North Allegheny sets sights on defending WPIAL boys golf title

By: John Grupp
Saturday, August 30, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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North Allegheny is learning that playing golf is trickier when you have a target on your back.

The Tigers, coming off the program’s first WPIAL title since 1971 and its first state championship, have embraced the challenge of being the hunted.

“Everyone is trying to beat us and playing their best against us,” said senior Ravi Desai, the Tigers’ No. 1 golfer and one of the best in the WPIAL Class 3A. “We definitely have what it takes to repeat. I think we are stronger than last year. As long as we play our game, we’ve got it.”

The opening month included some hurdles for North Allegheny, which returned four of its top six boys from last year’s historic team.

The Tigers (4-1, 7-2 as of Aug. 25) lost at Section 3-3A rival Butler, 178-182, on Aug. 15 at Slippery Rock Golf Club, in their fifth match in five days. They also suffered a nail-biting 188-189 loss to South Fayette, last year’s WPIAL and state runner-up, on Aug. 25 at North Park in a nonsection showdown.

The Butler loss stung. The Tigers fell at Butler in a playoff last year and got swept two years ago.

“They were not happy with themselves,” said NA coach Pat Niven, whose team gets a rematch Sept. 4 at North Park.

Even in victory, NA has been pushed by upset-minded opponents. Three of the Tigers’ seven wins have been by three strokes or fewer, including narrow victories over Mars (182-184) and Mt. Lebanon (178-180) in the opening week.

But North Allegheny still has a lot to feel good about. The Tigers took first place in the five-team season-opening Fox Chapel Invitational. The following week, they shot a five-score, nine-hole 169 in back-to-back victories over Knoch and Shady Side Academy — two strokes shy of the school-record 167 set last season.

“We are playing really well,” Desai said. “We have room for improvement, but I think we are playing pretty solid.”

Joining Desai as returning top-six players are seniors Preston Troiano, Liam Cooper and Colin Ward.

Junior Kyle Seidl, who shot a team-best 5-under 67 at Cedarbrook in the Fox Chapel Invitational, and senior Mike Huet, who fired a 33 in the 169-177 victory over Shady Side Academy, are first-year starters.

While Desai is the team’s clear No. 1, the Tigers have shown remarkable balance. Each of the top six golfers has led or tied for the lead in team scoring at least once this season.

Cooper shot a team-best 35 in a 188-194 win over Pine-Richland, Troiano’s 33 led the way in a 178-201 rout of Ambridge, and Ward tied for team-low with a 35 at Butler.

“It’s really nice to have guys who can support each other,” Desai said. “When somebody has a bad round, you know somebody else is going to come and help you out.”

Desai, who tied for fifth at the PIAA Class 3A individual championships last year, kept busy this offseason. He tied for 18th among 84 golfers at the U.S. Open local qualifier in May at Quicksilver, missing the cut by two strokes. He also placed seventh at the AJGA Memorial in June in Grove City, Ohio, facing some of the nation’s top junior golfers.

Desai has numerous Division I offers and said he will decide in early September between Penn State, George Mason and Ohio University.

The four returning seniors bonded this summer when they represented Pennsylvania at the 2025 High School Golf National Invitational on July 20-22 at the famed Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort. Competing against other state champions from across the nation, the Tigers’ quartet, along with graduated Chris Hoffman, finished 16th out of 55 teams.

Back home, the Tigers have their sights on the WPIAL individual sectionals Sept. 15 at Saxon G.C. and the WPIAL team championships Oct. 9 at Cedarbrook.

“They are a big, talented team,” Niven said. “We’re not afraid of anybody out there, and we know we can hang with or beat the teams we go up against.”

The NA coaches ensured the players knew what challenges awaited them on the first day of August tryouts. Niven was addressing 50-plus kids when he felt an assistant coach stick something to his shirt. It was a bull’s-eye.

“They are literally pasting targets on my back, on my chest, on my thigh,” Niven said. “I’m not acknowledging that they are doing this. Every minute or so, they come up and slap one on. The kids were laughing. After seven or eight targets, the kids are looking at it, and I said, ‘OK, let’s talk about these.’ ”

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