PEABODY ― The Bishop Fenwick golf team notched a pretty significant accomplishment Thursday afternoon, tallying a 150-135 victory over Catholic Central League rival St. Mary’s at The Meadow at Peabody Golf Course. With the win, the Crusaders swept both matches with the Spartans this season.
“This was a big match for us and both teams ended up playing a lot of young guys,” said Fenwick coach Jim McHugh. “Our depth really worked to our advantage in this one, and we were able to get a lot of points from the bottom half of our lineup to pull out the win.”
Tony Novack led the charge for the Fenwick golf team, putting up a match-high 38 points. Leo Schroeder added 30 points in the victory, while Louis Spychalski scored 25 points and Gianni Mercado scored 16 points.
Despite missing No. 1 player Aidan Emmerich in the lineup on Thursday, the Spartans still got strong performances from Andrew Potter (26 points) and Eric Bridges (20 points). Sean Mathers, Shea Newhall and Brendan Zollo each scored 19 points in the loss, while Kyle Rush added 17 points.
“Missing your top player in a match always hurts, but we made a good run there and had a chance,” said St. Mary’s coach Jay Fiste. “We ended up getting caught on a couple of tough holes and that ended up being the difference.”
A big part of Fenwick’s win was the team’s home-course advantage at The Meadow, a notoriously tricky course that has plenty of trouble in store for inexperienced players.
“It’s definitely a little intimidating for visiting teams,” McHugh said of The Meadow. “You have to put the ball in the right positions out there, and there are a couple of holes where you can really get into trouble.”
While the result wasn’t what Fiste was hoping for, he was encouraged by the fact that his young lineup is starting to round into form as the season hits its home stretch.
“Our young guys really are starting to round into form,” said Fiste. “We’re trying to get them into matches, and they’re playing a lot of golf lately. We’re hoping that will really benefit us as we get closer to the state tournament.”
Fenwick (4-1) travels to Archbishop Williams Monday (3:30) at Hillview Golf Course.
“I said to the guys after the match, ‘it’s like Bon Jovi, we’re halfway there,'” said McHugh. “We really have to bear down now and push hard from now until tournament time.”
St. Mary’s (3-4) plays on the road at Cardinal Spellman Monday afternoon (2:30) at D.W. Fields Golf Course.
“We’ve got a big week next week with four matches, so we’re hoping we can come out of there with a winning record and put ourselves in a good position to make the state tournament.”