HS Golf, Cross Country: Frontier golf wins tiebreaker over Pioneer (PHOTOS)

Frontier’s Ryan Cetto takes his approach shot into the ninth green at Northfield Golf Course during the Redhawks’ win over Pioneer on Tuesday afternoon in Northfield.

Frontier’s Ryan Cetto takes his approach shot into the ninth green at Northfield Golf Course during the Redhawks’ win over Pioneer on Tuesday afternoon in Northfield. STAFF PHOTO/GARRETT COTE

Pioneer’s Brayden Thayer chips onto the ninth green at Northfield Golf Course during the Panthers’ loss to Frontier on Tuesday afternoon in Northfield.

Pioneer’s Brayden Thayer chips onto the ninth green at Northfield Golf Course during the Panthers’ loss to Frontier on Tuesday afternoon in Northfield. STAFF PHOTO/GARRETT COTE

Frontier’s Cam Skiffington sinks a par putt from off the ninth green at Northfield Golf Course during the Redhawks’ win over Pioneer on Tuesday afternoon in Northfield.

Frontier’s Cam Skiffington sinks a par putt from off the ninth green at Northfield Golf Course during the Redhawks’ win over Pioneer on Tuesday afternoon in Northfield. STAFF PHOTO/GARRETT COTE

Pioneer’s Ben Werner chips onto the ninth green at Northfield Golf Course during the Panthers’ win loss to Frontier on Tuesday afternoon in Northfield.

Pioneer’s Ben Werner chips onto the ninth green at Northfield Golf Course during the Panthers’ win loss to Frontier on Tuesday afternoon in Northfield. STAFF PHOTO/GARRETT COTE

Staff Reports

Published: 10-08-2024 8:50 PM

It was as close as it could get between the Pioneer and Frontier golf teams at Northfield Golf Course Tuesday.

Tallying the top four scores, the Panthers and the Redhawks both finished with 171 points. Frontier’s Brady Wood broke the tiebreaker with a 46, allowing the Redhawks to earn the victory and not only spoil Pioneer’s senior night – but its 14-match win streak at home.

Frontier head coach Dave Blanchette urged his players all season — whether they play in the No. 1 spot or No. 8 spot — to be engaged in the match no matter what, because their scores could possibly be used in a tiebreak situation.

Well, that situation presented itself on Tuesday, and Wood, a seventh grader, came through for the Redhawks in a big way.

“The difference today was a seventh grader, who started double bogey, triple bogey,” Blanchette said. “He was 5-over through two holes, and then played 5-over the last seven. It came down to his score, and he turned his round around and really helped us out in a big way. I knew it was going to be close, and [Pioneer] hasn’t lost at home in two years.”

Cam Skiffington (40), Porter Hall (41), Jacob Cornelison (45) and Ryan Cetto (45) scored for Frontier in the win. Pioneer’s Brayden Thayer was the match medalist with a 37 while Ethan Mauthe (42), Ben Werner (45) and Cam Curtis (47) also scored for the Panthers.

Each golfer who scored for Pioneer on Tuesday is a senior, and the four of them — the only four seniors on the team — were celebrated following the match.

Panthers head coach River Kuhn took over when this senior class were all freshmen. It’s a special group to him, and they’ve all meant a lot to the growth of Pioneer’s program.

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“I knew this was a special group the moment I got here, and I wanted to do everything I could for them,” Kuhn said. “This senior group is always gonna be the most special group to me. They’ve helped me a lot and they’ve made me a better coach. Seeing their growth has been amazing, and every one of them is on a completely higher level — in every facet — than they were when I first got here.”

Coming in to Tuesday, Frontier had lost three of its last four matches. The Redhawks were dealing with illnesses so their lineup had been inconsistent over the past couple of weeks.

So to get back in the win column and do it in dramatic fashion is a big momentum booster moving forward, especially with the Western Mass. tournament looming large.

“This is good for us, because we had a tough week last week and had some close losses,” Blanchette said. “Today we had pretty much our whole team back after some illnesses hurt us last week, and the good thing is the kids know if one guy has a bad day, everybody else can play better and you can still pull it out. That’s what happened today.”

Frontier wraps up its regular season at 12-6 and will turn its attention to the Division 2 Western Mass. tournament at Taconic Golf Club slated for next Tuesday.

