Eagles nudged by Patriots in golf opener
North Point nudged by Northern in high school golf opener
Northern and North Point had some close golf matches last year and the two teams engaged in yet another close match to start off the 2016 season.
The Patriots (3-0 overall) had all six golfers shoot 45 or below and went on to defeat the Eagles by tiebreaker during a match that included Lackey and host Leonardtown Wednesday at Breton Bay Golf & Country Club in Leonardtown.
Northern and North Point (2-1) each shot 157, but the Patriots won the match on the tiebreaker, which was based on the better fifth-player card. Northern’s fifth golfer Matt Thomson carded a 39, while the Eagles’ AJ Acaad was seven strokes back.
“I really didn’t know we’d won,” Northern head coach Mickey Norfolk said when informed of the results. “Now that I just found out it’s pretty exciting and to start against North Point, especially, who is always top caliber. Chuck [North Point coach Skinner] does a great job. I knew it was going to be tight, but it’s a great feeling. We have a fairly mixed team of some older kids with some girls we have that are young, so it’s a good experience. It’s a good start.”
“A couple guys owe me a couple strokes in their mind,” Skinner said. “We feel like it’s the first match and we tied Northern and lost on a tiebreaker and we’re comfortable with that. We didn’t think we’d be this low; we were hoping low 160s. I’ll take that.”
Leonardtown (1-2) took third with a 178.
“Some of the younger ones did better than I expected, but it takes a while,” Raiders head coach Ben Weiland said. “We’re not strong like Northern at this point.”
With just five golfers, Lackey (0-3) was unable to field a complete team — they even inserted Westlake’s Ryan Graves into the lineup and he shot a 50 — and finished with a team score of 243. Two of its players Wednesday were near the bottom of the 2015 roster while two others played their first matches.
“Really the main thing for us right now is coming out and
getting better,” Lackey head coach Tom Fawcett said. “The experience level’s still not there so we’re looking for improvement pretty much every time we come out. That’s pretty much it. But we’re not discouraged; we’re just looking to come out and have fun and try and find things we can work on.”
Tyler Potts of Northern parred his first five holes and finished with seven pars on his way to a 1-overpar 37, but it was the 178yard par-3 eighth hole that left a bad taste in his mouth.
“I had a double bogey on No. 8 and that made me pretty mad because I was playing pretty consistent; I think I was at even par at that point,” said Potts, who sandwiched ther hole with a pair of birdies. “I was trying to play [No. 8] safe, which was funny and I hit it 30 yards to the right and then a silly three-putt. Other than that I was hitting my driver straight.”
North Point’s Matt Zabiegalski also shot a 37, thanks in large part to four pars and two birdies.
“My driver was working well today and I was very short to the greens,” said Zabiegalski, who birdied the 456-yard third hole and 495-yard seventh hole. “My wedges, my wedges can get better. Really we’re working to get better for tournament matches so we can move onto states as a team.”
Eagles teammate Immanuel Ricasa turned in a 38 after six pars and a birdie on the middle holes.
After Thomson, Northern’s Alex DiGiralomo handed in his scorecard with a 40 and Leonardtown’s Tucker Evans, Northern’s Johnna Parlett and North Point’s Trent Tyer and Garrett Hayes were all a stroke back at 41.
“I’m not disappointed, but I definitely left strokes out there,” said Evans, who had five pars. “I can’t be mad with a 41, but definitely [I need to improve my] irons. My irons need to get better, especially from 150 [yards] in.”
“We spent time with him and his driver and he put that to use today and his teammates helped him out quite a bit today. They mentored him and helped him and it came to fruition today,” Skinner said of Hayes, the Eagles’ No. 4 golfer. “I’m real proud of his game.”
Ryan Sohne of Leonardtown and Northern’s Elizabeth Coffren tied with 42s.
Alannah Milstead was Lackey’s top golfer when she finished with a 58.