Meghan Kelly and the Howell Rebels duplicated their 2006 wins at the Freehold Regional District Bowling Championships.
Kelly again rolled the high game of the competition, held at Country Lanes in Manalapan Thursday, with a 244.
“She’s starting to catch fire,” said Rebel coach Dave Clampffer.
Led by Kelly’s high game, the Rebels romped to a repeat win by more than 400 pins. The Rebels had a team score of 2,576 that easily topped Freehold Township (2,167). Manalapan was third (2,034) followed by Colts Neck (1,834).
This match was over after the first game, with Howell’s 970 putting the Rebels up by 200 pins. Amanda Stefan, Katie Raffele, Megan Miller, Brittney Budra, Casey Alberti, Arianna Mattera and Rachel Imperiale made up Howell’s winning squad.
On the boys’ side, it was also a sweep for the Colts Neck Cougars. Tony Cortese had the high game, 236, and the Cougars prevailed in a see-saw four-team chase. Unlike the girls’ championship, this came down to the final game, with the Cougars edging defending champion Manalapan by just 22 pins, 2,817-2,795.
Freehold Township wasn’t far behind at 2,710 and Howell had a 2,672 score.
In regular-season Shore Conference action, the Rebel girls have all but won a seventh straight division title, Class B Central.
Jackson Memorial, the only team with a realistic chance to overtake Howell, lost 3-0 to the Rebels on Jan. 17 at Howell Lanes. It was the last head-to-head match between the top two teams, and the Howell sweep left the Jaguars 8.5 games behind the Rebels. Jackson needed to gain ground on the Rebels to have any hope of catching them.
Stefan had the high game (235) and series (605) for Howell.
Jackson beat Howell, 2-1, the first time they played in December. In the final two matches, Howell won 6-0.
Howell is 30-3 with three matches (nine games) remaining to play. Jackson is at 21.5-11.5 and must watch out for Freehold Township, which is third at 19-14.
Jackson Memorial’s boys edged ahead of Howell thanks to its 2-1 win over the Rebels on Jan. 17. The Jags are at 26.5-6.5 and Howell is 25-8 with three matches yet to be played.