BY SAPNA PATHAK
On the practice green at Canterbury Woods prior to this year’s NHIAA Class L golf tournament, the boys of Concord golf saw eye to eye with their coach. Following the match, the Crimson Tide head coach and his golfers disagreed.
After taking Class L titles in 2005 and 2006, Concord fell short of making it three straight, placing second in this year’s tournament. While head coach Chick Smith and his coaching staff were upbeat, Smith’s starting eight felt differently.
“The kids were very disappointed. They really wanted three in a row,” said Smith. “We knew the competition was much better this year, and realistically, we thought it would be very difficult to win three years straight.
We (the coaches) were happy with second place. They actually had a better score than last season. The kids, though, they weren’t as pleased with second. Winning was very important to them.”
Concord fell five strokes shy of a trifecta, firing a 393 and losing to Bishop Guertin of Nashua. The Crimson Tide edged out third-place finisher Pinkerton Academy by one stroke and placed two shots in front of Manchester West.
The Crimson Tide entered the match on Thursday, Oct. 4, seeded fifth in the Class L standings with a record of 24-8.
The match included the top 20 teams in Class L, with the top-10 teams allowed eight golfers and the top five scores accounting for the final team score. Teams 11 through 20 brought two golfers to compete for the chance to advance to the individual tournament. The top 24 golfers, including ties, moved on to the individual championship on Saturday, Oct. 6.
Senior Matt Levins led Concord with a 73, followed by seniors Kurt Eddins, who shot a 74; Robbie Labrie, who shot an 80; and Brock Harrison, who finished with an 81. Junior Hyun Soo Lim shot an 85; Kyle Tillotson and Matt Mosca each shot an 86; and Jason Varnell carded an 88.
“I was seriously expecting to win. We went out there hoping nothing less than we’d win again,” said senior co-captain Eddins. “It kind of hurts because we just really wanted it. We just lacked that fifth score. It’s just the way golf is. If you have a bad day, that’s it. It just stinks because we really wanted to make it three.”