Solid effort from best team in school history
By: John Beisser
The 14-2 Hillsborough High golf team, unquestionably the best in school history, took its collective talent down the shore to the Rumson Country Club on Monday to test its mettle vs. the best competition the state of New Jersey had to offer.
When the dust settled, the four-man Raider had itself a solid third-place showing among Group 4 schools and a an eighth-place finish overall in the 20-team tournament. It was not an outing quite befitting of a team that had an NJSIAA state sectional title, a Skyland Conference regular season crown and a Somerset County championship to its credit.
Junior Craig Durrant was Hillsborough’s low man with an 80, senior Steve Cannon and junior Andrew Borsuk carded 81’s, while junior Logan Cecchine shot 86. The four-man aggregate score was 328, which trailed Ridgewood (308) and Shawnee (315) in the Group 4 competition. The overall Tournament of Champions winner was Christian Brothers Academy, which shot a blistering 305.
"I though 315 heading into the match would be a good score," said Raider head coach Paul Parker. "CBA’s 305 was fantastic but our guys felt they could have shot better. Each of our guys was capable of shooting five or six over par on that course. It wasn’t an overly difficult course. I just thought we were lacking a bit in course management.
"I’ve been preaching all year to be smart in our decision-making, particularly off the tee," Parker continued. "But this was a tempting course. On the tee, it was very inviting to hit driver but the holes got more difficult as you got closer to the greens, which were heavily bunkered. It was very forgiving overall, not as tough as Alpine last week but, at the same time, it required some good decision-making. Our guys were down but they have had great season."
The tournament marked the end of the line for Cannon, the lone senior in Monday’s starting lineup and one of two seniors, along with Aaron Schiffman, who will be lost to graduation. Cannon and Schiffman’s high school golf careers will come to an official close on Thursday in the season finale vs. Immaculata at Royce Brook Country Club. The Spartans are paced by the ultra-talented Kevin Foley, a Penn State-bound dynamo of a talent who has been the county’s best player for several years.
"Steve was disappointed, he told me he wished he could have played better but I reminded him what a great career he has had," Parker said. "He made the Tournament of Champions two out of the last three years, was a medalist in several tournaments and really accomplished a lot in his career. Not many high school golfers have had the type of individual and team success that Steve has had."
Last Thursday, Hillsborough earned a third place finish in the Skyland Conference Championships at Fiddler’s Elbow in Bedminster. Bridgewater, a team Hillsborough had defeated in dual match action just two days earlier, copped the conference title while Warren Hills came in second.
While most teams would be ecstatic with a third-place finish in a conference championship match, the Raiders came away with a somewhat hollow feeling afterward. And that’s a testament to just how special a season they have crafted. Their skill and precision, which have carried them to a No. 2 ranking in the state top 20 poll, has raised the bar to a level where third place feels ordinary.
"I think we were just fatigued that day," Parker said. "I don’t mean physically tired. The guys all said they weren’t tired but what I’m talking about is mental fatigue. We played a tough Alpine Course on Monday in the sectionals, beat Bridgewater on Tuesday and beat Ridge on Wednesday, which paid them back for our tri-meet loss the previous week. We left at 6:15 a.m. for the conference match Thursday morning and I just think that’s a mentally draining week."
On Wednesday, Parker will journey all the way down to Atlantic City, along with freshman Kristina Wagner and her mother. Wagner qualified for the NJSIAA Girls State Tournament at the Seaview Marriott Course. To qualify, a female player must shoot five scores at 10-over par or better. Wagner easily hit that mark and boasted a fine 44.4 average for the season.
Wagner is one of two girls on the Raider golf team, along with classmate Tiffany Pierce. Parker is hopeful that more girls will come out for the golf team in the coming years. While it’s probably not realistic for 2007, Parker is hoping that in the coming years there will be five or six girls with the talent and desire to pursue high school golf.
"It would be great if we could have a few more girls come out for golf and we could field a girls’ golf program," he said. "I don’t see that happening for next year but it would be a great thing if it could one day happen."
Who knows, maybe in five or six years, the Raiders could field two teams that are among the state’s best.

