HALFMOON — Gusting winds and sporadic rain couldn’t slow down the talented and extremely deep Saratoga Springs boys’ golf team.
Sophomore Carter Sica carded a 2-under-par 70, highlighted by an eagle-2 on the par-4 14th hole, to earn medalist honors, and three other Blue Streaks broke 80 during a dominating performance at Thursday’s Section II Class A championship at Fairways of Halfmoon.
Saratoga, which won the Suburban Council tournament but suffered its only league loss to Shaker to miss out on the regular-season title, posted an impressive 11-over-par 299 to win by 20 strokes over Guilderland. Only the top four scores counted for each team. Backing up Sica’s effort were junior Kellen Dean (74), Charlie Greiner (76) and Henry Parobeck (79). Chaz Colucci (80) and Charlie Blake (83) rounded out the squad.
Freshman Tim Esmay of Guilderland was the individual runner-up with an even-par 72.
“This is the one that’s been on our radar,” said Saratoga Springs coach Jake Zanetti. “This is the biggest team event for us. We wanted to make sure we won this. That was a pretty tough scoring day with all the wind. Kellen has been our No. 1 guy all season. There’s always been a big target on his back and there’s been a lot of pressure on him, so it was nice for Carter to have the round he did to pick up the slack. But all of our guys played well, and that’s what makes this so special.”
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Sica played brilliantly all day but there was one shot he will remember for a long time.
“I hit a nice tee shot to the middle right of the fairway, and I was about 85 yards out from the green,” he noted. “I wanted to hit my approach shot a little deep and bring it back toward the hole, but I came up a little short. I thought it was going to be short of the hole, but then I heard everyone celebrating, so I knew it went in the cup.”
Sica, who also rolled in four birdies, said it was important to play smart in the wind. “It was a really tough day out there. When it’s this windy, my mindset was just to put the ball on the green somewhere. I made some putts today.”
Dean, who recorded three birdies, was battling with Sica all day for medalist honors, but he suffered a double bogey on the final hole. “I hit my tee shot right and out of bounds on No. 18,” Dean said. “I had to hit another tee shot. The conditions today were no fun. It was very windy all day, especially on holes seven through 10. At some point, the rain was coming at us sideways.
“The good thing was that all of our guys played well today,” Dean said. “We’ve got a lot of younger guys, like Charlie Greiner, and everyone has been playing well.”
Esmay said Thursday was more of a mental test than a physical one for him. “You had to account for how much the wind was going to affect each shot,” he said. “It does play with your mind a little bit, and it got a little frustrating at times. I had a few bogeys here and there, but I scored pretty well and I made some putts.”
Esmay eagled the par-5 fifth hole and tacked on a birdie to help offset three bogeys on his round.
The cut was 86, sending 24 players to Saturday’s Class ABCD Playoffs back at Fairways of Halfmoon. The Class ABCD Playoffs are the first of two rounds of qualifying for next spring’s NYSPHSAA Championship.
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RESULTS
(Par 72)
Qualifiers — Carter Sisca (Saratoga) 70, Tim Esmay (Guilderland) 72, Kellen Dean (Saratoga) 74, Charlie Greiner (Saratoga) 76, Connor Desjardins (Niskayuna) 77, Sean Roddy (Guilderland) 78, James Gerdman (Albany Academy) 79, Henry Parobeck (Saratoga) 79, Vince Liguori (Niskayuna) 80, Kieran Cummins (Shaker) 80, Chaz Colucci (Saratoga) 80, CJ Strong (CBA) 80, Dixon Boggs (CBA) 80, Avi Myers (Shenendehowa) 82, Evan Schreivogl (Guilderland) 82, Chris Desmond (Ballston Spa) 82, Sam DiNallo (Ballston Spa) 83, Alex Kabalian (Shaker) 83, Charlie Blake (Saratoga) 83, Diego Clark (Bethlehem) 84, Eric Spoth (Shenendehowa) 85, Brian Earle (Shenendehowa) 85, Brian Earle (Shenendehowa) 85, Kevin Carey (CBA) 85, Jack Leonard (Bethlehem) 85.
Other scores — Chad Maurer (Guilderland) 87, Tommy Wall (Shaker) 87, Alex Wade (Ballston Spa) 87, Jack Montalto (Shaker) 87, Jeffrey Fumarola (Ballston Spa) 88, Will Mizenko (Albany Academy) 88, Jack Hoblock (Shaker) 89, Henry Marcinuk (Niskayuna) 89, Aiden Clark (Niskayuna) 89, Braden Fahey (Shenendehowa) 90, Brady Sears (Albany Academy) 91, Jack Hennessy (Bethlehem) 91, Ryan Mele (Colonie) 92, Derek Griffin (Guilderland) 92, Nate Hill (Ballston Spa) 93, Gavin Tribley (Ballston Spa) 93, Ted David (Shaker) 93, Michael Iovieno (Albany Academy) 94, Kai Chiarenza (Shenendehowa) 96, Andrew Martini (Shenendehowa) 97, Joey Degnan (Troy) 100, Brady Ryan (Guilderland) 101, Austin Dean (CBA) 102, Leo Letta (Albany Academy) 106, Jack Donohue (Albany Academy) 108.
Team scores — Saratoga Springs 299, Guilderland 319, Niskayuna 335, Shaker 337, Ballston Spa 340, Shenendehowa 342, CBA 348, Albany Academy 352.
Reach Bob Weiner at [email protected]
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Categories: Clifton Park and Halfmoon, High School Sports, Saratoga Springs, Sports, Sports
