St. Mary’s, Lynnfield advance to Division 3 golf finals

NORTH READING – The North Shore’s high school golf contingent was well represented on Monday at Hillview Golf Club in the Division 3 North sectional championship.And for two of those teams, there is still work left to be done this season.Despite getting an 81 from its No. 1 player, Kevin McCarthy, St. Mary’s punched its ticket to the state finals next Monday at Shaker Hills Golf Club in Harvard as George Carey, Matt O’Hare and Jesse Powers all shot rounds of 77 for a team total of 312 and a second-place finish after a tiebreaker.Joining the Spartans at that number was a surprising Lynnfield team, which bested Northeastern Conference South champion Danvers by one shot to earn the final spot in Harvard.But no one was better than Weston on Monday.The Wildcats, led by individual champion Jon Greb’s round of 72, had five of their six players shoot rounds in the 70s for a team total of 296 and a 16-shot win over the Pioneers and Spartans.”I’m very proud of these guys,” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said. “They gutted it out. We didn’t play our best. But we got the job done.”Lee’s analysis proved to be right. Despite playing without senior John Baldwin, who won the North title on the same course two years ago, the Spartans used their depth of talent to get over the hump.For the Pioneers, it was sheer consistency that punched their ticket to Shaker Hills.Paul O’Brien led the team with a round of 76, which also put him as one of the 12 players who earned berths in the Division 3 individual championship next Monday. Brian Corcoran shot 77, while Joe Anderson fired a 79 and Garrett McNeill had an 80 to give the Pioneers their four counted scores.”They did a great job,” Lynnfield coach Roger Lauzon said. “It’s just amazing how the little things, like a shot here or there, add up. They held it together beautifully.”For Danvers, champion of the NEC North and holder of a 63-match unbeaten streak in conference play, it was a heartbreaker of a day as a 2-shot penalty assessed to one of its players for a rules infraction cost it a spot in the finals.Falcon junior Troy Thibodeau did, however, earn himself a spot in the individual championship as his round of 74 tied him for fourth.Swampscott finished fifth with a team score of 319, but did have two players – Alex Patkin and Justin Massey – qualify for the individual tournament. Patkin finished in a tie for second thanks to his round of 73, while Massey’s round of 75 got him a solo eighth-place finish.Of the 12 players to earn spots in the individual championship, five of them came from Weston. Joining medallist Greb as qualifiers were Peter White and Nicky Buenaventura with rounds of 74 and Jeremy Rubin and Will Caro, who each shot 76.Winthrop finished with a team score of 329, led by Jake Rand’s round of 80, while Saugus’ Anthony Howell and Marblehead’s Andrew Scholnick failed to qualify for the individual championship.DIVISION 1 NORTHAt Beverly Golf & Tennis Club, defending champion St. John’s Prep did not earn one of the three spots in the state finals next week, missing the cut by a single shot.”I’m shocked,” Prep coach Larry O’Neill said. “It was probably the last thing we expected. But it’s a one-shot deal, and you have to do it on that day. And I guess we just didn’t play good enough.”The competition was the tightest, according to O’Neill, that he’s seen in 35 years of running the sectional, as six teams were separated by seven shots at day’s end.Newton South and Andover each shot 307 to tie for first, with Newton South winning the tiebreaker over the Golden Warriors. Newton North took third at 309 with the Prep and Central Catholic tying for fourth at 310.The Eagles were led by Nick Maccario’s round of 73 that tied for second in the overall competition. Nick Pandelena shot 77 while Nick McLaughlin had a 79 and Emilio Bardini shot 81 for the Eagles’ four counted scores.”Obviously, we didn’t play as well as we could have, but not to even qualify, I didn’t expect that,” O’Neill said.Peabody fin