NORTH READING — The Marblehead golf team improved to 2-0 on the season after downing St. Mary’s (1-1) 196-182 at Hillview Country Club.
After the match, both coaches said their respective teams played well, but were respectful of the other side.
“Overall, I think the guys played well today. Chalk it up to experience,” St. Mary’s coach Jay Fiste said. “We were playing against a very good team. They were well-prepared and well-coached. They had a bunch of solid players.”
“I think we played consistently well,” Marblehead coach Bob Green said. “St. Mary’s has a strong team. They’re a little young, but they have a lot of great golf swings in them.”
Marblehead received two great performances from its two co-captains Matt Mahan and Charlie Grenier. Mahan had a career day from the tee box, shooting a career-best one-under par, while Grenier shook off some early trouble to finish two-over par.
“Matt Mahan had an incredible round,” Green said. “He finished with 35 points, which is a lot for this format. He birdied the ninth hole which was a tough par-3. It was a great moment for him and the team.”
He gave a shoutout to Grenier, too.
“Charlie Grenier got off to a rough start, but battled back and finished with 33 points, which was a +2 for the day,” Green said.
Despite losing by 14 points, Fiste believed it was a closer matchup than the scorecards showed.
“There are opportunities out there to get more points,” Fiste said. “Sometimes, one or two shots are the difference between winning and losing. That’s what it came down to tonight. One or two shots from each person were the difference. A score of 196-182 doesn’t seem paper-thin close, but it really is if you look at individual matchups.”
A strength of St. Mary’s is its depth, according to Fiste.
“We’re a solid group. We were solid from 1-10 today. We had five guys (Shea Newhall, Micah Hashikawa, Matt Smith, Chase Collins, and Stephen Nason) who scored 27 points which is pretty good,” Fiste said. “We also had four more guys (Josh Doney, Luke Dilisio, Alex Chaisson, and Kyle Rush) in the 20s, so nine out of our 10 guys were in the 20-point category which is good for our league.”
“They’re all good players. We have 12 solid players on varsity that can all hang in there,” Fiste said. “We have a good core of players. It’s a good makeup for a team. Not only are they just good, but a lot of them are young. We have three seniors on the team, but for the most part, we’re going to be solid this year and be competitive this year and the next few years.”
Green, who has been a golf professional for years, loved what he saw from both teams.
“What’s fun about what I do is watching kids who love to compete and play golf,” Green said. “Both my team and St. Mary’s – you can tell how much the kids loved being out there. It’s such a blast for me to see that.”
Marblehead’s next match is Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Tedesco Country Club against Danvers. St. Mary’s returns Wednesday at Tedesco against Pentucket with tee-off scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
