X Survives Animal Attack
Co-written by Matt Coe and Tom Clukay
Posted Sunday, April 5, 2009 5:57 PM

… but it took their best game of the year – and their second-best all-around three-game set of the season – to do it.

Just Relax!

Through the years it’s been Factor X’s Achilles heel, making it the team’s number one focus for improvement in 2009. And once again, faced with an all-important position round match-up against the only other team that has been as hot as Factor X over the past four-to-five weeks, it looked for all the world that Team X had yet again traded in their “loosey-goosey” outlook on life for some life-and-death bowling, missing almost as many easy spares in the first five frames of game one than they missed as a team all last week.

Renowned for their quick starts against the X Men, this was all the opening Emil’s Animals needed to get off-and-running. Fresh off his NEBA tournament experience, Animal anchor Billy Marois, Jr. went from “focused and intense” to “even more focused and intense” as the frames wore on, pouring on strike after strike in response to Factor X’s miscues. Combined with great pin carry from two-bowler Kyle McInerney, the Animals again entered the latter frames of game one against X with a commanding lead.

Even with the game well in hand in the tenth, the Animals showed no sign of letting up. McInerney finished the game with 215, while Mr. Marois continued his pursuit of perfection right up until the very last ball, when a stubborn 4-pin ended his string of strikes at 11 for 299. Factor X countered with two solid games over deuce and a very respectable 1,005 scratch score themselves, but easy spare misses combined with the lofty numbers put up by their opponents would ultimately be their demise, giving the Animals an early 76-pin lead after one and prompting a rare mid-match speech from co-captain Tom Clukay:

“Look. If we sweep all five points, we can’t lock up first place tonight, and if we lose all five, we can’t be shut out. So where’s the pressure? There isn't, unless it’s self-imposed.”

The team did relax a bit going into game two, but unfortunately so did their pin carry. Putting together his second-best game of the year, Buddy Wing scored 201 which, when combined with Matt Coe’s game-ending five-bagger for 223 helped keep the game competitive. But once again, the Animals seemed to have all the answers.

As the scoring pace at the bottom of the Animal lineup tapered off, it was quickly replaced by resurgence near the top. A brief letdown by Marois following his bid for perfection was quickly supplanted by scores the likes of 232 (Kyle McInerney) and 217 (Evan Croft).  Factor in some ill-timed splits by the X Men and poor pin carry by teammate Tom Clukay (nine shots on pocket for 189), and things were looking good for the Animals heading into the final game, up 2-0 and seemingly in command of things with a 110-pin cushion.

Oh, did things change in a hurry.

If there’s one thing in particular that this year’s version of Factor X has been good at, it’s been their ability to come from behind. Refusing to just lay down and die, all five teammates opened game three strong and hoped against hope that, sooner or later, the Animal attack would relent.  Then, in frame number two, it did.

For the first time since way back in the first frame of game one, multiple Animals committed unforced errors in the second frame. Reenergized by one of the few openings they had been given all night, X responded with an emotional string of strikes as a response, quickly building more than a 100-pin lead before the midway point of the game. As their confidence returned, so did their loosey-goosey, happy-go-lucky nature… not to mention their carry percentage. By game’s end the team was on autopilot and closing in on their best game of the year. With marks in 49 of a possible 50 frames, the team exploded for a massive 1,140 game that featured games of 247 (Bill Allen), 237 (Tom Clukay), 224 (Will Allen), 217 (Matt Coe) and 215 (Buddy Wing). Even with Marois’ fine 223/711 finish, X eclipsed their opponent’s final score by 165 pins, obliterating the Animal total pins lead and earning Factor X an emotional and well-deserved come-from-behind 3-2 win.

Factor X has now won nine consecutive matches dating back to February 2^nd. This week’s 3-2 win marks the second time in the team’s current win streak they fell behind 0-2 and came back to take the series, with the previous such victory coming against the Hart Breakers back on February 16^th.  The team will open the all-important final leg of the season next week atop the standing ladder, looking to extend the win streak to ten as they take on Todd Tetreault and the quintet of bowlers otherwise known as Tate’s Mates.