St. John’s Prep edges Xaverian by one stroke in card-off

There may not be a MIAA state tournament to determine the best high school golf team in Massachusetts this fall, but if you want to make an educated guess, the Catholic Conference is probably a good place to start.

With the addition of St. John’s (Shrewsbury) into the mix this year, the league boasts four of the top-seven finishers from last year’s Div. 1 tourney, and that parity and strength was on display at Brookmeadow Country Club in Canton on Wednesday as St. John’s Prep edged Xaverian on a card-off after the first six scores resulted in a 226-226 deadlock.

“Even though the virus obviously took a bit of our season away, we are still in a great conference where we can have a competitive match for the most part almost every single time out, and that’s all you can ask for,” said St. John’s Prep junior Brendan O’Holleran. “It’s my goal to play in college, but know for the rest of my life I’ll look back on high school golf as an incredibly fun time.”

Senior Blake Buonopane’s 41 was the difference as the seventh score for the Eagles, besting the Hawks’ seventh score by a single stroke to win the tiebreaker and stay unbeaten at 6-0.

“They always have great players, experienced players on their side, but so do we,” said Prep coach Joe Rocha. “We have the highest respect for Xaverian, so for us to come out on top is pretty incredible for us. To go to the seventh score, depth is huge.”

St. John’s Prep was able to overcome a sizzling performance by Xaverian junior Spencer Dumas, who was medalist with a 3-under 33. The Eagles countered with six scores of 40 or better, led by O’Holleran and sophomore Aidan LeBlanc, who each posted 1-under 35s.

Andrew Landry (38), Emmett Phelan (39), Ian Rourke (39) and Brandon Farin (40) rounded out a Prep top-six team that literally made every shot count. Hawks junior Joey Lenane joined teammate Dumas in red numbers with a 35.

The two teams meet again on Monday at Ferncroft CC and will also see each other again at the Catholic Conference Tournament at Worcester CC on Oct. 26.

“I was talking with some of their kids and there is a Xaverian-St. John’s Prep rivalry, but we are the exact same school, just in different parts of the state, with the same Xaverian values of compassion,” said O’Holleran. “We played well, they played well. We just happened to beat them by one stroke.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/376gVLv