Glander and Marsh lead as Hopewell Valley warms up with two consecutive victories
By: Tim Falls
Being a little rusty hasn’t hurt the Hopewell Valley Central High School varsity golf team yet.
The Bulldogs are 2-0 as they continue to refine their game early in the Colonial Valley Conference season.
Hopewell Valley head coach Bill Russell would like to add a third win with a victory over West Windsor-Plainsboro North today (Thursday) before facing Princeton on Tuesday.
The Little Tigers have already proven themselves as one of the top high school golf teams in the state with impressive outings early in the season. Princeton won the Cherry Valley/Montgomery Invitational at Cherry Valley Golf Club on Monday with a score of 227.
Princeton’s Peter Teifer led the field with a 71.
The Little Tigers followed that victory with another at tournament win on Tuesday. Princeton claimed the Bunker Hill/Viking Invitational championship at Bunker Hill Golf Course with a score of 320 with George Graham finishing in a four-way tie for second-place by shooting a 78 and Teifer carding a 79.
Clearly, Princeton will be a formidable foe this season, especially for a team still warming up.
"We’re still in the beginning stages," said Russell. "It’s been tough, we haven’t been getting out consistently yet."
The weather and Hopewell’s spring break didn’t help the Bulldogs early training.
"We started getting out and then we got the snow," said Russell. "Then we started getting out and we hit the break and the kids had four days off."
Those interruptions should now be behind the team and Hopewell can concentrate on getting its game going.
"We’re getting out more," said Russell, noting that his Bulldogs will start hitting the course a lot more with the season underway.
Along with Princeton on Tuesday, Hopewell is scheduled to play Hamilton West on Wednesday, Trenton on Thursday and South Hunterdon on Friday. The Bulldogs follow up that four-match week with three matches featuring back-to-back games against Ewing Tuesday and Wednesday the week after.
"It’s getting out there," said Russell. "We’re rusty."
The Bulldogs may be ironing out their game, but they still opened the season with wins over Robbinsville and Hightstown.
"Even when we’re not shooting our best we still came up with two victories," said Russell. "That was nice."
Hopewell Valley junior Andrew Glander led the Bulldogs in their opening round by firing a 43 in a 234-314 victory over Robbinsville at Hopewell Valley Country Club last Thursday.
Bulldog senior Steve Marsh finished one stroke behind with a 44, easily out in front of the Ravens’ leader.
Hopewell senior Greg Franzblau carded a 46, senior Travis Wolfe posted a 48 and junior Liz Hotchkis and senior Steve Hall both finished with a 53 to out shoot Robbinsville.
Marsh led Hopewell with a 40 against Hightstown on the Peddie School golf course on Tuesday.
Hopewell defeated Hightstown, 228-243.
"Marsh played real well," said Russell. "He double-bogeyed the last hole, but he was on pace to shoot par."
Marsh finished with five pars after opening his round with a birdie.
"Steve birdied the first hole of the day," said Russell, "but had bad luck at the end and flubbed one of his chip shots."
Likewise, Hotchkis started her round off with a birdie on the first hole. Hotchkis shot a 45 against the Rams.
"Liz is one of these players, where if she starts getting on a role and her confidence gets up, she’ll be a tough player to beat," said Russell. "Liz played very well."
Glander also shot a 45 against Hightstown.
"Andrew wasn’t happy with his 45," said Russell. "He started off real strong, par, par, par, but then hit some trouble. He said he was fighting his swing all day. He knows he can go 40 or high 30’s."
Franzblau, Wolfe and Hall all shot a 49 in Hopewell’s second win.
Russell knows a third-straight victory will take a more refined effort from his Bulldogs. West Windsor-Plainsboro North retained a lot of its shooters and should be ready for Hopewell today.
"That’s one of those 50-50 matches," said Russell. "It’s one of three or four matches on our schedule that I have question marks next to."
While Hopewell is still trying to reorganize after graduating its top shooter, Ben Bershad last season, the Knights were able to continue where they left off last season.
"They’re improved from last year," said Russell. "They have a lot coming back. I lost a lot and they kept a lot."
After graduating Bershad, one of the Colonial Valley Conference’s top golfers, Russell expects many more matches to be closer this season.
"It’s going to be a different season for us," said Russell. "We’re going to be fighting. I don’t have that 36 or 37 Ben shot for us every time."
While Princeton is an obstacle Hopewell will have to face, a win over WW-P North would be a bid early season victory for the Bulldogs.
"It’s one, ideally, we’d love to win," said Russell. "We’d love to start off 3-0. We’d love to go 3-0 into Princeton."