Pioneer (9-3) has one more regular season match, and that’s Wednesday against Franklin Tech at Thomas Memorial Golf Club.

Franklin Tech 166, Ware 197 — Gabe Mota was the match medalist with a 39 while Jack Day shot a 40 in the Eagles’ victory at Cold Spring Country Club Tuesday. 

Will Belval shot a 42 while Grady Deery and Braeden Talbot each carded a 45 for Tech. 

Ware 197, Turners 203 — Darian Burnett (46), Cam Cogswell (51), Austin Smarr (56) and Will Tyler (57) scored for the Thunder in a loss at Cold Spring Country Club on Tuesday. 

Hampshire 162, Mohawk Trail 188 — Phineas Tuttman and Conner Bergeron each carded a 44 in the Warriors’ loss to the Raiders at Country Club of Greenfield Tuesday. 

Logan Moore and Douglas Wilcox each shot a 50 for Mohawk Trail. 

Boys cross country

Frontier 19, Gateway 39 — Evan Hedlund was the winner with a time of 15:41 while Oliver Brown placed third (17:16), Charlie Dennis took fourth (17:16) and Adam Paul earned fifth (17:32) in the Redhawks’ win on Tuesday in South Deerfield. 

Hengxi Yue (sixth, 17:32) and Caleb Libbey (ninth,  18:58) also placed in the top 10 for Frontier. 

Greenfield 20, Hopkins 41 — Dylan Breiwick was the first runner to cross the finish line at Highland Park Tuesday, coming across at the 19:04 mark to help the Green Wave earn a win over the Golden Hawks. 

Alex Scotera (third, 19:48), Mason Youmell (fourth, 20:05), Javion Williams (fifth, 20:28), Derek Scotera (seventh, 22:03), John Caron (eighth, 23:37) and Nate Woodard (ninth, 23:43) also finished in the top 10 for Greenfield . 

Turners did not have enough runners to score as a team, though  Thunder Elliot Thibodeau took 15th (29:58). 

PVCICS 15, Mahar 50 — Michael LaPlante (22nd, 23:23) and Solomon Burke (23rd, 23:26) were the Senators’ top finishers in a loss to the Dragons in Orange Tuesday. 

Running for Franklin Tech, William Thomas placed ninth (21:10). 

Mohawk Trail 19, Smith Vocational 42 — Warriors Peter Healy (14:30) and Rex Kuoppala (14:40) were the first two runners across in Mohawk Trail’s triumph over the Vikings in Northampton Tuesday. 

Carson Richardson took fourth (14:42), Aymeric Loucka earned fifth (15:22), Leo Boltz placed seventh (16:27), Aidan Gauthier came in eighth (17:01) and Gunnar Triggs took ninth (18:02) for the Warriors. 

Girls cross country

Frontier 20, Gateway 41 — Redhawk Sylvie DiBartolomeo took first (18:09) while Liv Chrisensen placed second (18:44) and Phoebe Radner took fourth (19:09) in Frontier’s win in South Deerfield Tuesday. 

Maia Chrisensen (sixth, 19:29), Maddie Antes (seventh, 19:41), Sasha Malo (eighth, 19:50), Kali Beam (ninth, 19:58) and Perla Ordaz (10th, 20:34) rounded out the top 10 finishers for the Redhawks. 

Mohawk Trail 15, Smith Vocational 50 — Anya Read was the overall winner (16:32) in the Warriors’ win in Northampton Tuesday. 

Virginia Krezmien (second, 17:09), Natalie Lanoue (third, 17:18), Ella Thompson (fifth, 20:26), Georgia Gauthier (sixth, 21:16) and Etta Thompson (seventh, 25:06) also placed in the top 10 for Mohawk Trail. 

■ Greenfield hosted Hopkins and Turners at Highland Park on Tuesday, though neither the Golden Hawks or the Thunder had enough runners to score. 

Alice Fortin (second, 26:05), Rose Fortin (third, 27:27), Levi Badillo (fourth, 28:57), Wednesday Passiglia (sixth, 30:02) and Adele Bross (ninth, 35:53) scored in the top 10 for Greenfield while Thunder Charolette Canterlary placed fifth (29:19).