VASSALBORO — The Falmouth High golf team fell just short in defending its state high school golf championship last fall.
It didn’t take the Navigators long to return to the top.
Freshman Dante Iannetta’s 2-over 74 and Johnny Hwang’s 78 helped Falmouth to a team score of 312 in the Class A golf championship on Monday at Natanis Golf Course, giving the Navigators their second title in three years. Thornton Academy (316) was second, ahead of defending champion Brunswick (319), Scarborough (325) and Edward Little (328) on the Tomahawk side.
Falmouth finished runner-up by five shots last season.
“It’s something that’s pretty cool, pretty special,” said Falmouth Coach A.J. Simokaitis. “To come up just a couple short last year. … I think that kind of spurred them on. There were a couple of disappointed players.”
Brunswick’s Will Farschon shot even-par 72 to edge Messalonskee’s Jacob Moody (73) by one shot for the Class A boys’ individual title. Thornton Academy’s McKenna Castle and Oxford Hills’ Alexis McCormick shot 85 to tie for the girls’ individual title.
In Class C, St. Dominic Academy shot 327 on Natanis’s Arrowhead course behind 75s from Garrett Kendall and Ethan Pelletier to beat defending champion Maranacook (330) for the team title, and Kents Hill (333) was third and Fort Fairfield, Monmouth and North Yarmouth Academy (350) tied for fourth. Fort Kent’s Kaden Theriault (74) and NYA’s Maddy Prokopius (88) won the boys’ and girls’ individual championships.
“Halfway through we kind of got the feeling it was going to be another tight, tight nail-biter,” said St. Dominic Coach Chris Whitney, whose team finished second the previous three seasons and also in 2018. “There was like a kitchen sink, gorilla and the whole zoo on our backs. It’s nice to get (it) off.”
Johnny Hwang (78), Owen Woolworth and Anthony Graceffa (80) had good rounds for the Navigators, but Falmouth was going to need another low round to take the top spot.
They got it from Iannetta, who only birdied one hole but allowed himself to go low with 15 pars.
His play in his first state championship was steady and calm. Even if he wasn’t.
“I was nervous throughout the entire round, but I played well. I missed a few birdie putts, but I hit every approach shot how I wanted to,” Iannetta said.
“I tried to tell myself it wasn’t only on me, so that I wouldn’t choke and do badly.”
Simokaitis had a feeling his freshman would come through.
“You want to go out and play your best, and if you don’t have your ‘A’ game, how do you figure it out,” he said. “Dante has that as a freshman. … It doesn’t seem like much bothers him.”
With Iannetta’s score in place, Falmouth had what it needed to win its fourth Class A title, all since 2011.
“It’s a good feeling, especially being a senior,” Hwang said. “I wanted to leave off with a state championship. I feel like this was the best team we had, this year.”
Farschon’s 72 was set up by no birdies, but two eagles.
The Brunswick junior eagled the third hole, but drifted back over par at 2 over when he double-bogeyed the par-5 14th. Undeterred, he crushed a drive down the fairway on the par-5 15th, stuck his approach four to six feet from the pin, and rolled in the putt for his second eagle.
“I was focusing on not feeling pressure after I made a bogey,” he said. “I just put it behind me, and whatever happens, happens. … The amount of work I’ve put in this year, it’s great to see it pay off.”
He parred out to hold off Moody for the individual title.
Iannetta and Scarborough’s Marc Twombly tied for third at 74, and Thornton Academy’s Andres Jimenez was fifth at 75.
“I was going out there and trying to grind, because I didn’t have it all today,” Moody said. “But I really allowed myself to pull through when I needed to and made some clutch putts.”
Castle parred eight holes for a share of the girls’ individual title after finishing second last year.
“I can’t complain. From last year, I improved five strokes,” said the Thornton junior, who lipped out an 18-foot putt on her final hole for birdie. “My approach shots were better than qualifiers, but not where I would have wanted them to be. But I was OK with it.”
McCormick shook off a double bogey on her second hole en route to tying with Castle.
“It came back around toward the end. The beginning was a little rough,” McCormick said.
“I knew coming into my last hole, on 16, I had to par to tie. … My heart was racing.”
In Class C, St. Dom’s rode the hot rounds from Kendall and Pelletier, but also got an 88 from Mason Laflamme and 89 from Joey Adams. Maranacook was led by 79s from Wyatt Folsom and Ethan Chilton en route to the runner-up finish.
Kendall was 4 under on the front nine.
“It’s a great feeling. Second place three years in a row, for me, it’s tough,” said Kendall, who along with Pelletier tied with MCI’s Owen Moore and Dexter’s Chase Farnsworth for second individually.
“It just feels great to win for once. … Every year we’ve been one short, and this year we did it.”
Pelletier birdied only one hole, the 16th, but bogeyed only four and had no doubles.
“I wasn’t quite sure, with losing kids last year, that we were going to be able to do it this year,” Pelletier said. “To come here and finally get the ‘W,’ it feels good.”
Fort Kent’s Theriault shot a 74 in only his second round of golf in a few weeks, because of a dislocated ankle he suffered playing soccer.
NYA’s Prokopius held off Kents Hills’ Amelie Zachrisson and Monmouth’s Reese Beaudoin by one shot for the girls’ title after finishing fourth, fifth and second in previous seasons.
“I’ve qualified since freshman year and I’ve blown it in the past,” she said. “This is a nice way to wrap up my senior year.”
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