BY RYAN O'CONNOR
Last year, as seventh-graders on the McKelvie Middle School golf team, Joe Angelini and Jake Nutter guaranteed a championship in the 2007 Tri-County championship.
“We’re so sick of getting to the finals and then losing,” said Angelini in June 2006. “Next year, it’s ours. We’ll make sure we win the championship.”
After five years of regular-season championships and second-place Tri-County finishes for McKelvie golfers, Nutter and Angelini delivered on their promise.
Behind strong outings from the two Tri-County vets and championship newcomer Russell Caruana, the Bedford middle school dominated competition on the par-35 front nine at Candia Woods, posting an all-time tournament-best team score of 125.
Nutter, who finished first individually, fell one stroke short of the Tri-County record, penciling a 40. Angelini came in second place with a 42, and Caruana finished fourth with a 43.
“Jake’s probably, at least in my opinion, the best golfer the Tri-County has ever seen. His scores consistently beat pretty much everyone else out there,” said coach Gregg Dorman, who added that Angelini and Caruana are in the upper-echelon of local golfers as well.
Though the top three golfers are chosen from each competing school for the championship tournament, eight out of a 10- to 12-student team play in a regular-season outing; the top five individual scores from each team are compiled for final results.
“In that format we’ve been very successful,” said Dorman. “In my seven years of coaching I think we’ve lost three times (in the regular season).”
But either because of a bad day by his team or an exceptional day from another squad, said Dorman, his team couldn’t get it done when it counted most.
Not this year.
Angelini said he and his teammates hit the links as much as possible last year to hone their skills.
“It was simple. We learned to hit the ball a lot longer and a lot straighter,” he said. “The big thing, for us, was winning it as the last team at McKelvie.”
“My strength is keeping the ball in play and my short game,” said Nutter. “But every kid on our team had a strong point to their golf game, which helped us work well together.”
Next school year, seventh- and eight-graders will attend the nearly completed Lurgio Middle School.
For Caruana, who wasn’t on last year’s team, being a part of finally putting McKelvie over the top was a gratifying accomplishment.
“It was a great experience, for me personally and as a team, against a good level of competition,” said Caruana, who gave credit to the coaching staff for his team’s accomplishment. “Mr. Dorman is a great coach who is really caring and there all the time for you, and all the other coaches were very helpful as well.”
Dorman, on the other hand, said it was his the entire team’s dedication, not his tutelage, that made the difference.
“This was just an extremely special team, and even though the foundation was those three kids, it goes beyond them,” said Dorman. “(All 11 golfers on McKelvie) have been exceptional, so to slight anyone else would be an injustice. All of our kids score in the 40s across the board, while other schools are lucky to have one or two kids who score that well.”
Contributing to this year’s undefeated squad are eighth-graders Danny Connelly, Matt Cote, Neil Patel, Colin Pratt and Alex Vanderminden; seventh-grader A.J. Correa; and sixth-graders Dylan Cowette and A.J. Spagnuolo.