As recently as 2021, the Manchester Essex golf team had to rely on a waiver that allowed middle school golfers to play on the high school team so there were enough players to fill out a roster – a group that included four returnees from the prior season, a seventh grader, and a pair each of eighth graders and freshmen. Just a few years later, things have changed quite a bit for the MERHS golf team.
“We actually had to make some cuts this year,” explains ME golf coach Bill Melvin. “We’ve never done that before. Three years ago, we had to have seventh graders playing on the team. Now, we have a bunch of guys back that have played before and have plenty of experience.”
Now, the Hornets’ experience and depth should be the envy of their peers in the Cape Ann League. The team’s two captains, Jack McCavanagh and Gray West, were the two eighth-grade players from that 2021 team. Now they have levied their time and experience at the varsity level to become the team leaders and two top golfers on the squad.
“They are our two leaders, and they’ve got plenty of experience playing golf,” says Melvin. “We’ve got a lot of kids who have played a lot of golf and improved.”
Near the top of that list is a group that includes returnees Jake Zchau and Jack Lawler, who spent much of their summer fine-tuning their golf games. Other talented, experienced players expected to be a key part of the lineup this season are senior Matt Graeter (a varsity golfer for four years) and Connor Dickson.
“He’s one of those kids who has been working at it for a few years, and now he’s stepping up to play varsity golf,” Melvin says of Dickson.
Matt DeOreo is back for his third year of varsity golf (“He’s a very seasoned veteran who knows how to play the game,” says Melvin), while the other end of the spectrum features Graham Lewis, a sophomore playing on the golf team for the first time this year.
“He’s a terrific athlete, and I think he will help us out a lot,” Melvin says of Lewis.
Even though this is one of the more seasoned teams in the CAL Baker, that doesn’t mean this season will be a cakewalk for Manchester Essex.
“The league as a whole has gotten better,” explains Bill Melvin. “Golf is so popular, and a lot of kids are playing golf now. Every school is much improved. It will be difficult for us, but we have a bunch of guys who have been playing for two, three years, and that should help.”
He adds: “We’ve become, for a small school, very competitive in every match. Because of the work we put in, we can play with the big schools and be competitive against them, and we can play competitively against the small schools as well. I think the program has come a long way.”
The Hornets were scheduled to open the season against Triton at Essex County Club on Aug. 27 (3:30 p.m. start), travel to Haverhill Country Club to face Pentucket on Aug. 29, then continue with road contests against North Reading (Sept. 3) and Amesbury (Sept. 10).
“We’re looking to average no less than 24 points per player, which is par-to-bogey golf, basically,” says Melvin. “We have the kids to do that this year. It should be a competitive team; I’m looking forward to it."
