When all of the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division teams gathered last Monday at the Drumlins Invitational, Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool found they still had some work to do.
C-NS Blue finished fifth in a 12-team field with 211, not far from Baldwinsville’s winning 199, though West Genesee, Fayetteville-Manlius and Jamesville-DeWitt claimed the next three spots.
Jake Nardozza paced the Northstars, as his nine-hole score of 38 put him in a tie with Liverpool’s Spencer Baum for fourth place, just two strokes behind the medalist, West Genesee’s Nick Bove.
Ryan Sisco managed a 41, with Andrew Brunozzi and Brian Pellegrino each posting 43 and Liam Mussi contributing a 46.
Meanwhile, Liverpool was eighth with 228. Other than Baum, the Warriors’ next-best round belonged to Dylan Husted, whose 46 matched that of Mussi. Then four others – Tyler Leatherwood, Sam Sgroi, Jacob Fahey and Luke Harder – each shot 48.
C-NS Green grabbed 10th place at 234. Brody Kennedy’s 43 paced this group of Northstars. Ethan Shallcross and Sean Lawler both finished at 46, with Carter Costello getting a 47. Steve Filapello and Sam Thompson both shot 52.
Kennedy went from there to shooting the low round of 36 at Timber Banks in C-NS Green’s match against Baldwinsville a day later.
But the Northstars won 203-224 as Max Dec, with a 38, led five Bees who posted 41 or lower ahead of Filapello’s 43.Cullen Scott managed a 46, ahead of Thompson (46) and Shallcross (48).
As this went on, C-NS Blue and Liverpool went head-to-head in the heat and humidity at Northern Pines, and this side of Northstars rolled past the Warriors 183-208.
All five of C-NS Blue’s top players would break 40, starting with a season-best 34 from Sisco to edge out Brunozzi, who had a 35. Pellegrino’s 37 beat out Nardozza (38) and Pat Cuddy (39) for third place.
Each of them was ahead of Baum and Leatherwood, who with 40 tied for Liverpool’s low round. Pat Langlois finished with a 41 as Husted got a 43 and Brodie Powers posted 44.
During Thursday’s action, C-NS Blue powered past visiting Syracuse 185-221, Brunozzi blazing to a season-best 32 and Sisco managing a 35. Cuddy and Mussi both shot 39 to match Syracuse’s Jon Kinane as Pellegrino posted a 40.
Also at Northern Pines, C-NS Green took a 202-231 loss to West Genesee. Costello shot a 44, but that put him fifth as Bove, with a 35, led four Wildcats at the top. Thompson and Filapello both shot 46, with Lawler adding a 47 and Cullen Scott a 48.
As for Liverpool, it could not topple F-M, who won 187-206 at Woodcrest. Baum contended for individual honors, his 37 only trailing the 36 by the Hornets’ Adam Butch.
Yet F-M’s consistency was far too much to overcome as Andrew Heyman shot 37, with 38s from Sean Arthur, Velton Perry and Mike Millimaci ahead of Sgroi’s 40. Powers and Leatherwood both shot 42 as Langlois added a 45.
Way back on Aug. 22, Liverpool took on C-NS Green and the Warriors prevailed 207-224 at LCC. Baum matched par with a 36 for nine holes, while Husted had a 40 and Sgroi got a 42. Leatherwood shot 44 ahead of the 45 from Fahey.
For C-NS Green, Filapello and Kennedy set the pace with matching rounds of 43, just ahead of the 44 from Scott. D.J. Villnave finished with a 45 and Lawler added a 49.
That same day, C-NS Blue battled F-M and, though the Northstars played well, the Hornets still prevailed 186-192.
Mostly, C-NS Blue got beat because Arthur, for the Hornets, shot a blistering 30, five strokes ahead of Sisco, who shared second place with the Hornets’ Matt LaCombe.
Otherwise, the scores were fairly even between the two sides. Perry had a 36 for the Hornets, ahead of Butch and Heyman, who both posted 39. The Northstars got a 37 from Nardozza and 39s from Brunozzi and Cuddy and a 42 from Darin Townsend-Goldwaite.
When C-NS Blue returned to its home base of Northern Pines on Aug. 24, it won over C-NS Green 189-210, seeing Nardozza, Cuddy and Pellegrino each shoot 37 to beat out Sisco (38) for individual honors.
On C-NS Green’s side, Filapello and Sean Thompson led the way, each posting 40, the same as Mussi. Kennedy had a 41, beating out Shallcross (43) and Costello (46).
