Central Catholic competing in memory of late coach Bordogna
When the 2018-2019 bowling season ended, Central Catholic coach Angelo Bordogna could not wait for this season to roll around. His Vikings had a stable of talented bowlers coming back and looked poised to be in contention for the section title and more.
Bordogna was absolutely right. But he never got to see it materialize. The longtime Vikings coach and president of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Bowling League (WPIBL) passed away in early December, right before the season began. His team won their first match the first week of December and attended their coach’s funeral the following morning. They have been on a mission ever since.
“We’re trying to make a run to a state championship,” said Damon Gross, who was Bordogna’s longtime assistant before taking over as head coach. “This was the team that Angelo and I were very excited about. We had three strong seniors coming back. We made the regionals last year, came up short. Our guys are on a mission this year.”
Bordogna was the fiery leader to the laid-back Gross, who said they were dubbed the calm and the storm. Now that he is on his own, Gross has proven to be more than a fill-in for Bordogna.
Gross has led the Vikings to a 7-0 record through Sunday. Central Catholic clinched the South division championship after beating Seneca Valley Jan. 22 behind a 300 game from Nate Pearl.
Pearl, Charles Zahir and Colin Sakony are the three senior leaders on the team. Pearl and Zahir have the highest averages in the division at 224.24 and 208.85, respectively. Sakony has a solid 169.79 average.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been rolling through our section like this,” said Gross. “When we started practicing, we struggled to get to 900 as a team. Now, our average is about 950. They’re actually bowling really well.”
That is exactly what Bordogna had predicted for this group. He passed away at the age of 66, and was coaching Central Catholic, Oakland Catholic and CCAC. He led the Vikings to state titles in 1992 and 1995. He guided the Eagles to the state championship in 1999.
Bordogna was at the helm of the WPIBL since 1989. At the time he took over, there were just six teams and little organization. He legitimized the league by creating bylaws, a constitution and playoffs system to make it more competitive.
After his passing, the Vikings decided to wear pins on their shirts to honor their former coach at each contest. Gross said he can only imagine how the emotional Bordogna would feel watching this team begin to reach its potential while competing in memory of him.
“Angelo would be in tears right now,” said Gross. “This team was his pride and joy. He would definitely be proud.”
Norwin
The Knights were the only local team to make the state tournament last season, when they advanced to the semifinals before being ousted by Cedar Crest. Once again, Norwin is one of the best teams in the district.
The unbeaten Knights lead the Center division with an 8-0 record. They also lead the individual averages for the division, holding the top four spots. Michael Fekete leads the way with an average of 221.67. He is followed by teammates C.J. Turek (221.22), Ethan Dutka (213.79) and Ethan Decker (210.61).
Top girls
Just four girls are averaging above 200 per game in the WPIBL and two of them are in the East division. Plum’s
Shannon Small leads the way with an average of 221.25. Behind her is Lydia Flanagan of Burrell at 211.75. The others are Kristin Wommeldorf of Apollo-Ridge (212.54) and Greensburg Salem’s Mattie Mae White (217.63).
Plenty of unbeatens
Through Week 8 of the 10week season, teams with unblemished marks are in control of the majority of divisions through the boys and girls WPIBL standings. Of the nine boys divisions, eight are topped by a team without a loss. Hempfield, Butler, Penn Hills, Blackhawk, Norwin, Moon and Montour are 8-0, while Central Catholic is 7-0. On the girls side, Greensburg Salem, Butler, Burrell, McKeesport, Moon, Montour and Elizabeth Forward are all 8-0.