Solid two weeks lands junior in state tournament
By: Sean Moylan
Chris Mallett went on a tear the last two weeks just to qualify for this past Tuesday’s NJSIAA State Individual Golf Tournament at Quail Brook Golf Course. And the Bordentown Regional High School’s junior star stayed hot by shooting a score of 83 in 18 holes on Tuesday.
"He had a couple of birdie opportunities that just lipped out," said Bordentown head golf coach Rob Shappell of Mallett, who did post a couple of birdies along the way.
Mallett has been the Scotties’ most consistent golfer all season. But in many ways, it has been a strange season for the 9-7 Scotties, who just missed qualifying for the states as a team. Bordentown thought it had been eliminated from playoff contention weeks ago. But on May 4, instead of taking on just Delran at Hanover, Bordentown also competed against New Egypt and Point Pleasant that afternoon. If it had won all three, it would have still been in the playoff hunt. Unfortunately, Delran’s 160 score topped Bordentown’s 163. The Scotties did beat New Egypt (172) and Point Pleasant (180). The following day Bordentown scratched out a 158-159 win over Northern Burlington at Hanover.
"It was unbelievable. With that win I think we knocked them (NBC) out of the playoffs," noted Shappell, who got a 1-over par score out of Geoff Allen. "He (Allen) was joking on the bus and said he would shoot a 37 that day." Meanwhile, Mallett shot a round of 38 to get himself into the state tournament.
NBC
NBC found itself in virtually the same boat as Bordentown the past few weeks. In fact, it would have qualified for the state tournament as a team with any luck at all.
"Both Willingboro forfeit matches came after the state cutoff," noted NBC Coach Steve Malcolm. "So we didn’t have a chance to count them toward our record."
With yesterday’s (Wednesday) forfeit win over the Chimeras, NBC’s record climbed to 11-9. NBC lost a 166 -191 decision at Lenape last Thursday.
NBC’s Chris Barbera and Matt Doan each shot a team-best score of 45 versus Lenape.
Back at Falcon Creek on Friday, NBC shot a fine score of 167 versus Cinnaminson. Unfortunately, the Pirates countered with a score of 159 to win it. Barbera (38), Colin Miller (41), Doan (43) and Angelo Belardo (45) were the Greyhounds’ top scores in the match.
Bordentown is scheduled at Cinnaminson today (Thursday), Rancocas Valley on Monday and at Holy Cross on Tuesday. Both Bordentown and NBC are set to play in the Divisional Tournament, which should be re-scheduled for sometime this week.

