When ordering his team’s jerseys prior to golf tryouts, Bruce Perreault had a hunch he’d have to order those collared shirts smaller than usual. As it turned out, that hunch paid off.

Of the 11 players who made the Manchester Memorial team, four are freshmen and three are sophomores.

Only three golfers – all juniors – returned from the 2007 team.

“It’s funny. I ended up having the best scores I’ve ever had at tryouts, even though they were just young kids,” said Perreault, who noted those performances did nothing to change his expectations.

“I knew they wouldn’t perform that well during the season. I mean, playing with friends and playing in an actual match are two very different things.”

Sure enough, the team sputtered through most of the season, finishing with a 5-22 record, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t several glimmers of hope.

On Sept. 17, MHS tallied a season-best 198 and swept its home match against Concord, Alvirne and Nashua North, which carded scores of 203, 208 and 227, respectively.

And in their last match, on Sept. 24 the Crusaders trumped Goffstown, 208-218, and came within three strokes of defeating two of Class L’s top teams, Salem and Winnacunnet; each finished at 206.

“The key thing I take away from this season is I knew we were going to be a good team in the long run, but we needed to get used to the distraction of formal match play,” said Perreault. “As far as I’m concerned, we’ve already graduated to the next level. We had the talent. Now we have the experience to go with it.”

Though becoming match-tested was the goal this season, the coach added next year anything less than a top-10 finish and state tournament appearance would be a disappointment.

Two names guaranteed to be at or near the top of the Memorial lineup next season will be current juniors Brian Sullivan and Pat Dodd.

Freshman Makenzie Denver is within a half stroke of Sullivan and Dodd.

Perreault is so impressed with the first-year standout that he compared Denver to Pat Gocklin, who graduated in 2007 after winning a state championship his junior year. And while Sullivan, Dodd and Denver were his clear top three this season, Perreault said it’s the consistency throughout the lineup that has him so excited about the next couple of seasons.

“Normally, we have a couple good golfers at the top and don’t really have much of a supporting cast,” he said. “This team will be solid from top to bottom in the years to come. I have to admit my expectations are high.”

Junior Brandon Boisvert and freshman Tyler Karanasios generally filled out the top five, while sophomore James Hickey was usually within a stroke of his counterparts.

Senior Patrick Murphy, playing his first high school golf, also contributed, as did sophomores Brandon Stevens and Brady Hobbs and freshmen Chaz Newton and Vinny Langella.

“This is the most enjoyable group I’ve ever had,” said Perreault. “They’re real gentleman. They’re nice kids and like to have fun.”