Peters Twp. hoping youth movement pays off
Peters Township has been to the WPIAL Class 3A team golf finals 18 of the past 19 seasons and won five of the school’s six titles since 2004.
Even with all their chances, though, the Indians have not been able to win a championship since the team took back-to-back crowns in 2014-15.
Yet, despite losing WPIAL individual runner-up Kyle McClintock to graduation, there is optimism this may be the year Peters Township finally breaks through for its seventh title.
“He was a really nice player for us,” Peters Township coach Dave Kuhn said. “But we have a couple new faces.”
And a few that might appear to be new.
Peters Township took a chance on several underclassmen last year and it benefited the team as it finished third in the WPIAL, 14 shots behind Fox Chapel and 13 back of this year’s early favorite Central Catholic. But the Indians went with a youth movement unheard of in the program as three freshmen — Nick Haught, Ryan Watterson and Colton Lusk — all took the course at Cedarbrook for the team finals and none finished with a score over 85.
If that wasn’t enough sophomore fire power, the program added Chartiers-Houston transfer Griffin Hansberry, who finished 23rd in the WPIAL Class 2A individual finals at Allegheny Country
Club as a freshman last year.
They are all expected to be key components to the Indians title pursuit.
“Our sophomore class is absolutely tremendous,” Kuhn said. “This group, there’s definitely a lot of promise for them.”
Though the youth movement is continuing, the team isn’t only relying on four sophomores. Seniors Nick Wetzel and Austin Malley, the latter of whom was a member of the Peters Township state championship hockey team, will provide stability and veteran leadership moving forward.
“They’ve both taken on that leadership role and provided guidance. And they’re playing well on top of it,” Kuhn said. “Austin, specifically, he’s got a lot of competitive experience and leadership. Nick is a four-year player on varsity for us, which is not easy to do.”
Neither is winning a championship. Either Central Catholic or Fox Chapel has won the crown five of the past six years with Franklin Regional taking top honors in 2020.
But Kuhn is confident that, despite their youth, the Indians have enough to get it done this year.
“That’s our goal every year,” Kuhn said. “Some years you work really hard and you might not have that upper end chance, but we’re returning to form where we’ve been in the past.”
Class 3A girls
In a year where Greensburg Central Catholic might be coming back to the pack a bit, it might have been a year for Elizabeth Forward to wrest away the Class 2A girls team golf title.
Well, it may have happened had the Warriors not gotten bumped up to Class 3A as part of the PIAA biennial realignment. So, instead of chasing the Centurions, they’re now lumped into a section with Peters Township, South Fayette and Upper St. Clair.
“We’re playing bigger schools, better competition and better courses,” Elizabeth Forward coach Justin Korona said. “It’s been a challenge, but we’re hanging in there and we’re not embarrassing ourselves.”
It certainly helps that Elizabeth Forward may have the premier newcomer in the WPIAL in freshman Mya Morgan.
Though she has only played a few WPIAL matches, she has been lighting it up on the summer circuit for several years and her play has carried over to the Warriors.
“She’s amazing. She’s a hard worker in the classroom and on the golf course and has developed an amazing rapport with the girls,” Korona said. “We have 18 girls and she helped them out in practice. The girls want to learn a little and, when they do, they go to Mya.”
Through her first five matches, she is averaging a 38.6, has been the low-score medalist each time and, in her only home match, set the school record for a nine-hole round with a 35 at Butler’s last week against Bethel Park.
“The whole team really embraces who she is, what she does and what she brings,” Korona said. “It’s a big challenge and she and the girls have embraced it.”
What she may yet bring is the school’s first individual title in school history. Last week, she played Valley Brook, the site of this year’s WPIAL finals, and shot a 40 for nine holes.
“We’re already trying to plan out some things,” Korona said. “Valley Brook, this was her first look at it and, honestly, it could have been a 37.”