Three of the area’s high school boys golf teams laid claim to league championships last week, and the one that didn’t still picked up a major milestone.
Fayetteville-Manlius started the week battling three other teams for the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division title, but it would all hinge on the Hornets’ match against Baldwinsville last Thursday at Timber Banks.
At that moment, F-M and B’ville were tied for first at 8-2, just ahead of the 8-3 marks from Cicero-North Syracuse Blue and West Genesee. And the Hornets won it, 200-204, over the Bees, avenging a 195-198 home defeat to the Bees back on Aug. 31.
It did so despite having B’ville’s Max Dec lead all individuals with a nine-hole score of 36. Adam Butch and Matt LaCombe both shot 38 to match the Bees’ Matt Shipman.
Then it went ahead with twin totals of 40 from Velton Perry and Mike Millimaci, ahead of the 42 from B’ville’s Vic Ianno. Sean Arthur’s 44 clinched it for the Hornets when the Bees could only get 43 from Anthony Petragnani and Billy Guild.
Before that, F-M first had to navigate through last Monday’s match with Cicero-North Syracuse Green at Northern Pines, which it did by rolling past that group of Northstars 190-224.
Butch, with a 35, led a top-five Hornets sweep. Arthur had a 37, with Millimaci and LaCombe each posting 39 as Perry finished with a 40. No C-NS Green player topped the 43 from Cullen Scott.
After all the matches were done, F-M simply had to beat Syracuse Monday to take the league title outright and avoid a three-way tie with B’ville and C-NS Blue.
Jamesville-DeWitt solidified its hold on the SCAC Empire division crown, starting with last Monday’s 200-227 victory over the Auburn Maroons at Drumlins.
Punn Chittaratlert again paced the Red Rams, shooting a 36 as his side had the top three individual rounds. Jake Ellithorpe earned a 38 and Peter Hatton added a 41 as Carter Mizro (42) and Tim Walsh (43) paced Auburn.
Even though it would finish just behind J-D in the league standings, East Syracuse Minoa Blue would achieve something special when it defeated Central Square 214-225 last Monday afternoon.
That’s because it was 200th win for head coach Michael Ferris, who in his tenure has seen the Spartans earn 17 consecutive winning seasons.
Ian Rivers would lead the way against Central Square, shooting a 36, five ahead of the Redhawks’ Braxton Warden. David Griffith and Dan Sitnik each shot 43 as, for ESM Orange (who had a team score of 252), Brent Smith and Owen White each posted 48.
On Thursday, ESM Blue shot 213 to finish just behind Auburn (209) at Erie Village. Rivers could only manage a 40, matching Griffith but six shots behind the 34 from the Maroons’ Ross Burgmaster, and the same as Auburn’s Jack Leader.
Joe Pacheco had a 41 as Sitnik and Luke Garlick each shot 46, as did White for ESM Orange, who finished with a team score of 258.
To lockup the OHSL Liberty National division crown, Christian Brothers Academy had to win Thursday’s match against Skaneateles, since the Brothers were 7-0 in league competition and the Lakers 6-1.
At Skaneateles Country Club, CBA prevailed 227-244, a comfortable margin even though Skaneateles’ Ty Jones had the low score of 39. Joe Nicholson led the Brothers with a 43, with steady play behind him as Dan Angelo and Mike Santoro both posted 44, with Peter Scuderi and Chris Bushnell both posting 48.
Before this, CBA played Phoenix last Tuesday and gave some of its reserves a chance to win a match – which they did, defeating the Firebirds 241-293.
It was Joe Rizzo posting the low individual total of 45 for the Brothers. Brent Savage had a 47, with Ryan Wendt and Mike Schaefer each shooting 49 and Guy Germain adding a 51.
