Sewickley Herald roundup: SA boys capture 5th straight WPIAL golf title

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, October 16, 2017 | 11:00 PM

Dynasties have happened in WPIAL golf before.

There's the Upper St. Clair girls, the standard-bearers, who won 12 consecutive titles from 1994-2005. The Panthers have 16 titles overall.

The Penn Township boys team won 12 titles in 18 years, from 1939-57.

And the Turtle Creek boys won five consecutive district championships in the 1930s.

It might be time to make room for a few more.

Three teams joined the conversation last Thursday during the WPIAL team championships.

It was a day of repeat champions as the boys played the Gold Course and the girls the Red Course at Cedarbrook in Rostraver.

The Sewickley Academy boys tied Turtle Creek's record with a fifth straight Class AA title, while the North Allegheny girls (Class AAA) and Greensburg Central Catholic girls (AA) made it a WPIAL three-peat, and the Central Catholic boys won back-to-back titles in Class AAA.

Sewickley Academy posted five scores in the 80s, including an 80 by WPIAL individual runner-up Cole Luther, and 81s by Will Nocito, Peter Curran and J.F. Aber. Landen Shirley (83) and Matt Clemash (89) also competed. The team's 406 score was seven better than Quaker Valley and 11 ahead of McGuffey, and clinched its eighth overall title.

“Balance is what it's all about,” Panthers coach Win Palmer said. “It's not about the birdies, it's about making that bogey instead of a double bogey or worse. It's like basketball with us being a second-half team. We're better on the second nine.”

Quaker Valley was led by Charlie Henry (77), Michael Tanabe (79), Rico Fernandez (83), Ryan Jones (87) and Evan Frund (87).

The four team champs move on to the PIAA championships Wednesday at Heritage Hills Resort in York.

Girls golf

The Sewickley Academy girls golf team finished in second place at the WPIAL Class AA championship last week at Cedarbrook Golf Course.

Greensburg Central Catholic had 357 strokes, to Sewickley Academy's 365.

Girls tennis

Sewickley Academy's Christina Walton defeated teammate Simran Bedi, 5-3, injury default, last week to claim the Section 4-AA title.

Both players advanced to the WPIAL tournament, where they won first-round matches.

Walton lost to Indiana's Kelsey Heckert, 10-4, and Bedi fell to Knoch's Brooke Bauer, 10-5, in the quarterfinals.

Boys soccer

The Quaker Valley boys soccer team moved into the No. 1 ranking by the Tribune-Review this week after finishing 10-0 in Section 4-AA. The Quakers entered the week 15-1 after three wins last week — 11-2 over South Side, 3-0 over Sewickley Academy and 7-2 over Canon-McMillan.

• Sewickley Academy (8-8-1, 8-2-1) also is playoff bound after finishing no worse than third in Section 1-A. The Panthers were scheduled to play third-place OLSH earlier this week.

The playoff pairings were to be announced Wednesday, and the tournament starts this weekend.

Girls soccer

The Quaker Valley girls soccer team clinched a berth in the WPIAL playoffs after finishing no worse than third in Section 1-AA.

The Quakers (9-6-1, 8-3) were scheduled to play Avonworth (10-5, 8-3) for second place earlier this week. The playoff pairings were to be announced Wednesday, and the tournament starts this weekend.

• Sewickley Academy's girls team entered the week in first place in Section 4-A with one section game left. The Panthers are 10-4-2 overall and 8-2-1 in Section 4.