FARRAH MAFFAI Brookdale’s Kyle Boturla fires a pitch during the Jersey Blues’ win over Sussex last Thursday in Middletown. Brookdale rode the momentum of that win to a Region XIX championship, topping Mercer 12-5 on Sunday to clinch the win.
This was the year the Allentown High School golf team had been pointing to. After going 11-8 a year ago with no seniors on the roster, the Redbirds couldn’t wait for this spring to come around.
But so far things haven’t gone quite the way veteran coach Doug Hunt and his top seven players, all of them seniors, thought they would. At the midway point of the 2002 season, Allentown was only 4-5 heading into Tuesday’s Mercer County Championships at the Mountain View Golf Course, Bear Tavern Road, Trenton.
"We’re struggling a little bit right now," said Hunt, who’s now in his 19th season. "We’re down a little. We have a good group of kids, all seniors, who did pretty good the last few years and expected to do well this season, but we’re just not putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
"Almost every match some kids will play well, but some don’t. We just can’t get it altogether. It’s a great group of kids who work very hard, so it’s been frustrating for them, and for me."
And the most frustrating part of it all is Hunt can’t put his finger on the problem.
"I really can’t. I don’t know why," he said. "It’s no excuse, but the hard part of our schedule has been early. It should get easier as we go, but you still have to get the job done."
With expectations riding high coming into the 2002 season, the Redbirds did get off to a 3-1 start in the Colonial Valley Conference, but have been stumbling ever since, losing four of their last five matches.
"Lately we have not been playing well," Hunt said.
Even when they have played well, victories have been hard to come by.
"We almost broke the school record against Notre Dame, Lawrence, and still got beat," the AHS coach said. "We shot a 204 and missed the school record by just a couple of strokes, but they shot a 195 and beat us.
"Again, it’s no excuse, but in golf you look at numbers, and our conference has been unconscious so far this season. A number of teams have been playing very well. We’ve had some teams put up some great numbers."
Speaking of great numbers, the Redbirds’ No. 1 player, Brad Horton, has been having a stellar season so far, despite the team’s struggle. Hunt even felt he was one of the favorites going into Tuesday’s Mercer County Championships.
"His stroke average is under 40 so far," Hunt said. "He’s been playing really well."
Meanwhile, fellow seniors Matt Messinger and Ron Gesualdo have been the Redbirds’ second and third players, respectively.
"Matt has been playing pretty well at No. 2," Hunt said, "and Ron has been a little up and down at No. 3, but he’s coming along."
Rounding out the top five are two more seniors, Eric Coccia at No. 4 and Lee Christoff at No. 5.
Teams are allowed to send six golfers out with the top five scores counting toward the team score. Craig Wharton and Mark Batzel, yet two more seniors, have been sharing the sixth position, although Wharton has been in the lineup most of the time.
"He’s there every day and works hard," Hunt said.
Hunt has had his share of talented teams in his nearly two decades of coaching golf at Allentown. In fact, he’s had three teams go undefeated while several have captured division championships.
"And these kids are pretty comparable to those teams," he said. "With no seniors last year, we were looking for big things this season, but we just can’t seem to get rolling. They’re a little flustered, but they just have to hang in there.
"I tell them to just relax and get a little confidence. The big thing in golf has got to be confidence," he added.
The good news, of course, is there’s still half a season to go, although winning the CVC, which is determined by regular-season records, remains a long shot at best.
"We’re not mathematically out of it yet," Hunt said, "but it would be very tough for us to win it."
There is still plenty of time for the Redbirds to salvage a successful season. As Hunt noted, the schedule should start to get a little easier, and hopefully the team will start playing up to its capabilities.
"We still have eight or nine matches left, and we have to see if we can start playing a little better and a little smoother," Hunt said. "We just have to get more confidence and get ready for a good finish."
Just as everyone expected.