There is a changing of the guard in area high school golf.
Northampton (16-0 overall) finished the regular season with a win Friday over Whitehall to finish 15-0 and capture the East Penn Conference championship for the first time.
Seniors Tyler Matute-Keiper and Trent Moyer plus juniors Gavin Pychinka, Kohler Strohl and Jayden Bleiler have led the Konkrete Kids, who won the EPC tournament title in 2018 and the District 11 Class 3A team championship in 2012.
Northampton beat Nazareth (15-1) by one stroke (384-385) in an Aug. 21 quad match in what turned out to be a battle of the EPC’s two best teams.
Northampton also beat defending champion Liberty 393-420 on Aug. 31.
Southern Lehigh (12-0) rolled through the Colonial League for its first regular-season title since 2018. Coach Matt Greenawald’s club has been a model of consistency. It is 103-12 the last nine seasons. The Spartans last won a league team tournament title in 2013 and a District 11 crown in 2007.
David Burmeister, Colin Sarnoski, David Tervalon, Talan Vanzano, Frankie Boensch, Caleb Walsh and Wyatt Adams are among Southern Lehigh’s top players.
League tournaments
The EPC and Colonial League tournaments are Monday, with the top five boys and ties and top two girls and ties automatically qualifying for the District 11 championships Oct. 3 at Steel Club in Hellertown.
The Colonial League event is at 8:30 a.m. Monday at Bethlehem Golf Club. The EPC tees it up at 9 a.m. at Olde Homestead in New Tripoli.
Liberty and Palmerton won last year’s league tournament titles. Graduates Jimmy Barker of Liberty, Madison Salter of Northampton, Evan Eichenlaub of Moravian Academy and Natalie White of Bangor won individual crowns in 2022.
Stroudsburg’s Hunter Probst is the highest returning finisher from a year ago, when he was fourth. Nazareth’s Camryn Hoff, the defending District 11 Class 3A champion, was second to Salter in a playoff last year at EPCs.
Moravian Academy’s Mara Dubacher was second in a playoff last year to White at the Colonial League tourney.
EPC tee times: 9 a.m.: Hunter Probst, Stroudsburg; Jase Barker, Liberty; Zach Miller; 9:09: Lydon Patascher, Pleasant Valley; Gavin Pychinka, Northampton; Luke Ronca, Nazareth; 9:18: Lewis Ronca, Nazareth; Noah Schurman, Emmaus; Trent Moyer, Northampton; 9:27: Evan Murphy, Pocono Mountain East; Kohler Strohl, Northampton; George Pavis, Bethlehem Catholic; 9:36: Matt Ronca, Liberty; Landen Benner, Parkland; Jayden Bleiler, Northampton; 9:45: Radek Remaley, Nazareth; Tyler Matute-Keiper, Northampton; Derek Ostrosky, Bethlehem Catholic; 9:54: Camryn Hoff, Nazareth; A.J. Sundstrom, Parkland; Nick Hoffman, Freedom; 10:03: Jaxon Forgione, Nazareth; Louie Pagano, Freedom; Ben Bush, Pleasant Valley; 10:12: Zak Novak, Nazareth; Kyan DeLong, Emmaus; Justin Edwards, Northampton; 10:21: Mujtaba Jaffer, Parkland; Ryan Kaulfers, Michael Seidick, Northampton; 10:30: Adam Unangst, Evan Walters, Emmaus; Dhruv Patel, Freedom; 10:39: Zach Yenawin, Emmaus; Paul Erfle, Liberty; Matt Rader, Central Catholic; 10:48: Brady Rohn, Nazareth; Jeff Snyder, Ralston Rowlands, Whitehall; 10:57: Andrew Kleist, Emmaus; Joey Fantozzi, Stroudsburg; Chloe Chase, Parkland; 11:06: Eric Gerger, Matt Long, Evan Martz; 11:15: Nolan Harriman, Freedom; Trent Stahley, Nate Zauck, Stroudsburg; 11:24: Mason Stiff, Charlie Gold, Paulie Maccarrone; 11:33: Chase Murphy, Pocono Mountain East; Colin Wrazien, Stroudsburg; 11:42: Allie Tarreto, Nazareth; Ashlyn McCormick, Pocono Mountain West; Pippa Grigsby; 11:51: Shayla Ames, Madeline Van Buskirk, Maya Schutz, Emmaus.
District 11 team qualifiers
Class 3A (at the moment): Northampton, Nazareth, Southern Lehigh and Blue Mountain
Class 2A: Schuylkill Haven, Moravian Academy, Mahanoy Area, Northwestern
The District 11 individual qualifier in both classes is Sept. 26 at Olde Homestead.
Morning Call reporter Tom Housenick can be reached at 610-820-6651 or at thousenick@mcall.com
