Once again, Cicero-North Syracuse has a pair of golf teams – Blue and Green – teeing off in the fall, with Liverpool also part of the fray in the CNY Counties League.
And C-NS Blue didn’t waste time announcing its status as a league title contender, going to Camillus and beating West Genesee 186-189 in last Wednesday’s match at Westvale Golf Club.
The key to the outcome was having Patrick O’Donnell, Jon Petrin and J.T. Smith post the three low individual rounds. O’Donnell shot a 35 for nine holes, while Petrin and Smith each got 36, all of them topping the Wildcats’ top individual, Joe Morgan, who had a 37.
From there, despite three 38s from WG’s trio of Dylan Plis, Kyle Korzeniewski and Nick Bove, the Northstars held on because the supporting cast played well, too. Eric Cummins had a 39 and Wes Smiley added a 40, with Eddie Szopinski (46), Brendan Villnave (48) and Matt Jordan (49) close behind.
To start things, both sets of Northstars, along with Liverpool, ventured to the 10-team Drumlins Invitational. There, C-NS Blue finished third, with a total of 204, while the Warriors got 221 to beat out C-NS Green (237) for seventh place.
Oswego swept both the team and individual honors here, setting a tournament record with a team score of 188 to hold off runner-up West Genesee (195),The Buccaneers’ Noah Lee (34) and Sean Dain (36) went 1-2 among individuals, Dan sharing second with WG’s Dylan Plis.
Just behind them, Petrin led his side with a 38, tying for sixth, while O’Donnell shared ninth place with a 39, the same score as Liverpool’s two top individuals, Dan Mort and Jullian LaTocha. Helping Petrin and O’Donnell, Szopinski and Villnave both posted 42, Cummins had a 43 and Smith had a 46.
C-NS Green’s top individual, Nick Ernestine, had a 45, matching the Warriors’ Kenneth Krafft, with Elijah Marris (46) one shot behind Krafft and Spencer Baum getting a 52.
Close behind Ernestine, C-NS Green saw Matt Thornhill post a 47, Justin Pellegrino and Andrew Brunozzi each get a 48. Chris Ranalli shot a 49 and Mike Battaglia finished with a 53.
When head-to-head league matches started on Wednesday, C-NS Green returned to Drumlins and routed Syracuse 229-293, led by Bough’s 43, which matched Syracuse’s Joe Lee. Ben Haven offered support with a 44, while Kyle Kuhn and Chase Hurley both posted 47 and Ryan Heitmann finished with a 48.
Liverpool, meanwhile, fell to Fayetteville-Manlius 193-213. At Liverpool Golf and Country Club, Baum shot a 40, edging out Mort (41) and LaTocha (42), while Krafft and Tyler Dorval both posted 45. F-M had the top three individual rounds as Andrew Massa shot a 36 and Nick Perry and Tim Zapisek each got 39, while Jason Coleman and Tommy Ryu matched Baum’s 40.
Back at Northern Pines on Thursday, C-NS Green took its own shot at F-M and lost, 184-212. Ernestine again led his side, with a 40, with Ranalli, Brunozzi and Ben Haven each managing 42, but the Hornets had the top six individual efforts, led by Perry’s 34 and Coleman and Colin Sommers managing equal totals of 36.
A rematch with F-M Friday brought another Northstars defeat 186-204. Justin Pellegrino managed to shoot a 38 and Ranalli had a 40 in front of Ernestine (41), Thornhill (42) and Carson Carino (43), with the Hornets seeing Andrew Massa and Kyle Gilroy both shoot 36 to lead all individuals.
In its own trip to Westvale, Liverpool saw Mort shoot a 36 to tie West Genesee’s Dylan Plis for low individual round. But the Warriors still lost, 188-209, to the Wildcats because Mort had the only sub-40 total for his side as WG posted five of them. Baum still had a 42, just ahead of Caldwell (43), LaTocha, Tyler Dorval (44 each) and Krafft (46).
