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05/21/2014 12:00 AMThe East Haven golf team improved to 19-1 with wins over Law, Career, Hillhouse and Sheehan and clinched SCC Tier 2 division title in the process.
Following easy victories over Hillhouse and Career on May 14, East Haven hit the road and battled Sheehan at the Farms Country Club in Wallingford. A victory would have earned the Yellowjackets the division title; a loss would result in a three-way tie between East Haven, Sheehan, and Branford.
"We want the win," said senior captain Patrick Hennessey.
The Yellowjackets did just that, coming away with a 176-183 victory to take the crown. As a result, the entire starting unit of Hennessey, Zach Schatz, Angelo Esposito, John Inglese and Tyler Johnson will all partake in both the SCC Championship and the CIAC Division II Championship.
"This was our goal when we started up the season. If anything happened other than this, we would've felt it was a disappointing year," said Head Coach Dave Augustine.
Esposito was the medalist against Sheehan with a 40, Hennessey shot a 42, Johnson shot a 46, and Inglese rounded them out with a 48. The Yellowjackets were consistent all year when it came to keeping their scores low, causing Augustine to gloat about his squad as a whole.
"A lot of times people ask, 'Who's your most valuable player?'" Augustine said. "My whole team is my most valuable player. I can't single one guy out. Everyone stepped it up at one point this year where I needed them. One day it was Angelo, one day it's Patrick, one day it's Zach, one day it's John, another day it's Tyler. These were the guys that I pinned this season's hope on and they just came through. I couldn't be prouder of these guys right now."
Things were gloomy for East Haven after losing the first match of the year to Branford, 168-174, but Augustine's bunch grew with every latter match and rallied off 19 straight victories.
"It was not a happy bus ride going home after we lost that first match at Branford because we really thought that we should've won that match, and at that point, we just decided that that's it. We're not going to get beat again," Augustine said. "They went out as team and played their best every single time. Every time we teed it up, we went out with the attitude that we have to win this one, and that's what we did. We won them one at a time. Now, we're at the end of the season and we came out on top."
Against Hillhouse and Career, East Haven shot a 165 at Alling Golf Course in New Haven as Hennessey and Esposito were co-medalists, both shooting 40s. Schatz shot a 42 and Inglese shot a 43.
Hennessey was especially pleased with his performance despite aerated greens making putts rather unpredictable. His best hole was the par-four fifth, as he was able to knock home a birdie.
"They were bumpy. The ball wasn't going where you hit it, so you had to guess a little bit. I don't know; it was rough but I was still able to make putts," he said. "Hole five, the short par four, I drove the green and two putted for a birdie. That was good, and I had more birdie chances on eight and nine, but I missed and still made par."
Fellow captain Schatz used the slightest bit of wind on the fourth hole, and didn't have as much success on the greens as Hennessey.
"The wind was going left to right and I let it ride the wind. The ball ended up right to the side of the green," Schatz said. "I had a lot of putts for par and ended up making bogey just because of the way the ball spun around on the green. It was definitely a disadvantage."
Still, East Haven came away with the important matches down the stretch, none more so than the victory over Sheehan.
"They went out and every time we had to play a crucial match this year. All these guys stepped it up and they all played great," Augustine said. "They just weren't going to let things get in their way. That was their goal."