Pittston Area senior Chris Scavo, who coach Jason Miller describes as the team’s ‘unsung hero,’ watches his shot into the 18th green Friday at the district team championships.
EXETER – Pittston Area’s special golf season came to an end Friday when the Patriots ran into an Abington Heights team featuring the top four and five of the top six individuals in District 2 Class 3A.
With District 2 individual gold medalist Cade Kelleher leading the way Abington Heights overcame Pittston Area’s home-course advantage to roll to a 303-335 victory in the Class 3A boys team golf championship match.
Kelleher shot a 2-over-par, 73 to lead the Comets, who return four of the five players from the lineup that finished fifth at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state championships last year.
Pittston Area had set a school record for wins this season, then won two close playoff matches to claim the Wyoming Valley Conference’s spot in the Class 3A district final.
“It’s an overall success story,” Patriots coach Jason Miller said. “The kids worked real hard to get to this point. The last nine weeks of their lives have been putting in the time, the effort and the practice. They’ve been here grinding, hitting balls, hitting putts, making shots, talking about the mental game.
“ … They really had a lot of fun and they got better at golf. That’s the success about it.”
With postseason championship play underway, teams moved from their six-man lineups of the regular season to the five-team lineups used in PIAA tournaments. They still counted the best four as the team score.
Abington Heights wound up with the two lowest scores of the match with Robert Munley adding a 74.
Noah Gruber led Pittston Area with a 76, but by time he finished in the last group, the match had long since been decided.
Luke Swank and Robby Lucas had 79s for Abington Heights. Though his score was not used, Robert Bingham finished strong for an 83.
All five Comets beat the second-best score by the Patriots.
Chris Scavo shot an 84 in the loss. Andrew Nocito had an 87 and Patrick Ruane an 88 to complete the Pittston Area score. Nick Cook shot a 98.
INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Pittston Area’s Noah Gruber shot an 87 to tie for 15th in Class 3A Monday at Elkview Country Club in the District 2 Individual Golf Championships.
The top five players qualified for the PIAA Tournament.
Chris Scavo was 17th with an 88.
Andrew Nocito tied for 23rd with a 93 while Ryan Noone was 26th with a 94.
Defending state champion Nick Werner shot a 6-under-par, 66 to win the title in Class 2A where the top six finishers made the state field.
Wyoming Area’s Kristian Pugliese was tied for 30th with a 90.
Robbie Yatsko was tied for 37th with a 93 and Aiden August was tied for 39th with a 94.
