Robinson, North Penn ready for golf season
There is not much left for North Penn senior Ron Robinson to accomplish during his high school career.
As a junior, Robinson was selected to the First Team All Suburban One League Continental Conference and helped the Knights win the league with a 12-2 record.
But he’s setting his sights even higher this year.
“My goal is to win states,” Robinson said. “That’s been the goal for the last couple years. And for the team, same thing, win states.”
The high hopes are justified. North Penn also returns senior Andrew Lombardo, who was also a First Team All SOL Continental selection.
“I think that me and Andrew, we were probably the strongest in the league last year and now that we have one more year we’re going to be even better,” Robinson said.
“We lost our three and four players. I would imagine it’s going to hurt a little bit, but hopefully the other guys on the team can bring it up.”
Robinson is relatively new to the sport of golf. He did not play until his freshman year of high school.
“My dad played a lot of golf when I was younger,” he explained for how he got into the sport. “We saw that baseball wasn’t really working out, so he gave me golf clubs and I just started playing.”
After one season on the North Penn JV team, Robinson joined varsity as a sophomore.
His game has evolved over his short career and he continues to try and improve every way he can.
“I used to not be a very good putter,” Robinson said. “That was the worst part of my game. That was definitely a part that held me back a lot, but over the last couple of years I worked really hard on my putting and now it’s probably the best part of my game.
“My swing feels pretty good as a whole,” he added about what he’s been working on this summer. “So I’ve just practiced putting a lot.”
Robinson is sure to be taking some big putts for the Knights this fall.
Here are some other area teams to watch this season:
Archbishop Wood
Coach: Bob Schmalbach (33rd year).
Last Season: 8-5.
Key Returners: Karly Brown (12), Josh Cyphers (12), Joe Hill (12), John Nowicke (12), Grant Boyk (11), Pete Gori (11).
Coach’s Outlook: “Cautiously optimistic, with one of league’s top players in Karly Brown, she must get early help from returners for season success.”
Christopher Dock
Coach: Cory Longacre (4th year).
Last Season: 2-12.
Key Returners: Matt Schmidt (12).
Outlook: “Building season with only a couple returning starters.”
Hatboro-Horsham
Coach: Mike Harmon (9th year).
Last Season: 10 –7.
Key Returners: Hayden Moffat (11), Jack McCormick (11), Mike Festa (11), Matt McCormick (12).
Coach’s Outlook: “We are entering the American Conference with some unknowns about our league change. We are a young team, but the Hatters look to get back to the American Conference and compete for a conference title. Our key returners have two years of varsity experience and their leadership for this young crew will be important to the success of the team.”
Lansdale Catholic
Coach: Mark Daley (1st year).
Last Season: 10-2, District 12-AA champions.
Key Returners: Marcus Janinek (12), Joe Walsh (12).
Coach’s Outlook: “LC is coming off earning back-to-back District Championships with notable key losses in First Team All Catholic Honorees Jack Daley (Penn State Berks), Nick Kuhn (Moravian) and Jack Bagnell (Ursinus College). LC looks to senior captains, (Marcus) Janinek and (Joe) Walsh for hopes of keeping the recent successes going while working with the younger players allowing them to gain exposure in a difficult Philadelphia Catholic League.”
La Salle
Coach: Marty Jackson (26th season).
Last Season: 17-3, Philadelphia Catholic League Champions.
Key Returners: Brent Schoeller (12), Cole White (12), Matt Acker (11), TJ Chaykosky (11), Buddy Hansen (11), Tim Lorenzo (11), Ryan O’Neill (11), Alex Parlanti (11), Matt Quirk (11), Frank Gregor (10).
Coach’s Outlook: “Returning only one player from last years top eight, there is enough talent but experience in league play must come quickly. There is potential in our freshman and sophomore classes to break into the top eightt. There will be fierce completion to be in the top eight for PCL’s and top five for districts.”
Methacton
Coach: Kevin Flanagan (9th year).
Last Season: 11-1.
Key Returners: Kyle Vance, Dan Rieger, Gunnar Gale, Connor McCaffrey, Max Rennie, John McGrory, Christian Rossi, Harvery Smith.
Coach’s Outlook: “Losing three seniors hurts especially with how deep many of the programs in the PAC 10 are. We return three consistent golfers to the lineup and will look to see who can step up to be a consistent scorer in matches. The team hopes to make the PAC 10 Final Four.”
