After a series of delays, the Newburgh Free Academy boys’ and girls’ bowling teams are back on the lanes.
At first, it was the same delays, as all the other sports. First, practice was scheduled to begin in the middle of November, then it was pushed to Nov. 30, and then the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association pushed all the low- and moderate-risk sports start dates to Jan. 19.
Everyone got started, but the bowlers still had to wait, an employee’s positive COVID-19 test at Pat Tarsio Lanes delayed their start until Jan. 25.
The Goldbacks had their first match of the season Friday night as the 10-day practice rule was waived because of the shortened season.
And it’s going to be quite a different season, as the section was divided into three divisions. The Goldbacks are in Region C, and at the end of February will bowl for a regional championship.
Last year, the boys’ team won the Section 9 championship in its first season, but due to the COVID-19 shortened season, there will be no sectional meet.
“Unfortunately, the regionals will have to be the culmination,” Newburgh coach Matt Iorlano said.
Like their counterparts on the swim team, all the bowling matches will be virtual. Both coaches will tally the scores and send them to each other.
At least that’s the working theory.
Iorlano said on Saturday morning he hadn’t heard from Goshen’s coach after Friday’s virtual match. He said his bowlers did well during the match, but they don’t know if they won or lost.
“At least the kids are doing something and competing somewhat,” Iorlano said. “It’s better than doing nothing, and at this point we’ll take what we can get and go from there.”
It’s been a long haul to get to this point, especially with the delay due to Tarsio’s closure.
Iorlano had left Newburgh Free Academy on Jan. 15 with the full intention of having practice on Jan. 19. Then he had to email them all back the next day to tell them it wasn’t going to happen.
“They all probably heard the same thing,” Iorlano said. ”A majority of them go there and bowl on Saturdays. I’m sure they were told the league they bowl in was canceled so they kind of knew.”
Prior to last week, the last time the Goldbacks competed competitively was the Section 9 championship meet when they defeated Kingston. Their trip to the state meet was canceled by the onset of the pandemic. There were a few offseason workouts in November, before they were shut down.
He said the Goldbacks had a good turnout and were excited to be out there.
“If they’re like us coaches, they’re extremely excited to get out there and compete,” Iorlano said. “Running on 10 months, they haven’t had anything positive to go on.”