Golf
By: John E. Powers
The Hopewell Valley Central High School golf team went into Wednesday’s season-ending match with West Windsor-Plainsboro South knowing it had a share of the Colonial Valley Conference Patriot Division title no matter what it did.
South knocked off West Windsor-Plainsboro North 202-205 Tuesday afternoon, opening the door for the Bulldogs to win the division outright by beating South at Hopewell Valley Golf Club.
Hopewell entered the match with a 12-2 Colonial Valley Conference record, while North was 12-3 after Tuesday’s loss. The two teams split their two matches, with each winning on the other’s home course. North and Hopewell also both lost to Princeton.
"South is tough, and we’re going to have to play well, but we have an advantage because we’re playing at home," said longtime Hopewell Valley coach Skip Johnson. "But it’s a lot less pressure now. If we play the way we’re capable of, we should be able to beat them."
Hopewell was supposed to play South during spring break, but the match was rescheduled. At the time, Johnson said he didn’t mind the match being rescheduled, since the Bulldogs had such a young team and needed more matches to develop.
"At the beginning of the year, I never thought we’d be in a position to win this thing," Johnson said. "I figured North would win the division outright."
The Bulldogs have been led all year by senior Greg Carver, the Mercer County Tournament champion, and sophomore Ben Bershad, who consistently has been the team’s No. 1 player in dual meets. Johnson was planning on starting Carver, Bershad, senior Greg Morten, junior David Coville, sophomore Alex Laughlin and sophomore Areeb Zamir against South.
"We’re going to have to get good scoring from our four and five guys to beat South," Johnson said. "We’re going to have to step it up to beat a solid team like South. The kids know what the stakes are, but that won’t affect them one way or the other."