ONONDAGA COUNTY – None of the area’s high school boys golf teams had to travel far to play their Section III fall tournaments, and two of them would emerge victorious.
It began Tuesday at the Pompey Club, where Christian Brothers Academy was a favorite in the sectional small-school fall tournament, motivated to take down the Skaneateles side that beat them less than a week earlier.
And that’s exactly what happened.
Putting up a team total of 383, the Brothers easily topped Skaneateles’ second-place total of 427, while Westhill finished third at 439 and Cazenovia (445) was fourth.
Leading the way were two CBA golfers who battled for individual honors, and ultimately shared them, Jack Gregory and Luke Snyder each shooting 74 to beat Westhill’s Danny Young by three strokes.
James Stanton and Emmet Kilmartin tied for fourth place, both posting 78, while Rowen Lynch was alone in seventh place with a 79. Eric Lee finished with a 82 to share ninth place as Ryan Hayden tied for 11th with 83 and Liam White put up an 84.
All told, eight CBA golfers – Gregory, Snyder, Stanton, Kilmartin, Lynch, Lee, Hayden and White – advanced to May’s sectional state qualifier. Zach Cooper added an 87 and Luke Petragnani earned an 88.
A day later, the Salt City Athletic Conference tournaments took place, and at Green Lakes Jamesville-DeWitt was crowned Empire division champions once again.
The Red Rams’ team score of 388 beat out Oswego’s second-place 407, even though, on an individual basis, the Buccaneers’ Gavin Ruggio won top honors with an outstanding 68.
Right behind Ruggio, J-D’s Jackson Saroney was second, breaking par with a 70. Then Mitchell Archer took third place with 75 as Tate Mullin finished fifth with an 80 and Sam Ahn added an 81.
Brian Tolar (82), Blaise Anthis (83) and Donovan Scullion (84) all were within the top 10 for the Red Rams as East Syracuse Minoa, fourth in the team standings with 475, was led by Braedon Smith and Logan Welch each shooting 87. Aaron Reynolds added a 90 for the Spartans ahead of Jacob Gallipeau (101) and Michael Saunders (110).
Over at Drumlins East, where SCAC Metro division teams gathered, Fayetteville-Manlius Green shot 421 to finish second, trailing only West Genesee Gold, who took the team title with 409.
Amid fast, firm conditions, Tyler Burns nearly took the individual title, shooting a 79 which put him second, a single shot behind WG Gold’s Ben Glass and his winning 78.
Ryder Baldwin, tying for ninth with a 79, also advanced to May’s sectional state qualifier, joined by Duncan McDaniel and Hugh Roddy, who shared 11th place at 85, with Henry Will (88) and Cameron Lukasik (90) just outside the cut line.
Dylan Friedman had a 94 and Grant Rhyde paced F-M White with a 95, Will Kettell adding a 96 and Aiden Curran a 97. They were ahead of Chet Baron-Philips (102), Gavin Balinfy (103) and Taden Minichillo (105).
F-M Green came into the sectional tournament off last Monday’s 199-216 win over West Genesee Blue at Green Lakes, getting season-best 38 from Jack Schalk as Kettell shot 39. Lukasik had a 40, with 41s from McDaniel and Burns.
Meanwhile, F-M White lost 181-199 to West Genesee Gold, despite a 36 from Curran at Woodcrest. Five Wildcats shot 38 or lower ahead of 39s by Rhyde and Minichillo as Turner Berry shot 42 and Nico Capriotti added 43.
