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06/22/2023 06:05 AMThe Branford golf team can walk into the clubhouse from its 2023 campaign on the links with an extra pep in its total step and with a great sense of pride after the Hornets swarmed with the best of the Southern Connecticut Conference and supplanted themselves well within the top 10 of postseason play at both the league and state levels.
For the regular season, Head Coach Jen Kohut and the Hornets represented Branford quite well, playing to an above .500 mark and notching 10 victories in 16 matches. Then, in the postseason, the Hornets swung to a fifth-place showing in qualifying as a collective club at the SCC Championship at the Farms Country Club on May 30, staying behind only Amity (a score of 325), Xavier (322), and co-champions Hand–a squad that Branford fell to by only 15 strokes (by a 162-177 final) to open the year back on April 3 at Madison Country Club–and Cheshire (315).
For the Division II State Championship Tournament on June 6 at Fairview Farms Golf Course, Branford boasted another sound showing in the top 10 at seventh with a total tally of 342–finishing only 36 strokes off the winning pace set by Hand with its 306.
Kohut commented that not only did Branford notch its preseason target by earning conference playoff qualification as a team, but the Hornets also posted their names on the final leaderboard where they wanted it while becoming a bevy of boys who truly enjoyed the game and company of each other.
“Our goals this season were to make the SCC Tournament and be in the top 10 for the [Division II] State Tournament,” said Kohut. “We were fifth in SCC and No. 7 in the state, so we achieved our goals. This was a very close-knit group of athletes. We had five seniors who were close on and off the course. Many times after practice or a match ended, the players would head back out to play more golf.”
As the Hornets finished with a 10-6 mark in Division I of the SCC, Kohut recalled that her team had some impressive performances in non-league matches against a pair of Shoreline Conference adversaries while having athletes keep consistent with their individual cards.
“We put up some very good scores this year,” said Kohut. “We scored a 155 against Morgan and a 156 against Haddam-Killingworth. We had all players score in the 30s and 40s this year, which is excellent.”
Senior Keegan LaLonde finished as an All-SCC Team rep for Branford, as well as shot a 77 in the state tournament for Division II–enabling him to earn a spot in the State Open Championship for the third consecutive campaign. At the State Open on June 10 at Black Hall Golf Club, he notched a round of 82 to finish tied for 19th place.
Additionally at the SCC Tournament, junior Joseph Robinson shot his lowest score of the season with an 81 for the par-72 course. For states, joining LaLonde were Robinson, senior Colin Deane (each shooting a round of 88 in tying for 31st place), senior Matthew Morgan (spotting an 89 to tie for 37th), and senior Michael Farricielli (tying for 50th place with a tally of 93).
Morgan and LaLonde additionally served as stewards for the squad by being its co-captains. Still, they did not emerge as the sole influential leaders within the program in contributing to the continuation of a great culture for the club.
“Matt Morgan and Keegan LaLonde led a very strong group this season. They were encouraging to their teammates and created a very positive atmosphere for the team,” said Kohut. “Colin Deane, Mike Farricielli, and [senior] Andrew Verzella were leaders out on the course as well. Keegan will leave BHS [Branford High School] golf as the most accomplished golfer in Branford history and that was without playing his freshman year due to COVID. He was a two-time All-State and two-time All-SCC Team selection and three-time qualifier for the State Open. He has had a tremendous career, and we look forward to seeing what the future holds for him.”
Branford has a bit of a rebuilding task in front of itself as it begins to broach and prepare for the 2024 campaign with a quintessential quintet graduating this spring. Yet the Hornets still have several key underclassmen contributors that stepped up to the tee and delivered in high-pressure spots and performed.
“Next year we will have to work very hard, as we graduate five seniors who were major contributors to the team,” said Kohut. “We have juniors Joe Robinson and Patrick LaLonde returning, as well as sophomore Antonio Esperti and freshman Chase Nixon. We still have a solid group of golfers to build on for next season.”
The complete 2023 Branford golf team roster was comprised of seniors in Deane, Farricielli, Keegan LaLonde, Andrew Verzella, Morgan; juniors of Quinn Burton, Devin Gwiazda, Patrick LaLonde, Robinson; sophomore with Esperti; and finally freshman Nixon.