Andrew Constant – Sports Writer

Over the first two rounds of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament, one thing is clear: the Woodbridge High School girls bowling team isn’t going to go quietly.

The tenth-seeded Barrons knocked off seventh-seeded Edison 2-0 in the first round last Wednesday before pulling off the upset of the tournament; a 2-1 decision over second-seeded Cardinal McCarrick.

Jodi DiSilvestro’s 598 series carried Woodbridge, which entered the GMCT with a record of 5-9-3. But their performances of late have been nothing but stellar.

“The last couple of weeks, our girls have been bowling really well; shooting over 850 consistently and they’ve come a long way since the beginning of the year,” Woodbridge head coach Rich Maddock said.

In the semifinals, which take place this afternoon at Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick, the Barrons will take on third-seeded Carteret, which is fresh off of a first-place finish in the NJSIAA Central Sectionals.

“We just have to stay focused,” Maddock said. “A lot of times, the girls get frustrated with everything that’s going on, so I just have to keep them calm and concentrate on making spares. If we make spares, we can hold our own with a lot of good teams.”

On the other side of the girls bracket, top-seeded South Brunswick will matchup with fourth-seeded North Brunswick. Both teams qualified for the NJSIAA state finals after strong performances this past Saturday.

“When we’ve bowled them in the regular season and in tournaments, we’ve sometimes gotten the better of them, as far as scores go,” North Brunswick head coach Paul LaMagra said of South Brunswick. “But whenever we’ve gone head-to-head, we’ve been able to take one out of the three games and it’s going to take our best effort to beat them.”

Over on the boys side of the tournament, the top four teams have made it to the semifinals. Top-seeded Sayreville will meet fourth-seeded St. Joseph and second-seeded Colonia will matchup with third-seeded Woodbridge.

Combined, the four teams have won 55 of a possible 67 matches this season, which makes the semifinal round one to watch. Not only have the four teams made it to within two wins of a conference championship, but they’ve done so by dominating the competition.

But Sayreville head coach Michael Weinert knows that if his team bowls to their potential, they shouldn’t have much to be concerned about.

“If we bowl the way we should bowl, we should win,” Weinert said. “I’m confident in that. Obviously as you get down to these last few teams, you’re bowling against better competition.”

Sayreville and St. Joseph met twice in the regular season, with the Bombers winning the first meeting 3-1. In the second of the two matches, the teams tied 2-2.

“They’ve been bowling much better lately and they’re clicking at the right time,” Weinert said. “But we don’t worry about what the other team does. We just worry about us and if we go out and execute, we’ll be where we want to be.”

GMC Individual Champ Joe Adase leads Colonia against Mike Chundak and up-and-comer Mark Simon and Woodbridge in the other semifinal. Both teams go four deep in terms of stars in their starting lineup, so plenty of pins should fall to determine which of the two squads moves on to battle for a conference crown.

The Greater Middlesex Conference’s Red Division is always one of the toughest to compete in, regardless of sport or gender. But this winter, the Woodbridge High School boys bowling team has conquered the division, setting itself apart as the top team.

In two head-to-head matches against perennial Red Division power South Brunswick this season, Woodbridge has won easily, taking the two by a combined score of 7-1. Barrons’ head coach Rich Maddock expressed that beating a team like South Brunswick in the fashion that they have has helped his squad in other matches.

“South Brunswick is a phenomenal team,” Maddock said. “They can put up huge numbers at any point, but we just put up bigger numbers than them this year. And the fact that we’ve been able to do that has shown our guys that we can beat anybody when we bowl our best.”

Woodbridge has been beating everyone this season, compiling a 14-2 record through Sunday, and has secured the No. 3 seed in this week’s GMC Tournament, which begins Thursday at Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick.

Leading the Barrons’ charge this season is a trio of seniors: Brandt Bannister (180 average), Matt Caggiano (205) and Mike Chundak (202). As a group, those three have helped Woodbridge roll past their competition, but recently, it’s been junior Mark Simon who has been the hot hand for Maddock’s bunch.

Simon, who has bowled 10 fewer games than Bannister and Caggiano this season, has a 226 average this winter, which is among the best in the GMC.

“As a group this year, I think we’ve done pretty well,” Maddock said. “We’ve had our ups and downs, like everyone else, but we’re hitting our stride at the right time. Mark has come on lately and we just have a bunch of guys that can put up huge numbers at any time.”

The Barrons have dropped just two matches this season, to Sayreville and Colonia, which earned the first and second seeds in the GMC Tournament, respectively, but haven’t lost since Dec. 19. In Maddock’s estimation, his squad just needs to make enough spares and he believes it can beat anyone, including Sayreville and Colonia.

