BY RYAN O’CONNOR
Joel St. Laurent expected his players to be competitive, perhaps even finish in the top five collectively among Class I teams for the second consecutive year. But he had to admit, he didn’t anticipate his second-year Bedford golf squad – a unit with no seniors – finishing eight strokes off a championship.
Yet that’s exactly what the young Bulldogs did on Thursday, Oct. 2, at White Mountains Country Club, giving seniorladen Lebanon all it could handle before finishing with a second-best 384.
“I thought at the beginning of the year we were a year away,” said St. Laurent. “I guess we were closer than I thought.”
While Bedford, as a team, may still be a year away from holding the title, sophomore Jake Nutter wore the individual crown with a 36-hole total of 146. His day one score of 72 in team competition and day-two tally of 74 were both Class I bests this year.
His teammate Andrew Weeks tied for 12th overall with a 157, while Nathan Larrivee and Max Lawless also made the cut and carded two-day scores of 158 and 160, respectively.
Others competing for Bedford at the Class I championship include sophomores Zach Husband and Joe Angelini and juniors Kevin White and Travis Martin. They carded scores of 80, 81, 84 and 89, respectively.
“We were peaking at the right time of the season after getting off to a little bit of a slow start,” said St. Laurent. “It’s hard to say we’re disappointed with second, because we’re not, but I thought we could sneak up and catch first. And we almost did.”
The coach admitted his squad is likely to be the favorite among Class I competitors next season, but that doesn’t mean his players can sit on this year’s success if they hope to reach the pinnacle in 2009.
“I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” said St. Laurent. “We’ve had nothing but success the first two years, and it’s based on the hard work at practice that the kids do. We’re making progress, and we’re improving all the time.”
He added the Bulldogs’ depth – their ability to send eight golfers to the course and expect any one of them to contribute to the team’s top-five scores – gives them a big edge over other teams that have precious few standout players.
Win or not in 2009, Bedford is likely to face a new challenge after next season – a move up
to Class L.
“I guess we better get it done next year,” said St. Laurent with a laugh. “But I do think we’ll make an impact right away when we do get to Class L, just as long as we keep improving and getting these good quality kids coming into the program.”