Successful Shamrocks Shine Once More
June 10, 2017
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
EAST LANSING – For the past three seasons, the biggest drama with Detroit Catholic Central’s boys golf team hasn’t been whether or not it would win tournaments it competed in.
Instead, it was a matter of how much the Shamrocks would win by and which player in its loaded lineup would be the medalist.
It’s been a constant battle of bragging rights for a Catholic Central team which entered this weekend’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final at Michigan State University’s Forest Akers West having won all of its tournaments the past two years and with each starter finishing as medalist at least once during the run.
“That’s what we strive for,” senior Sean Niles said.
On Saturday, Niles ended up getting the final bragging rights at the finale for a senior class that couldn’t have been much more decorated.
Niles won the individual Division 1 title, shooting a two-day score of 139 to prevail by one shot over Plymouth senior Justin Kapke (70-70).
Grosse Pointe South sophomore Coalter Smith was third with a 144 (71-73).
Catholic Central had two more golfers finish among the top five individually – seniors James Piot and Ben Smith.
Piot was fourth at 146 (72-74), and Smith was fifth at 148 (71-77).
Needless to say, all that firepower helped Catholic Central do what was expected all season, which was win a third straight team championship.
The Shamrocks finished with a total of 581 strokes, ahead of runner-up Grosse Pointe South’s 597.
Plymouth took third with a 610, Clarkston was fourth with a 619 while Rockford rounded out the top five with a 622.
It was the definition of a bittersweet moment for Catholic Central coach Mike Anderson, who while celebrating another Finals title with his players also had to come to grips that it was the last time he got to coach a senior class that graduated with three MHSAA championships and a runner-up finish.
Catholic Central will send three of those golfers to Division I college programs with Piot going to Michigan State, Smith to Georgia Tech and Niles to Oakland University.
Senior Sean Sooch will play at Grand Valley State.
“They are my friends and my family, and we will be in touch with them for the rest of their lives,” Anderson said. “It’s a special group.”
Anderson said it was actually the finish three years ago when these seniors were freshmen that proved to be the driving force behind their success.
In 2014, Catholic Central finished one shot behind champion Swartz Creek, a painful memory the Shamrocks didn’t forget.
“That was a tough pill to swallow, and they responded,” Anderson said. “They looked toward that as something they didn’t want to happen again, and it didn’t.”
Niles led the charge for the Shamrocks this weekend, following up a 2-under par 70 on Friday with a 3-under par 69 at a difficult Forest Akers West course.
“It is a strategy course,” Niles said. “You are basically doing all you can to keep it in the fairway. It’s a placement course. That is all it is.”
Kapke had a chance to tie Niles on the final hole and force a playoff, but couldn’t connect on what was roughly a 20-foot putt.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Catholic Central, including medalist Sean Niles holding the trophy, stands together a final time after winning a Division 1 title. (Middle) Birmingham Brother Rice’s Brendan O’Rourke punches out of a bunker. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Eskymos Unseat 3-Time Champ Houghton
June 1, 2017
By Ryan Stieg
Special for Second Half
MARQUETTE — It isn’t easy to topple a team that has won the last three titles, but the Escanaba boys golf team pulled it off Wednesday afternoon at the Marquette Golf Club.
The Eskymos unseated Houghton as Upper Peninsula Division 1 champion, outlasting neighboring Gladstone by one stroke (319 to 320) to claim the title and leave Escanaba head coach Brian Robinette with a big smile on his face.
“The boys have had the ability to do something like this all year long, and I kept telling them about the idea of making teams beat you,” Robinette said. “For a while, we weren’t doing that, but little by little, they figured out how to fight their way to good scores. They fought hard today up until the moment that they signed their scorecards, and that was great to see.”
For Gladstone, it was a disappointing end to the day after coming up just short of a title once again. Braves head coach Dane Quigley was a little down afterwards, but he was proud of how his squad performed and likes the group he has coming back next year.
“Today was just a heartbreaker,” he said. “We’ve been trying to get that title the last few years, and I thought we might have the team to do it this time, but it didn’t work out. We actually did pretty well with our numbers three, four and five guys stepping up, but unfortunately, Esky had guys in the 70s and that’s hard to beat. The good thing is that we have some really good golfers coming back next year, and I think we’ll have another good chance to win it.”
Negaunee, which finished second to Houghton last year, took third place this time in the 11-team tournament and had its best performance of the year with a 327. As a result, Miners head coach Dustin Hongisto was very pleased with what he saw.
“I was really happy with how we played,” he said. “We had three solid scores and today was actually our lowest team score of the year. My number one guy (Carter Mason) struggled a little bit today, but he’s had a great career with two conference championships and he was medalist last year, so he has nothing to be ashamed about. But his brother (Jordan) made up for that, and everyone else kind of picked up the slack.”
Marquette tied with the Gremlins for fourth place with a 337, while Calumet finished sixth with 338.
Redmen coach Ben Smith felt his young squad learned a lot and thinks there’s a lot of potential for next season.
“Whenever you host a meet like this, you hope that it will give you a good advantage, and it did a little bit,” he said. “Jordan Jurmu had a solid round (81) after battling some cold weather. We had a couple of guys shoot 85s, and that was good. There was a lot of older guys on the other team, and I think that will help us get a taste of what it takes to win. Hopefully, we can build on today and we can keep plugging away for next season. I think we’re going to see some good things.”
Individually, Houghton senior Ben Strong was the medalist shooting a 73. He was happy with his performance and was glad to end his Gremlins career on a good note.
“I think I had a good day overall,” he said. “I made a couple birdies and kept it together mentally throughout the round today. I played really well my four years in Houghton. My freshman year, I placed fourth and now as a senior, I won U.P. Finals. You can’t get much better than that.”
Menominee’s Evan Kramer took second with a 75, and Negaunee’s Jordan Mason finished third with a 77, while the Eskymos’ Johnny Kositzky and Parker La Pointe as well as Gladstone’s Bryce Douglas tied for fourth at 78.
PHOTOS: (Top) Negaunee’s Carter Mason lines up a putt on the way to shooting an 80 on Wednesday. (Middle) Gladstone’s Bryce Douglas watches his approach shot; he finished fourth individually. (Photos by Rachel Oakley.)