“We just need to stay focused,” Maddock said. “Spares have been out big problem this year; we need to stay focused and relaxed, because the team that makes the most spares that will win.”

GMC seeds

Sayreville, the conference’s lone unbeaten team, was awarded the top seed for the GMC Tournament, which gets under way Thursday afternoon. Colonia, which has the GMC’s individual champ in Joseph Adade, is second, followed by Woodbridge, St. Joseph’s and South Brunswick. JF Kennedy is sixth and Middlesex, Old Bridge, Monroe and JP Stevens round out the top 10. Seeds 11 through 22 will compete Thursday to round out the top 16 seeds.

South Brunswick, which ended the weekend with a 15-0 record, was awarded the top seed on the girls side of the tournament. The Vikings, who boast the conference’s individual champion, Amy Caruso, are followed in the seeding by Cardinal McCarrick, Carteret, North Brunswick and Piscataway. JF Kennedy was given the sixth seed, ahead of Edison, Monroe, Mother Seton and Woodbridge. Seeds 11 through 22 will compete Thursday to round out the top 16 seeds.

For the Carteret High School girls bowling team, the pins have been falling at a more consistent rate this season than they have in years past. But don’t credit their 14-1 start to lots of practice; in fact it’s the complete opposite.

“Unfortunately once the season starts, we don’t get to practice too much,” Carteret head coach Charles Simon said. “We have to just bowl.”

And bowl they have thus far in 2012-13, as the Ramblers have vaulted to the top of the GMC’s White Division behind junior Heather Androvich, who carried a 190.9 average through the weekend. Androvich, according to Simon, has been taking the game a lot more seriously this year, which has clearly shown in her leadership on the lanes with her teammates.

“I think I was good last year, but I just practiced a lot and I spent a lot of time just trying to figure out the lanes, the oil and the patterns,” Androvich said. “Last year we had a pretty good record, but the difference for us this year was in December; we practiced together a lot over winter break and we got a lot closer as a team and learned how to help each other.”

The Ramblers have rolled over their competition this season in dual meets, losing only to Red Division leader South Brunswick. And Androvich’s stellar bowling has been one of the key reasons why they’ve won match after match this winter. Against Perth Amboy on Dec. 7, Androvich rolled a 252-246-256 for a 754 series, which was the highest mark of her career and one of the top marks in the conference this season.

“The lanes were just working with the ball I had that day,” Androvich said. “I was just in a groove.”

But for all of Androvich’s successes this season, Simon made it known that a senior leader has been the one he’s leaned on to guide the squad.

“Cynthia Youngclaus is our leader,” Simon said. “She has really come on to be very steady for us this year. There’s a motto that I have for the girls that she reflects really well: if at first you don’t succeed, there’s another frame and another game and another match.”

Simon also noted that sophomores Alexis Policastro and Cryssi Golino have picked up the pace.

For the remainder of the season, Simon said that his squad just needs to remain focused on the task at hand and not get caught up in what’s down the road. But, because of their front-heavy schedule, when they bowled 10 times before the Jan. 1, Simon is now faced with a difficult situation.

“The season has played out funny, in the sense that we bowled a lot before Christmas and we bowled a lot last week, with the GMC individuals and the Brick Tournament, we were bowling six days of the week and in my opinion that’s way too much,” Simon said. I have to be able to keep the girls focused in the next couple of weeks when there isn’t much on our schedule.”

Woodbridge Classic

J.F. Kennedy finished second to St. Peter’s Prep in Saturday’s Woodbridge Classic at the Woodbridge Bowling Center.

St. Peter’s Prep rolled a 3,112 total in the morning session. Kennedy, bowling in the afternoon session, totalled 3,095 in the tournament, which consisted of two traditional games followed by five in Baker format. Anthony Ruiz of Carteret tied for high game with 268.

Other local boys finishes include: 5. Linden 3,001; 8. Old Bridge 2,964; 9. Colonia 2,900; 10. Woodbridge 2,895; 12. J.P. Stevens 2,836; 13. Middlesex 2,793; 15. Monroe 2,742; 18. South Plainfield 2,640; 19. Edison 2,557; 21. Carteret 2,510. On the girls side, J.F. Kennedy’s Courtney Wiewiorski, who competed while recovering from a broken ankle, rolled the high game of 247 and led Kennedy to a fourth-place finish. Brick and Brick Memorial finished 1-2 with Woodbridge third (2,571). Carteret was fifth (2,528). Other local boys finishes include: 6. Edison 2,422; 7.South Plainfield 2,401; 8. Colonia 2,337; 9. Monroe 2,290; 10. Middlesex 2,017; 11. J.F.Kennedy B 1,796; 12. J.P. Stevens 1,794; 13. Old Bridge 1,735.