With fall, and cooler temperatures, still far away, all of the area’s high school boys golf teams were quite busy plunging into their respective regular-season slates.
Fayetteville-Manlius gained second place among 10 Class AA entries at last Monday’s Syracuse Invitational with a team score of 204 at Drumlins East, only behind Baldwinsville, who won with 195.
Individually, Nick Santaro led a balanced Hornets effort with a 38, two over par, for nine holes. Just behind him, Mike Lee had a 39 and Dan Thomas had a 40, with Chris Ford (43), Ryan Keller (44) and Sam Alderman (47) rounding out the field. West Genesee’s John Clare won the individual title with a two-under-par 34.
As a follow-up, F-M beat Baldwinsville head-to-head, 187-205, on Wednesday at the Hornets’ home course of Woodcrest, also topping Liverpool, who had a team score of 208.
Matching par, Thomas led all individuals with a 35, as Santaro and Alderman, with matching rounds of 37, equaled B’ville’s top player, Paul Pitcher. Leed contributed a 38 and Andrew Massa put together a 40.
Meanwhile, Jamesville-DeWitt opened with a 203-297 rout of Mexico, also held at Drumlins. Joe Shapiro, shooting a 38, topped teammate Jeff Edwards by a single shot, with Edward Han shooting 40. William Darcy posted a 42, while Mike Engstrom and Max Evans had matching totals of 44.
The Red Rams then edged Fulton 224-228 on Wednesday at Battle Island, where Engstrom snagged low individual honors with a 41, one shot better than Darcy. Edwards had a 46, with Joe Shapiro (47) and Ben Katsarsky (48) close behind.
To start its season, CBA won a three-way match with ESM Orange, 230-260, with LaFayette (257) in between them. Jack Bellardini, with a 41, and Andrew Derrenbacker, with a 42, led the Brothers along as Alex Regan (47) and Eric Sognefest (48) had the Spartans’ top performances.
Of them, East Syracuse-Minoa’s sides had the most to do. It commenced with a three-way match at Vesper Hills on Aug. 23 where ESM Blue shot 210 to beat host Tully (222) and ESM Orange, who was third with 242.
Bryan Reader and Colin Sloan each posted 38 for the Blue side, while Ryan Breen had a 43 and Kyle Reader shot a 43.
A day later, both ESM sides would take defeat. ESM Blue fell to Cortland 208-223, though Bryan Reader had the low individual round of 39. Kyle Reader added a 41, with Breen getting a 45.
In ESM Orange’s 209-252 loss to Homer, Eric Sognefest led the Spartans with a 47, with Tyler Underwood and Andrew Steigerwald each posting 50.
At least ESM Blue would bounce back on Tuesday and bash Mexico 207-263 at Emerald Crest, where Sloan and Bryan Reader shot a 39, two better than Kyle Reader and Matt Barbini. ESM Orange fell again, 211-251, to Cortland, with Sognefest and Jeff Toole both shooting 40.
More importantly, ESM Blue closed this busy opening stretch by toppling J-D 223-225 at Erie Village on Thursday afternoon. Bryan Reader, with a 40, provided the winning margin as he was two shots better than the Red Rams’ Katsarsky, and three better than Edwards and Shapiro. Sloan shot his own 42 to help the Spartans out.
