HHS golfers advance to state finals

Cannon leads charge with sparkling 77

By: John Beisser
   
   The 2005 Hillsborough High golf team will not finish the season with the best won-loss record in school history, but that fact will not shake head coach Paul Parker’s belief that he is presiding over the best team in school history.
   Further evidence that this is the Raiders’ best team ever came this past Monday when Hillsborough finished in second place at the NJSIAA Central-South Jersey Group 4 Sectionals at the Buena Vista Country Club in South Jersey.
   In the sectionals, each team fields a contingent of five golfers and the low four scores are tabulated to form a team score. There is also a separate individual component to the sectionals as the top five finishers move on to the Tournament of Champions Individual Tournament on May 23.
   HHS junior Steve Cannon earned a spot in next week’s individual T.O.C. field by firing a scintillating 77, which earned him a fourth-place medal and keyed Hillsborough’s team score of 325.
   Shawnee took first place with a score of 317, while Toms River North and Eastern shot scores of 328 and 330 to finish in third and fourth place, respectively.
   Logan Cecchine fired an 81 to finish in ninth place while Matt Simonik carded an 82 to finish in 10th. Andrew Borsuk rounded out the Raiders’ scoring with an 85.
   "To place three players in the top 10, I’m very proud of our guys," Parker said. "Andrew has been our leader all season and he didn’t shoot his best score but he still played pretty well. This was a tight, wooded course and there were a lot of doglegs that required you to play target golf. I told the kids that I thought 320 could win the thing and we were right there."
   The Raiders’ contingent drove down Buena on Sunday and got in a practice round and then stayed overnight in preparation for Monday morning’s tee time. Cannon said the practice round proved to be invaluable.
   "I didn’t really play well on Sunday and a lot of that was due to the fact that I hit the wrong club a number of times," he explained. "In the tournament, I pulled the right club a lot of the time and played pretty well. I actually felt my score could have been a few strokes better as I had three or four three-putts. I hit almost every green in regulation and when I saw that the winning score was 74, I was kind of frustrated. But at the same time, things could have gone a lot worse so I’m not complaining.
   "Buena is a different golf course than we’re used to playing," Cannon continued. "I usually hit driver on pretty much every par four and par five but in the tournament I only hit maybe four or five drivers.
   "Actually," Cannon quipped, "I played smart for once."
   Hillsborough sports an overall record of 11-5 on the season and was scheduled to complete its regular season with a match vs. Bridgewater-Raritan on Tuesday at the Hillsborough Country Club. A win there would give the Raiders a final season mark of 12-5, not the best in school history, but Parker would not trade this lineup with any other previous Hillsborough team and that includes last season’s club that compiled a 14-4 mark.
   "Golf has gotten so much better in the last 10 years or so," Parker said. "It used to be where 210, 215 would win a lot of matches. Today, you have to be in the 190’s a lot of the time to win."
   Sometimes, even a score in the 190’s is not enough as the Raiders’ recent 191-198 loss to Montgomery at the Cherry Valley Country Club would attest. Conversely, sometimes a score in the 200’s is good enough as Hillsborough also recently posted a 207-215 win over a talented Immaculata squad.
   While the Raiders’ regular season was slated to end on Tuesday, Hillsborough has some important golf remaining in its season. On Thursday, the Raiders will tee it up in the Skyland Conference Tournament at the demanding Fiddler’s Elbow layout in Bedminster. Parker handicaps this tourney as a wide-open affair and named no less than six teams who could potentially pull off the victory, including the Raiders.
   On Monday, May 23, Hillsborough will be one of 32 teams from around the state competing in the Tournament of Champions, which will be contested at the Burlington Country Club.
   "I’m really proud of this team," said Parker, who is in his fifth season at the helm of the Raider program. "I haven’t added up our team average but I’d say there’s a good chance it’s the best we’ve ever had. It’s certainly the best since I’ve been coaching the team."