In its quest to get back to the top of the Section III Class AA ranks, the West Genesee boys golf team took an enormous first step.
The Wildcats met up with defending sectional champion Baldwinsville last Thursday afternoon in the season opener at Westvale, and even though the Bees had the top two individual rounds, WG still won by a score of 192-197.
Tim Dipaola shot a 37 for nine holes, while Jack Corcoran and Jimmy LaValle both had rounds of 38. That made up the ground ceded to B’ville when Maxwell Dec and Ben Donohue put up matching rounds of 35.
Then, to stay out in front, WG had Nick Bove shoot a 39 to match the Bees’ Matt Shipman, while Connor Barry, with a 40, beat out the fourth and fifth B’ville totals from Ryan Fecco (42) and Trevor Tooke (46). In between them, Dan Benetti finished with a 44.
WG followed up on Friday by defeating Liverpool 198-214, also at Westvale. Bove shot 36 to beat every other individual by four strokes as Lavalle and Joe Artini both posted 40 to match the Warriors’ Spencer Baum. Dipaola and Corcoran had matching rounds of 41 as Kevin McDermott and Jack Gordon each shot 44 and Lucius Allen got a 45.
Summer heat and humidity were still around when Westhill, who won the sectional small-school fall tournament a season ago, returned to action last Tuesday afternoon against Mexico.
The Warriors beat the Tigers 208-232 at Emerald Crest in Palermo. Anthony Maglisco, the young star who played in a national Optimist Tournament this summer at PGA National in Florida, led his side with a 38.
Sean Dadey, fresh off helping the Central region boys basketball team win the Summer Hoops Festival in Johnson City, was second on Westhill’s side with a 40. David Bleskoski had a 41, while Josh Marshall, with a 44, matched Mexico’s two low individuals, Zach Revette and Jack Ryan. Owen Matukas finished with a 45 for the Warriors.
Westhill also moved to 2-0 on Friday, handling Christian Brothers Academy 204-232. Back on its home course at Camillus Country Club, the Warriors had Tim Alcaro set the pace, shooting a 37.
In fact, Westhill had the four best individual rounds as Alcaro, Dadey (40), Maglisco (41) and Bleskoski (42) all finished ahead of the Brothers’ David Gross, who had a 44, a total that Marshall reached for the second match in a row.
