While it took just a few hours on Wednesday for the West Genesee boys golf team to earn its second Section III Class AA championship in three years, the actual work was a long-term project.
It went far beyond the regular-season matches in August and September where the Wildcats could only manage a fourth-place finish in the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division.
WG team members said the key to this title was all the Saturday afternoons they spent playing casual rounds, and then the rounds they played at the sectional site, Tuscarora Golf Club, where many of the players are members, in the week leading up to the tournament.
Combine all that work with all of the familiarity it had with Tuscarora, and the result was a performance that defied what took place in the regular season, when Baldiwnsville and Cicero-North Syracuse Blue shared first place and Fayetteville-Manlius also finished ahead of the Wildcats.
With a team score of 390, WG finished nine shots clear of B’ville and C-NS Blue, who both finished at 399. F-M was fourth with 400.
Nick Bove, whose three-over-par 74 was second only to F-M’s Kyle Gilroy among individuals, said this title was sweeter than the one in 2015 because of the way the team bonded throughout the season, plus the fact that it atoned for all of those regular-season defeats to its league rivals.
The victory required solid rounds from everyone on the Wildcats’ roster – and they delivered. Jack Corcoran finished with a seven-over-par 78, while Jimmy LaValle and Dan Benetti both posted 79 and Tim Dipaola finished with an 80. Lucius Allen shot 84 as Kevin McDermott posted 92 and Joe Artini had a 96.
It took an 81 to advance to May’s sectional state qualifier at Seven Oaks in Hamilton. Thus, Bove, Corcoran, LaValle and Benetti will all take part in that tournament.
