SYRACUSE – A perfect season almost demanded a perfect ending – and the Baldwinsville boys golf team managed to achieve both.
Having won all 14 of its head-to-head matches, the Bees’ level of play only improved when the stakes were increased at Tuesday’s Section III Class AA fall championships at Drumlins Country Club.
Earning a team score of 382, B’ville was 16 shots ahead of runner-up Cicero-North Syracuse Blue’s 398. West Genesee was third with 404 and Fayetteville-Manlius Green was fourth with 404.
Not only was there pressure from the undefeated record it had accumulated, there was the knowledge that, many times in recent years, the team that finished on top of the regular-season standings in the SCAC Metro had not prevailed in the sectional tournament here.
That changed here, and at the forefront was the duo of Aiden Motala and Nate MacGregor, who engaged in a spirited battle for the individual championship, with Motala finishing on top.
Shooting a 70, Motala was one shot ahead of MacGregor’s 71, and those were the only two players to match or break par as C-NS Blue’s Drew Kippen finished third with a 75.
B’ville’s depth was on display as Owen Frechette tied for ninth place with a 79 and two others, Dylan Wertheim and Brayden Penafather-Stevenson, shared 11th place with an 81 which clinched the team title.
Colin Ray finished with an 82 and could join Motala, MacGregor, Frechette, Wertheim and Penafeather-Stevenson as golfers advancing to May’s Section III state qualifying tournament.
