BY RYAN O'CONNOR

After leading his Pythons boys basketball squad to three consecutive state title games and taking home the 2006 Class I championship, Todd Kress decided he needed to spice things up by adding another personal challenge.

Pelham High School’s golf team presented just such an opportunity.

This year, Kress took over the squad and finished 10-15 on the season, not dissimilar from his first years as the Pythons’ head basketball coach a decade ago when his teams struggled to stay competitive, let alone win games.

“The two sports are different in just the mentality and obviously the different style of play,” Kress said of the dichotomy between the fast pace of basketball and the slow, sometimes grinding nature of golf.

“On the other hand,” added the coach, “I’d say as far as building the program, it’s very similar in that you just can’t have enough depth because when you have one of your key golfers not play well, you need someone to pick him up.”

That’s something Kress said he didn’t have this season but must establish to develop Pelham into a perennial contender on the links.

Jamie Vaiknoras, one of Kress’ varsity hoopsters, led the 2007 golf squad and shot even par twice during the season.

Andy St. Gelais, the team’s No. 2 golfer, averaged 39 throughout the year.

“They gave us some good senior leadership,” said Kress. “But I’m really excited about some of the underclassmen as well.”

Sophomore Cory Coulliard consistently turned in rounds near 40, and freshman Jesse Vaiknoras carded scores at or around 41 all season.

“I’m looking at the two of them next season to be our leaders,” said Kress. “Now the biggest things we need to look at to build a program is depth and establishing a winning attitude. With a little stability (at the coaching position), hopefully we can accomplish that.”

Rounding out the Pythons’ top eight golfers are Greg Frechette, Nate Paitchel, Russell Boland and Jon Wallace.