Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Pittston Area sophomore fires a 69 to capture Tryba Tournament again.
John Henry of Wyoming Seminary punches out from the trees on hole No.14.
Mike Daubert of Coughlin plays a chip shot to the 12th green.
Vicky Petrosky of Wyoming Area plays a chip shot to the 12th green at Fox Hill Country Club in Exeter during the Tryba Tournament on Monday.
Pete G. Wilcox photos/the times leader
EXETER – After winning a high school tournament as a freshman, some players would get nervous the next year.
Not Brandon Matthews.
The Pittston Area sophomore successfully defended his Tryba Tournament championship on Monday firing 2-under par 69 at Fox Hill Country Club.
“There was a little bit of (pressure) and higher expectations,” Matthews said. “But I still just played my game and wanted to see what happened. It turned out good.”
Matthews’ day got off to a great start when he sank a 30-foot birdie on the par-4 No. 4 hole to jumpstart his round. He followed that with an eagle on the par-5 No. 6. He also birdied two other par-5 holes, Nos. 12 and 14 as he went 4-under on the par 5s and won by two shots over Dallas’ Austin Smith.
“I just made a lot of putts. That’s all I did really,” said Matthews, who won last year’s tourney by firing an even-par score. “I made a couple good shots, which is what you have to do to win it but my putting was just like year. I made everything I looked at.”
Smith, also a sophomore, shot 35 on the front nine and 36 on the back to keep pace with the Patriots’ standout, but he just fell short.
“Austin played phenomenal,” Matthews added. “I just made the putts. If I putted like Austin and Austin putted like me it probably would have turned around because I just made everything I looked at.”
Not only was Smith the closest competitor to Matthews, he also helped his team run away with the team title. Dallas players combined to score 308 as Smith was followed by Andrew McCabe’s 76, Will Bevevino’s 79 and an 82 from Mike Jayne.
The closest team to Dallas was Crestwood, which scored 323.
“Usually the winning score every year is in that range,” Dallas coach Tom Kilduff said. “It varies one or two every year. So if you want to win it you have to shoot that kind of score.
“My experience in winning this thing is you have to have six kids. You can’t go at it with just three or four kids and count on them every time. You have to have that depth.”
The Mountaineers definitely have depth this season, but as history has proven in recent past, the team winner of the first tournament of the season doesn’t always mean that team will go on to win the Wyoming Valley Conference league title.
Last year, Tunkhannock won the team title, but Holy Redeemer won the league playoffs. Dallas was in the same situation in 2007 after winning the Tryba team title, but Tunkhannock rallied to win the WVC team title in the playoffs.
“In my opinion this is one day,” Kilduff added. “What will happen now is these other teams will work harder to catch up to us so we have to keep sharp and not take it easy now and think that we can beat them because you can get knocked off in away matches.”
Holy Redeemer’s Mike Napkori, who was the only WVC golfer to qualify for the Regional and state tournament last year, placed third by shooting 74. McCabe and Crestwood’s Matt Kachurak (77) rounded out the top 5.
Pittston Area was third in the team scoring, ending three points behind the Comets. Tunkhannock and Wyoming Valley West tied for fourth with 335.