By Rick Woelfel
Golf is perhaps the most individualistic of all athletic endeavors. But for the boys of Council Rock North and the girls of Central Bucks East, it was all about the team. And the Indians and the Patriots both fulfilled their ambitions by bringing PIAA state team titles home from York with them.
North put together a two-day total of 616 to win the boys’ title by six shots over Peters Township, which carded a 622. Scranton Prep was at 623 while Cathedral Prep rounded out the field with a 636.
The East girls finished the two-day test with a 689, followed by Fox Chapel with a 706, McDowell with a 734, and Scranton Prep with a 756. The Patriots are the first public school in the five-year history of the state team tournament to win a state title.
The Indians arrived at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort with three players harboring legitimate ambitions of winning an individual title. Sophomore Zach Herr and freshman Erica Herr won District One individual championships earlier this fall, while senior Brandon Dalinka had two top-three finishes at the state tournament on his resume.
Dalinka and Zach Herr shot 71 and 72 respectively on Day One, to help North shoot 308 and take an eight-shot lead over Peters Township. Dalinka was just one shot off the lead at the start of the final round and Herr two.
Herr got off to a hot start on the final day and was three under par for the day and two under par for the championship with nine holes to play.
Both he and Dalinka struggled on the back side however to fall out of contention for the individual title.
Austin Birky, who along with fellow senior Liam Kane didn’t qualify for the individual event, came up big however, with an 82 in the final round, five strokes better than his score the previous day, to help his team maintain its advantage.
In the end, Zach Herr finished seventh individually. Dalinka tied for eighth, while Erica Herr tied for fifth in the girls’ individual event. But it was clear being around the team that its focus was on the team competition.
“I was talking with my dad (the night before the final round),” Dalinka said. “I told him if it came down to the last hole, and I needed a birdie to win the individual and a par to win the team I was hitting it in the middle of the green and taking my two-putt.”
A year ago, the Indians missed qualifying for the state tournament by one stroke. This season’s reward however was worth the wait.
“This is just the best feeling in the world,” Birky said. “Having the opportunity to move on past regionals, to states, then we win the whole thing. It hasn’t really hit me yet, but I’m sure it’s going to be one of the best feelings I ever feel.”
The Patriots’ win in the girls’ team event featured an altogether different dynamic. East didn’t officially have a girls’ varsity team until last year and even after winning district and state titles, the Patriots’ trip to York was something of a voyage into the unknown.
Which in the end made their victory extra satisfying.
”I don’t even know what to feel yet,” said senior Stephanie Yocum. “It hasn’t really quite sunk in. But I know we’re all really excited, and we’re all really glad we came out here and did this.”
Two East players, senior Jordan Glatt and sophomore Ashley Cassidy, were part of the individual competition. Senior Francesca Ruscio was also part of lineup but the Patriots, unlike their opponents, didn’t have a fifth player on hand so there was no margin for error.
Over the course of the two days, only Cassidy managed to break 80, with a 79 in her final round. She finished 12th in the individual competition, while Glatt tied for 18th.
But the Patriots came up big when the stakes were highest and in the process gave a big boost to the viability of high-school girls’ golf in this area.
“It just gores to show you what you can do when you put your mind to something,” said East coach Mark Rubino. I couldn’t be more proud of a group of young people than I am of them.”
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