It did not start well for Fayetteville-Manlius boys golfer Kyle Gilroy in Wednesday’s Section III Class AA championship tournament at Tuscarora Golf Club – a drive that went less than 100 yards.
But Gilroy made par on that opening hole, and with deft scrambling throughout the round that followed, four birdies would go on the scorecard and Gilroy would finish with a two-under-par 69 to earn the individual sectional championship.
In fact, no one got close to Gilroy’s score, one of the first posted as the players turned in their cards. West Genesee’s Nick Bove was second, with a 74, while Baldwinsville’s Ben Donohue was alone in third place, shooting a 76.
From a team standpoint, F-M, with a score of 400, nearly grabbed the runner-up spot as B’ville and Cicero-North Syracuse Blue shared second place with 399. West Genesee won with 390, claiming its second sectional AA title in three years.
It took a score of 81 to advance to next May’s sectional state qualifier at Seven Oaks, and Sean Arthur was the only other Hornets golfer to get there with an 80. Adam Butch and Sam DiChristina each got close, with matching totals of 83 as Mike Millamaci and Cal Isley both shot 85. Matt LaCombe had an 89.
Teams in the Class A fall sectional tournament included East Syracuse Minoa Blue and Jamesville-DeWitt, with the Spartans posting a 448 team score and the Red Rams finishing at 465, each of them behind Oswego, who won with 415.
Two ESM Blue golfers made it to the state qualifier – Ian Rivers, shooting an 82 to tie for sixth place, and Justin Seltzer, whose 83 made him the ninth and final player to advance. Ryan MacCombie shot an 89, with Luke Garlick (96) beating out David Griffith and Dan Sitnik, who both shot 98.
J-D’s top individual, Peter Hatton, finished just two spots short of advancing, his 87 leading to a tie for 11th place. Jake Ellithorpe shot a 91, with Tyler Brang getting a 92 as Max Schulman posted a 95 ahead of Alvin Ratanaphan (100) and Turner Pomeroy (102).
A day earlier, at Marcellus Golf Club, Christian Brothers Academy finished second in the sectional Class B/C/D fall tournament with a team score of 442, trailing only Westhill, who followed up an undefeated regular season with a 408 to win here.
Only the top 11 golfers, plus ties, would advance to the state qualifier, and the Brothers had two of them. Mike Sanatro shot an 82 in dry, breezy conditions to tie Westhill’s Anthony Maglisco for third place, trailing two other Warriors, Josh Marshall (77) and Sean Dadey (79).
Meanwhile, David Gross finished with an 85 for the Brothers and shared seventh place, also advancing to Seven Oaks. Ben Nicholson got close to the cut line of 86, finishing with an 89 as Jack Lester shot a 92 and Chris Bushnell had a 94. Brent Savage shot 102.
Before all this, F-M and J-D had a head-to-head match last Monday afternoon at Drumlins, with the Hornets prevailing over the Red Rams 193-203 by having the two lowest individual rounds – a 34 from Butch and a 36 from Gilroy.
J-D featured three players tied for third place as Hatton, Ratanaphan and Schulman each shot 37. Yet the next-best round came from Brang’s 42 as Pomeroy added a 44. On F-M’s side, rthur came a 39, DiChristina had a 41 and Isley earned a 43.
As that went on, ESM Blue went up against the co-champions of the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division, Cicero-North Syracuse Blue and Baldwinsville, at Liverpool Country Club.
The Spartans shot 204, behind the Northstars (188) and Bees (194), as Rivers and Seltzer each shot 39, tying for fourth place. C-NS Blue’s Brendan Villnave and B’ville’s Ben Donohue each led with 33 as the Northstars also got 38s from Jake Nardozza and Andrew Brunozzi.
