Shepardson, Lenox Edge Mount Greylock by One Shot
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Lenox eighth-grader Max Shepardson feels right at home at Mount Greylock’s home.
And that is not good news for the Mounties.
Shepardson Wednesday carded a 3-over-par 39 on the front nine at Waubeeka Golf Links to lead Lenox to a 163-164 victory over the host Mounties.
“The greens here are perfect,” Shepardson said of Waubeeka. “If I could design a green, these would be the ones. I love this course.
“I’ve played here a little bit before. Our Western Mass was here last year.”
Lenox is on track to head back to the sectional tournament this fall at Agawam Municipal. But first there is the matter of wrapping up a Berkshire County South Division title.
On Wednesday, the Millionaires narrowly avoided picking up their second loss of the season; the first came against Hoosac Valley, like Mount Greylock, a member of the North Division.
In what Lenox coach Dick Salinetti called the best match he has seen all year, both teams placed five of their six starters in the 40s or better.
The match was all even after the first group walked off the ninth green. