After an average regular season, the Cheverus golf team turned it around at the right time by finishing first at the Southern Maine Activities Association team state qualifying tournament Monday at Natanis Golf Course in Vassalboro.

The Stags are heading to Saturday’s state team championship at Natanis. Play starts in classes A, B and C at 10 a.m. Cheverus will join five other SMAA teams in the tournament.

Overall league champion Deering, along with Bonny Eagle, Kennebunk, Gorham and Scarborough will also play. Deering, Bonny Eagle and Kennebunk were automatic qualifiers by virtue of winning divisional titles. Gorham and Scarborough finished second and third at Natanis to get in.

Cheverus Coach Jim Ouellette hopes his team has one more top performance left.

“I was impressed with the way the boys played,” said Ouellette.

“We’ve known all season that we could play. We just put it together. Hopefully, it’s an indicator of our potential,” he said.

The SMAA tournament at Natanis also served a qualifier for the state individual tournament that will be played at Natanis on Oct. 16. Kyle Bourassa of Cheverus was low qualifier with a 75, followed by Deering’s Joe Walp and Matt Bevilacqua with 76s. Cheverus had four players qualify for the individual tournament. Joining Bourassa will be Nick Burns (78), Andrew Cloutier (79) and Quinn O’Hanlon (82). The final score to get in was 83, which is what Rocco Spizuoco of Deering shot.

Cheverus had a 5-5 record in the regular season. The Stags lost twice each to Deering and Scarborough and once to South Portland. Deering and Scarborough had 9-1 records during the season.

Deering won the state title in 2008 and based on its regular season play, could be positioned to win another. But anything can happen at the state tournament. What happened during the regular season often doesn’t have a lot of bearing at Natanis. The winning formula for teams is usually having three golfers score in the 70s and the fourth countable scorer being somewhere in the low to mid-80s.

In Walp, Spizuoco and Cooper Nadeau, Deering has three golfers who have competed on the varsity for three seasons. They were part of Deering’s winning team two years ago and the team’s second straight league title this season. Bevilacqua, who has shown the most improvement, will be part of the five-player team at the state meet. The fifth player has yet to be determined, said Coach Bill Goodman. Team scores are determined by taking the low four out of five scorers.

Walp finished the regular season with a 36.0 stroke average in nine-hole matches. Spizuoco had a 37.5 average.

 

BRUNSWICK DEFEATED Brewer for the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championship on Monday at Rockland Golf Club. The Dragons beat the Witches, 61/2 to 21/2. Brunswick will be playing in the Class A state team championship at Natanis. The Dragons finished with a 12-1 regular-season record.

OLD ORCHARD BEACH, coached by John Regan, has been led by juniors Jonah Goyet and Michael Rague. Goyet plays No. 1 for the Seagulls while Rague is No. 2.

“They’ve been my steadiest players,” said Regan.

 

THE SMAA and the Western Maine Conference held a joint girls’ state individual qualifier last week at Willowdale GC in Scarborough.

Defending state schoolgirl champion Laura Grant of Greely was the medalist with a 79. Monica Austin of Yarmouth was second with an 81.

Megan Bickford of Greely was third with an 82. In all, 20 girls qualified for the state tournament that will be held in conjunction with the boys’ tournament on Oct. 16 at Natanis.

 

Staff Writer Tom Chard can be contacted at 791-6419 or at:

tchard@pressherald.com