventh, which was its best finish in school history, topping a ninth-place finish in 2017. Lincoln Way Central claimed the 11th spot and it was the first time ever that the area had five teams place inside the top 12.

The performance of the Joliet West team was impressive as it had to beat two teams in the final game of the sectionals just to make it to the state finals. Equally impressive was the steady climb on Day 2 from L-W West. The Warriors grabbed the final qualifying spot among the top 12 teams on the last game Friday and started Saturday in 12th.

“I’m so proud of our kids and what we accomplished over the past two days,” Warriors coach Scott Jablonski said. “To come back from 12th place and only finish 35 pins out of fifth was truly amazing and it’s the best finish in school history.”

The Indians were led by Caruso’s winning score of 2,766 for the school’s first individual title. His 299 in the critical third game led the charge.

Brandon Caruso, Ethan’s brother, placed fourth, followed Ryan Surchuk (27th), Efrain Soto (32nd) and Adam Schmidt (49th).

The top-12 individual finishers received All-State medals. In addition to the Carusos, the area had five other bowlers receive All-State honors. The previous best for the area was four in 2010 and 1014.

Lincoln-Way Central junior Ryan Marszalek placed fifth. He rolled a perfect 300 in the third game on Saturday.

Marszalek had never bowled a 300 game before, but did have a 299 at sectionals. He also is the starting goalie on the Knights soccer team and the punter on the football team.

“I really didn’t start thinking about it until the tenth frame and then I had a brief flashback to last week when I missed it on my final ball,” Marszalek said. “This is something I’ll remember for a long time. We, as a team, wanted to qualify for the second day and our coach [Coley O’Connell] just told us to go out and have fun and enjoy the experience.”