West Chester East tops Downingtown East, secures share of Ches-Mont crown
THORNBURY >> Let’s face it, when you think of dominant Ches-Mont golf programs, West Chester East wouldn’t be at the top of any list. But that’s changing.
The unbeaten Vikings used its burgeoning depth on Wednesday to top league blue blood Downingtown East for the second time this season. The final score at Penn Oaks Golf Club was 204-218, and now up three with three to go, West Chester East has secured no worse than a share of the Ches-Mont regular season crown.
“I’m not sure about the math, but really the focus for us has been to have fun together as a team,” said seventh-year head coach Brian Busby.
If winning is, indeed, fun, the Vikings have been having loads of it. Now 9-0, West Chester East is in the process of lapping the rest of the league, and it doesn’t figure to change anytime soon. Seven of the team’s top eight players are expected back next season.
“We’ve really come together as a team,” said junior Cole Shew. “This is the best team I’ve ever been on, in any sport. It’s like we are brothers and sisters. That’s probably why we’ve played so well this season.
“Coming into the season, I told the team that we should expect good things because we’ve matured over the years. I would guess we’ve surprised some other people because we haven’t been that good in years’ past. But for us as the team, it’s not surprising.”
Shew heads up a junior class that is six strong and is the heart and soul of the squad. The others are Damon Spatacco, P.J. DiPiero, Donovan Tate and Sofia Amoroso. The sixth is Jack Hamilton, who transferred from Malvern Prep.
“My freshman year, we were 3-9. So to turn it around feels good,” Shew said.
“As freshmen, this class was very interested in dedicating themselves to getting better,” Busby added. “I knew that slowly along the line they would develop. Last season was the first year we got over .500 and that gave them a lot of confidence. That might not seem like much to a lot of teams, but for us we realized we had a lot of room to keep growing.
“And, of course, Hamilton transferring also helped.”
On Wednesday, the Vikings’ depth was on display as Shew, Hamilton and Spatacco each carded a 40. Downingtown East freshman, Andrew McCook, was the medalist with a career-low 39.
“(Depth) is the most important thing,” Busby acknowledged. “This is the first year I’ve had nine players who can break 40 on any given day.”
The highlight for the Cougars (6-3) was McCook’s 3-over-par round. It was, however, the second loss in two days for Downingtown East, who had just seven players available.
“We only had 13 try out, and we usually get about 25. And three of those guys haven’t come close to breaking 100,” explained Cougars’ head coach Scott Yard. “And one of my guys who played Monday (against West Chester Henderson) couldn’t make it, and the guy I was going to replace him with chose to go to band practice.
“We’ve sort of hit rock bottom, but in two weeks when we get to Applecross (for the Ches-Mont Championship), we will be in contention. We’ve just had a bad spurt and the guys have lost some confidence.”
Certainly not McCook, who had a pair of chip-in pars at Nos. 3 and 6, and then wrapped up his first sub-40 high school effort with a birdie on the par-5 ninth.
“I think I played here a couple years ago, but I really don’t remember it,” McCook said.
“I saved a bunch of pars. It was really tough out there, but I just had a good day. I only missed one fairway and my putting was unreal.”
Shew – who fired a 36 last week in a 10-shot victory over Downingtown East at Honeybrook Golf Club – dropped a 20-foot putt at No. 8 to save par, and finished with a par.
“I didn’t play great, but I got the job done and beat my opponent,” he said.
“Penn Oaks is probably the toughest course we play all year. It’s an advantage for us because we know the course and the layout. We know where to be and where the pins are.”
Like Shew, Amoroso also had a memorable day on Sept. 12 in the first meeting against the Cougars when she aced the par-3, 148-yard 8th hole at Honeybrook. On Wednesday, her 44 was better than six Downingtown East players, but it wasn’t enough to score for the Vikings.
“Brian (Busby’s) done a very good job the last three years and you could see it building,” Yard said. “(West Chester East) has a bunch of kids who want to play and work on golf. He’s got 12 or 14 kids who are fairly equal.”
West Chester East 204, Downingtown East 218
Par 36 at Penn Oaks GC
Downingtown East: McCook 39, Tobiassen 42, Knox 45, Walsh 45.
W.C. East: Shew 40, Hamilton 40, Spatacco 40, DiPiero 43, Thorbahn 42.
