Falmouth Coach AJ Simokaitis chats with his players during a recent practice at the Maine Golf Center. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Shortly after the Falmouth golf team celebrated winning the Class A championship last fall, the Navigators quickly shifted their focus from 2023 to 2024.

“When all the courses closed, we were indoors in the simulators, we were putting in work,” junior Clayton Casey said. “The second it shifted from (last) season, we were already working on getting better for the next.”

And as another season begins, the defending champions aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. Falmouth has the numbers, depth, and talent to extend a run that already includes two of the last three Class A championships. Five of the six players from last year’s lineup at the state meet are back. Behind them are a half-dozen or so other players who are good enough to earn a regular spot in the lineup.

Meanwhile, Falmouth’s competition in the SMAA appears to be quite strong. Scarborough has a proven lineup, as does Thornton Academy. Cheverus is poised for a title challenge. Biddeford and Kennebunk have good No. 1 players, and at the state level, Edward Little looms as a formidable foe out of the KVAC.

All eyes, however, will be on the Navigators. And they know it.

“It’s been part of our early discussions, now that we’re back together as a team,” Coach A.J. Simokaitis said. “It’s a fact. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but people will expect us to perform this year. How do we handle that pressure as a team? It’s there, it’s going to be there.”

Sophomore Dante Iannetta is among the returning players for Falmouth. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

It starts with the returning lineup, as all but one of the players who played in the state meet last year are back. Sophomore Dante Iannetta, who shot 74 and tied for third, leads the way, but Owen Woolworth (80), Anthony Graceffa (80), Casey (81) and Isaac Laliberte (82) are also back.

“I really like our position,” Iannetta said. “I look forward to that pressure, I like playing under pressure. We lost our No. 1, Johnny (Hwang), last year, so there’s been an expectation that we need to fill that role. I don’t think we’re even going to. We have six guys that are all going to be that guy.”

It’s a group that keeps itself honed for the season by playing competitively in Maine and New England tournaments during the summer. All five played in the Maine Junior Championships, and all five had at least one round of 80 or lower.

“The number of hours that these guys spend on their own, it puts me at ease,” said Simokaitis. “On the weekends, after practice, before practice, days that we don’t meet, they’re going to get a tee time. I can’t keep them off a golf course.”

Falmouth’s depth, however, goes beyond returning starters. A total of 40 players came out for the team this year, and after choosing 10 for varsity last fall, Simokaitis is taking 12 this fall. All 12 – a group that includes Luka Roediger, Jack Turgeon, Alex Novick and girls’ individual championship hopeful Carley Iannetta – can break 40 for nine holes, so while Falmouth returns nearly all of its lineup from the state meet, there’s a decent chance a few of those players won’t be in the lineup in October.

Simokaitis said that allows him to manage the Navigators like a college team. The best players, not necessarily the most established, will play.

“Battlefield promotions are a real thing on this team,” Simokaitis said. “If you, all of a sudden, catch fire and someone’s just treading water, you’re up.”

The players don’t fear that. If anything, they’re motivated by it.

“We’re all glad that we have 13 or 14 kids that we know can go out and play matches versus any team,” said Woolworth, a senior. “It makes us all a little more competitive with each other, and push each other a little harder. … We have putting contests, we have driving contests. We like to see who’s the best, we love it.”

It’s a championship mix, but no one knows better than the Navigators that work remains to make it a championship team. Falmouth’s two recent championships bookended a 2022 season in which the Navigators went to the state meet as the favorite but lost to Brunswick by five strokes.

Just in the SMAA alone, Falmouth has several possible challengers. Scarborough, fourth last year, has four of its top five players back – individual title hopeful Marc Twombly, Erik Swenson, Keenan Buteau and Brett Kemper. Thornton Academy, which was only four shots behind Falmouth last year, still has Parker Snell, Jack DeLeo and Class A girls’ co-champion McKenna Castle.

Cheverus, anchored by Mick Madden and Liam Cloutier, will be tough. Greely has a state championship hopeful in Joe Hansen, and Biddeford and Kennebunk have the same in Wyatt Labonte and Weston Church.

“Scarborough’s always given us a tough time. … We tend to split the season with them with our home and away, they usually get us at home and we get them at home,” Simokaitis said. “TA’s always a strong program. Greely … we’ve dealt with (Brunswick) in years past. … It’s golf, anything can happen.

“It’ll be a fun qualifier, it really will, at the end of the season.”