The best may be yet to come for the Manchester-Essex golf team.
Hornet golfers should be pretty encouraged after coming out of the first few matches of the 2024 season with a winning record, some early positive momentum and contributions from every corner of the roster. But looking at how his team has played in wins over Pentucket and Triton and a loss to a strong North Reading team, coach Bill Melvin thinks his squad is capable of even more going forward.
“I think our best golf is still ahead of us, which is good,” says Melvin. “We’ve put up a lot of points, even ran into a buzzsaw against North Reading – that was a big score for high school golf. I’m really feeling confident about this team. A lot of guys have really stepped up.”
That certainly seems to be the case when looking at the score sheet, with different golfers stepping in to provide a scoring boost in each match. In the 143-129 win over Triton to open the season, Gray West, Matt DeOreo and Jack Lawler had 25 points apiece, with all eight varsity participants scoring over 20. Two days later, the Hornets beat Pentucket, 138-121, with West scoring 29, DeOreo totaling 26, Graham Lews scoring 24 and Jack McCavanagh scoring 22 at Haverhill Country Club.
“Our captains, Gray West and Jack McCavanagh have done a great job not only on the score sheet, but also leading the team and saying all the right things,” says Melvin.
In the September 4 loss to North Reading, Jake Zschau broke through with 33 points while Lawler (27) and Connor Dickson (21) also contributed high scores for Manchester Essex.
“Jake Zschau is a terrific athlete who really put some time into his game over the summer,” explains Melvin. “He put up 33 points at North Reading, which is a really impressive score. We’re certainly looking for him to continue that if we want to be successful.”
Continuing to improve and build on that success will be no easy task as the Hornets navigate a deeper, much improved Cape Ann League. Manchester Essex was slated to face Amesbury on September 10, and then host cross-town rival Rockport on September 12.
“Rockport has always got a solid team,” says Melvin. “They’ve got a couple of guys who are experienced and have been playing for quite some time, and they’ve got some new guys who have come on pretty strong. I fully anticipate a really good match against them.”
After that, Manchester Essex faces North Shore Tech on September 17, and closes out the month with matches against Hamilton-Wenham and Ipswich. The regular season wraps up pretty quickly after that, with the final match scheduled for October 10.
“I think I anticipated us being competitive in all the matches we played this year, and I think we have played our best golf most days,” explains Melvin. “Our league is really competitive this year, and if we can continue to do that, it certainly bodes well for us.”
