Raider golfers remain undefeated

Team takes fifth at Cherry Valley

By: John Beisser
   
   After nine matches and two tournaments, one thing about the 2006 Hillsborough High golf team is becoming crystal clear. This is likely the greatest golf team in school history.
   There are a plethora of dual matches remaining, with the NJSIAA Playoffs and the Skyland Conference Championships are to follow. But what the Raiders have accomplished thus far is truly special.
   Hillsborough is 9-0, with most of the matches being of the one-sided variety, has won the Somerset County Championship and is coming off a fifth- place finish in the Cherry Valley Invitational Tournament, which was played at the Cherry Valley Country Club in Skillman.
   The format for the Cherry Valley Invitational had each of the 20 teams bring four players, with the low three rounds added together to form the team score. West Windsor-Plainsboro South won the Cherry Valley Invitational with an impressive score of 224, with their low three scores being a 70 and a pair of 77s.
   Immaculata, behind medalist Kevin Foley’s four-under par 68, came in second place with a 227. Princeton and East Brunswick tied for third place with a 228, while Hillsborough checked in at fifth place with a team score of 233. In the individual competition, Andrew Borsuk carded a 75 to place seventh, while Steve Cannon and Nick Grappone each shot 79.
   In dual meet competition, teams in the Skyland Conference start six players, with the low five scores counting toward the nine-hole team total. In the five out of six format, there is a greater premium on overall team depth. Ranked No. 5 in the state’s top 20 poll, the Raiders have been showing off that depth of late.
   Hillsborough recently recorded a school-record 184 vs. Watching Hills, in addition to a pair of 186s and two 189s in its last five matches. The beauty of the Raider lineup is that it runs seven deep and the "Super Seven" are separated by just three shots.
   The top of the Raider lineup has been led by a trio of juniors in Borsuk, who is averaging a team-best 37, Logan Cecchine, who checks in at 37.5 and Grappone, who averages 39 for nine holes. Seniors Steve Cannon and Aaron Schiffman, junior Craig Durrant and freshman Zach Schiffman comprise the balance of the Raiders’ seven-man lineup. Durrant, recently called up from the jayvee team, has been a sparkplug of late with his fine, steady play.
   "At 9-0, I am very pleased with the team," HHS head coach Paul Parker said. "There are so many positives with this group. I mean, we won the counties, we’re undefeated."
   Parker had mixed feelings about his team’s fifth-place finish Monday.
   "I’m somewhere in the middle," he said. "We finished nine strokes out of first place, which is three strokes per man. But even if our guys had all shot in the mid-70s, it would have been tough to catch West Windsor. That’s just a phenomenal score."
   In fact, scoring has improved in leaps and bounds in high school golf in recent years. The quality and depth of the lineups are much stronger than 10, 20 years ago, Parker said.
   "Recently I was thumbing through some old yearbooks from 10 or more years ago and there were Hillsborough teams that would go like 17-3 on the season, and their scores were in the 230s, 240s," Parker said. "Today, that wouldn’t get you anywhere. Junior programs are so strong, the kids are just so much bigger and more talented."
   Parker is conscious of keeping his players grounded, making sure they stay hungry and humble. But at the same time, he does take a few moments each here and there to marvel at the team’s dominance.
   "The last five rounds, to shoot 189 or better, that’s excellent," he said. "Par is 180, which is 36 times five, so we’re shooting four-over par, six-over par, nine-over par, as a team! Nobody’s going to beat you if you’re shooting in the 180s."
   So far, nobody has been able to beat the Raiders. Two teams this week that were slated to take their crack at Hillsborough were Watchung Hills on Tuesday at Warrenbrook and Franklin on Thursday at Quail Brook.