North Penn
Coach: Dave DiValentino.
2015: 13-2, SOL Continental champion.
Key Returners: Ron Robinson (12), Andrew Lombardo (12).
Norristown
Coach: Ian Morris (12th year).
Last Season: 1-14.
Key Returners: Matt Piccari, Dylan Copestick.
Coach’s Outlook: “The season will be filled with some growing pains for some of the younger inexperienced players. However Methacton transfer Caleb Ryan, (sophomore) has the potential to be one of the top players in the league.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh
Coach: Jeff Kavanagh (3rd year).
Last Season: Overall: 10-6.
Key Returners: Matt Aprile (12), Jake Butler (12), Jon Green (12).
Outlook: “Our top three players will be strong and have worked hard on their game playing in many tournaments over the summer. We will look for others in the lineup to step up each match to round out the top five scoring. We add two teams to the league in Hatboro-Horsham and Quakertown who we have not played before and have the challenge of beating very strong teams in Upper Dublin and Wissahickon.”
Pope John Paul II
Coach: Tony Romano (5th year).
Last Season: 9-4.
Key Returners: JT Spina, Michael Limongelli, David Antoniuk, James Poot, Matt Grimm.
Coach’s Outlook: “With JT Spina and Michael Limongelli returning at the top of our lineup we will depend on the performance of the other returning players to help us reach our goals for the 2016 season. Last year JT and Michael led the way to our first playoff appearance in school history. To repeat that performance we will need returning starters David Antoniuk, Matt Grimm, and James Poot to have strong seasons this year. Greg Heriak, Courtney Caiola, and Andy Blum will need to step up to replace last year’s seniors. The league looks strong, as usual, but I think with our starting lineup we should be competitive among the perennial league powers again this season.”
Souderton
Coach: Fred C. Cicacci (27th year).
Last Season: 10-5.
Key Returners: Dawson Anders (12), Nicholas Scot (12), Jack DeSpain (12), Anthony Barr (11), Evan Kreiser (11), Thomas Butler (10)
Outlook: Souderton finished third in the SOL Continental last year with a 10-4 record. The team returns Second Team All League selections Dawson Anders and Nicholas Scot — both seniors. Anders won the Montco Junior Championship in July.
Coach’s quote: “We expect to be competitive and hopefully play well at away matches in the tough Continental Conference.”
Springfield-Montco
Coach: Brett Vivian (4th year).
Last Season: 4-9.
Key Returners: Drew Tracey (12), Gavin Schmidt (12), Tim Dahme (11).
Coach’s Outlook: “We have a nice mix of upperclassmen and younger guys all with varsity experience. We hope to better last year’s record through hard work and lots of short game practice.”
Upper Dublin
Coach: Steve Pickford (1st year).
Last Season: 12-2.
Key Returners: David Kim (12), Brandon Jensen (12), Matthew Hebling (12).
Coach’s Outlook: “The team is looking forward to the opportunity to compete for the league title again in 2016. Led by the senior trio of David Kim, Brandon Jensen and Matthew Hebling, who are also the team tri-captains, the UD golf team looks forward to the challenge of competing for the American Conference title.”
Upper Merion
Coach: James Baxter (8th year).
Last Season: 2-11.
Key Returners: Will Helenski (12), Martin Crowe (12), Alex Kvetan (12), Brandon Higgins (12), Mike Strycharz (12).
Outlook: Upper Merion hopes to improve its record from last year and play consistent golf.
Wissahickon
Coach: Kevin Brady (1st season).
Last Season: 14-0, SOL American champion.
Key Returners: Noah Harrington (12), Phil James (12), Matt Graeff (12), Catherine Pfingst (12), Christea Park (10), Thomas Clements (12), Noah Pwerskry (12), Cooper McMasters (12)
Outlook: The Trojans won the SOL American last season with a perfect 14-0 record. First Team All League selections Phil James and Noah Harrington and Second Team All League selection Matt Graeff are now seniors and will try to help Wissahickon repeat as league champs.
“I think that puts us ahead of the curve within the league and teaching the younger guys golf etiquette and how to stroke the ball,” first year head coach Kevin Brady said of having three high level players returning.
Wissahickon also features two girls on its team — senior Catherine Pfingst and sophomore Christea Park.
“They both made Suburbans last year,” Brady said. “They did pretty well and so far this year they’ve been stroking the ball pretty nicely.”
