Souderton earns District 1-AAA berth at SOL Boys Championship

WARMINSTER >> The Souderton golf team just missed out on a Suburban One League Continental Conference title. But the Indians won’t be missing on a chance to play for a District 1-AAA title.

With three golfers finishing in the top 10 at the SOL boys championship Tuesday afternoon at Five Ponds Golf Course, Souderton earned the SOL’s wildcard into the district team tournament — Big Red’s 310 besting fellow Continental side Central Bucks East’s 316.

“That’s cool. I got that (the wildcard) my sophomore year too so that’s pretty fun,” said Souderton’s Anthony Barr said. “So we have a good team this year so we may have a chance to make states depending on how we play.”

Barr and Thomas Butler finished tied for third at 4-over 75 while James O’Malley tied for ninth at 8-over 79. Joshua Smith’s 10-over 81 tied for 14th as the Indians, Hatboro-Horsham and Pennsbury all had a league-best four golfers among the 37 that qualified for District 1-AAA tournament, which begins Monday at Turtle Creek Golf Course in Limerick.

“I know for the team that’s really good,” Butler said. “We were close to winning the conference earlier, I think the reason we lost a tiebreaker to CB West. So we were really close, so it’s good to be in it now.”

Central Bucks East’s Patrick Sheehan and Luca Jezzeny of Central Bucks West battled on the back nine for the day’s low score, which ended up going to Sheehan as he shot a 4-under 67. Jezzeny finished second at 3-under 68.

“It was a lot of fun because we were back and forth the whole back nine,” Sheehan said. “After 10, he had me by three so it wasn’t too easy. And then after I made the eagle (at 12) I got within one and that’s kind of where it got really fun.”

Sheehan was 1-over after eight, but birdied 9 and 11, eagled the par-5 12, then added another birdie on 14 before finishing his round with four straight pars.

“The last two times I played here I’ve shotten 4-under on the back nine, so I knew I could play the back nine well,” Sheehan said. “I was kind of looking to get to the back nine. It was a struggle a little on the front after I got to 1-over and then I birdied nine and got to even so that helped.”

Jezzeny had a feel for Five Ponds he had played the course last Thursday in a dual match with William Tennent — a 199-216 Bucks win.

“At the beginning of the day, just trying — first thing first — to qualify,” he said. “And then when I knew me and Pat were pretty close I, obviously, was trying to win.

Jezzeny was 4-under through 12 before carding his first bogey at 13. He bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 15 to pull even with Sheeehan at 4-under but dropped a stroke with a bogey on 16.

“(Sheehan) started rattling off some birdies the beginning of the back nine so I knew we were tied,” Jezzeny said. “So it was fun down the stretch to see if I could win and he ended up winning by a shot.”

Souderton’s Barr and Butler finished tied for third with Plymouth Whitemarsh freshman Dylan Gooneratne, who birdied holes 7 and 10 to counter six bogeys and finish at 4-over 75.

“Putting was working today,” Gooneratne said. “I made a couple of long ones — save some good putts that I should of made — but overall it was a good round.

Barr picked up his lone birdie on the ninth hole, but with the first goal of the day reaching districts, the round was satisfactory for him.

“Yeah, not bad. Three bad bogeys, but other than that it’s fine,” Barr said. “Move on to districts and see what you can do there.”

Butler was able to mitigate a triple bogey on 9 and a double bogey on 17 with two birdies on Five Ponds’ back nine.

“Played pretty well. I had two bad holes and other than that I played really well,” Butler said.

Gooneratne was one of three PW golfers to reach districts — Jon Silberman tied for 14th at 10-over 81 while Alec Goldberg made it on the cutline of 13-over 84.

Hayden Moffat paced SOL American champ Hatboro-Horsham, tying for 11th at 9-over 80 as the Hatters joined Souderton in sending a foursome to Turtle Creek. HH’s Michael Festa tied for 14th at 10-over 81 while Jack McCormick and Noah Sim both tied for 23rd at 11-over 82.

Upper Dublin had three advance to districts with both Joseph Monaghan and Grant Malloy among the last six in at 13-over 34. Jarrod Matz lead the Cardinals Tuesday with his 11-over 82.

Springfield-Montco’s Ryan Fireman earned a spot in the District 1-AA tournament as he shot at 11-over 82 to finish in the tie for 23rd.

The Suburban One League will hold its girls championships Wednesday at Five Ponds.