September 24, 2019
A year ago, the Emmaus golf team found itself tied with Northampton for the low team total at the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Tournament held at Woodstone Country Club in Danielsville.
Due to a tiebreaker, the Konkrete Kids were crowned EPC champions by virtue of their fifth player having a lower score than the Hornets No.5 player by a mere two strokes.
On Monday afternoon at Olde Homestead Golf Club in New Tripoli, nearly one year after having to settle for a runner-up finish, Emmaus made sure there would be no tiebreaker needed this time as they captured their first league title since the 2014 season.
The Hornets followed up their unbeaten EPC regular-season championship by firing a team score of 310, some 12 shots better then second place Liberty (322).
“Didn’t have to worry about it this year,” said a smiling Emmaus coach Mo Bryan after capturing their second championship this fall. “It was a great day. These kids wanted this just as much as I did, although they probably wanted it more.”
Junior Michelle Cox, the Hornets top golfer, won the overall individual title and her third straight girls championship with a round of 2-over 74. Cox shot a 37 on both the front and back nine with one birdie on the day and 14 pars.
“I played OK,” understated Cox. “I hit 17 greens so I hit the ball well, but I didn’t really hit it close enough to the hole to give me reasonable birdie looks. My putting was just awful. I had 38 putts which was ridiculous.”
“The conditions were tough,” she added. “The course was fine, but it was windy so you really had to think about where you were landing your shots on the greens.”
Cox, who led the Hornets in scoring during the regular-season (70.5), is just a pleasure to watch out on the course according to her coach.
“She a great kid,” said Bryan of Cox. “She’s got the confidence, the focus, the game. She can go as far as she wants.”
Teammate sophomore Aidan LeBlanc and Northampton’s Nate Wheeler finished one shot back of Cox with rounds of 3-over 75, however, Wheeler won the first playoff hole to capture the boys’ championship, while LeBlanc enjoyed an outstanding day with his highest finish in his young career taking second.
“Aidan had a great day,” said Bryan. “It’s so hard when it comes down to a playoff. They played the par-3 ninth hole and they were both right there and had great putts. Nate’s was a little bit closer and he putted it in and Aidan just missed his.”
Freshman John Keba, making his first-ever appearance in the tournament, had a solid round and finished eighth with a 7-over 79, while teammate junior Colin Wong had an 82 and sophomore Matt Zerfass was one shot back with an 83.
Up next for Emmaus will be the District XI qualifier back at Olde Homestead on Monday. Juniors Sean Jaeger and Nate Seidel, along with Zerfass, Wong and Keba will all look to qualify.
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Team scores – EMMAUS 310, Liberty 322, Nazareth 332, Parkland 340, CCHS 341, Northampton 347, Easton 360, Stroudsburg 372, PM East 381
Individual placewinners – Michelle Cox (Em) 74, *Nate Wheeler (No) 75, Aiden LeBlanc (Em) 75, Jimmy Barker (Lib) 76, Charlie Long (CC) 77, Matt Vital (Lib) 78, Ethan Honsel (Naz) 78, Trevor Grimm (Park) 79, John Keba (Em) 79, Jason Koch (Sburg) 80, Nathan Myers (CC) 80, Chase Skrapits (Naz) 82, Joey Altemose (Lib) 82
(*) won tiebreaker