Without its superstar, Whippets still cruise past Red Raiders
DOWNINGTOWN >> It is a unique situation, but one that many high school golf teams would love to have: Downingtown West’s top player, Nick Gross, is one of the nation’s top amateur golfers. But that also means that he hasn’t always been able to compete so far this season for the Whippets.
On Wednesday, Gross left for North Carolina to begin preparations with Team USA for the 2022 Junior Presidents Cup to take place Sept. 20-25 at Quail Hollow Club near Charlotte. It meant that he was unavailable for a Ches-Mont National dual meet against Coatesville.
But the Whippets are pretty good even without Gross, and they showed it by trouncing the Red Raiders 198-237 at Downingtown Country Club to go a perfect 7-0 in the division (9-2 overall).
“We are a good team, and we know it – but we are kind of staying quiet and getting better,” said Brady Manning, who along with fellow senior Bret Bergey, and Gross, a junior, are the team leaders.
“We have three great leaders on this team,” added head coach Rob Coyne. “We have great chemistry with this team so far, and we are trending in the right direction.”
A couple days earlier, West didn’t have Gross and shot an outstanding 190 to beat Bishop Shanahan.
“You add Nick in, and we’re probably under 180, and that would be hard to beat,” Bergey pointed out. “When he comes back and is with us fully, we are going to be really good.”
That won’t happen next week, and the Whippets will have to face Downingtown East and West Chester East without him. But the situation changes for the Ches-Mont Championship on Sept. 27 at Applecross Country Club.
“Nick still had some big events nationally coming up,” Coyne said. “He’s missed three dual meets so far, and he’s going to miss a total of three next week. But after that, Nick is cleared and will be with us the rest of the season.”
That’s good news for West, and sets up an interesting finish as the Whippets and West Chester Henderson battle it out for the division crown. Due to rainouts, both of the head-to-head dual meets between the Whippets and Warriors will take place after the league tournament.
“We are all starting to play more and more and it’s showing with everybody getting better,” Bergey said. “Nick is obviously a big part of our team but we’ve played several good matches without him.
“We don’t like losing, but we still haven’t played Henderson yet. We will see them right after Ches-Monts so we need to win those two to have a good chance to make it to districts as a team.”
On Wednesday, Manning and Bergey led the way. Both notched birdies on the same holes (Nos. 4 and 8), and Manning wound up earning medalist honors with an even-par 36.
“My putting was a little off,” he said. “I’m looking for 14-15 putts for nine holes.”
Bergey’s 38 was the second best round of the day. Freshman Carson Holmes paced Coatesville with a 39.
“I had surgery on my (right) knee over the summer, so I am still kind of finding my swing,” said Bergey, who is also a lacrosse star.
The Red Raiders (0-7, 0-8 overall) only had one golfer break 40, and had to count two scores over 50.
“We had a couple mental errors out there today,” said Coatesville head coach Jason Castaldi. “One of our guys hit his playing partner’s golf ball and that rattled him.
“We spend a lot of time at the driving range, but it’s hard to get through to them that they have to make that practice transfer to the golf course. That’s where we struggle. At the range, you aren’t penalized for hitting a bad golf ball, but out here, you are – so we tense up a little bit.”
Gross just turned 16 and last month and became the youngest player to advance to the quarterfinals of the ultra-prestigious U.S. Amateur since 2007. Freshman Evan Gross – Nick’s younger brother – contributed a 39 for West on Wednesday.
“It’s hard when Nick’s not here, but when that happens we all kind of step it up,” Manning said.
“It’s actually good because we are building depth throughout the lineup,” Coyne added.
“And then when you have a guy like Nick that is consistently under par, it relieves stress on the rest of his teammates.”
Castaldi was impressed: “Downingtown West has talent, but that doesn’t always translate. It does with this group because they have a good mindset and Rob gets his kids to buy in. They will have to deal with Henderson, but they should be right there.”
Downingtown West 198, Coatesville 237
Par 36 at Downingtown CC
Coatesville: Holmes 39; Cooper 45; Smith 49; Evans 51; Kinzeler 52.
Downingtown West: Manning 36; Bergey 38; E. Gross 39; Fildore 42; O’Neil 43.
