By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
SOMERS POINT – Standing in the blowing wind at Greate Bay Country Club Friday afternoon, the coaches for the Red Raider golf team acknowledged they have pretty much no idea what to expect out of their team this season.
Ed Ritti and Bryan Chojnacki said they don’t have many experienced golfers after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled last spring’s season, but they are impressed with the quality of leadership on the team.
“We’re young, we’re inexperienced,” Ritti said. “We only have two players that have actually competed in a match before this year. As a team we’re kind of learning together and figuring things out.”
“Basically,” Chojnacki added, “we had a number of seniors graduate in 2019 so these guys who are seniors now we were expecting to step up and kind of build (their experience) last year but in the absence of a season, we are starting fresh.
“But it’s good,” he added. “Some of the kids who came out as freshmen only had a week of playing. Now as sophomores, they’re getting a chance and we actually have a sophomore in the lineup playing top six. They’re learning as they go. It’s a process. Let’s put it that way.
Ritti said all of the players are “right around the same in terms of scores, but we have really good leadership in terms of how they’re handling themselves and behaving and setting examples. We have a strong leadership core in our seniors. Dylan Campbell, Sophia Ruh and Ethan Steingard have all been playing in the top six and they do things in the right way.
“That makes our job as coaches so much easier. We can focus on the fundamentals, which we have this year, for the first time in a while. It’s been a lot of fun,” Ritti said.
As many coaches have noted after the spring season was canceled last year, “it’s simply great to be out here,” Chojnacki said. “We want to see these kids improve. That’s what we stress with them every day, coming in, trying to get a little bit better every day. We have a bunch of seniors who are playing varsity for the first time. We love to see them wanting to get better. They’re setting the tone and the rest of the young players are following. Improve every day. Shoot better scores. Have fun. And they are. Like Ed said, it’s a great group of seniors and we look forward to a good season.”
Ritti said the team has the Cape May County Championship coming up on April 26 and the Cape-Atlantic League Championships down at Cape May National golf course on May 17. There will be sectionals this year as well.
“You have to win 60 percent of your matches to make it,” he said, “so we’ll see how we do with that.” The NJSIAA also plans to have both boys and girls state tournaments.
Ocean City 193
Millville 225
The Red Raider golf team won its outing Friday in the “howling wind” at Greate Bay Country Club in Somers Point, according to Ritti. The OCHS team beat Millville. The score was 193 to 225. Seven of the nine holes played into the wind, the coach said. “For instance, the second hole is 390 yards. I hit a driver and 3 wood and came up 15 yards short. That’s 85-90 yards more.”
Campbell was the lowestscorer of the match with a 44. Teammates Cameron Yoa had a 47, CJ Conti shot a 48 and Steingard carded a 54 in the blowing conditions.