It’s said that great moments are born from great opportunity.
The quote came from legendary hockey coach Herb Brooks before the United States pulled off one of the greatest upset victories in sports during the 1980 Olympics. Although ice hockey and bowling are drastically different sports, Camden Catholic High School channeled that same energy as it took on undefeated Clayton in the South Jersey Group 1 bowling championship Feb. 22.
PHOTO GALLERY: Camden Catholic South Jersey Group 1 Bowling Championship
“All day yesterday, I’m saying this is going to be a 15-round heavyweight fight,” Camden Catholic coach Joe Nawn said. “[Clayton] wants to repeat. But I told my guys that if we play our game, we can beat these guys. Where did I steal that from? Today is the 45th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice. I kept invoking Herb Brooks: ‘Play your game. Play your game. Poise and control.’ God love them, they pushed harder than anyone.”
In just their second year as a varsity program (following a 30-year absence), the Irish not only called their shot, but they can now call themselves champions, as Camden Catholic won the best-of-three match at 30 Strikes Lanes in Stratford. It was the first sectional title in either bowling era of the school’s history.
After dropping the first game of the series by a mere eight pins, the Irish rallied to take the next two and stun the defending champs. The five-man squad of Luke Baylouny, Sean Burns, Sean Lacey, Keith Leibrand and Chase Wolk compiled 2,699 pins over three games to bring home the program’s first piece of hardware.
“Sometimes you just have to let God take the wheel and just hope everything goes as planned,” said Wolk, a junior who is also a pitcher for the baseball team. “There’s always faith in everyone.”
Clayton’s eight-pin victory in the first game spoiled Wolk’s team-best 203 effort. But the Irish settled in, and all five players scored above 150 in the second game. The balanced attack, led by Baylouny’s 198, provided a 38-pin margin of victory.
“Honestly, we were all scared [after the first game] because we didn’t want it to end,” Wolk said. “But we all knew that something was going to happen. It was our time to win this year.”
Camden Catholic saved its best for last and rolled a combined 946 in the deciding game. Wolk fired strikes in his first four frames en route to a 214 game, and Leibrand contributed a pair of turkeys, including a strikeout tenth frame, on his way to a 211.
“We’ve had a little trouble all season trying to connect having everyone bowl a good game at the same time,” Baylouny said. “We finally got it done, and it was in the game that mattered. I couldn’t be happier.”
After some intensely emotional moments in the first two games, the Irish eased tensions a bit by winning by 109 in the third.
“It was a team effort all the way,” Baylouny said.
The Irish finished the season 12-6 after they were defeated in two games Feb. 25 in the state semifinal by Belvidere High School, which went on to win the Group 1 state championship. It was quite a season for the history books, but the success of the program goes beyond wins, losses, strikes and gutters.
“We laugh; we pray together; we practice together,” Nawn said, explaining that his philosophy is to show the students support. “I said this year, ‘Let’s make school history and leave a legacy forever.’”
They needed to beat a 14-0 defending champ to do it. It worked. And they rolled their way into the history books.
“Miracle on Ice?” Nawn said. “You just heard the strike heard around South Jersey.”
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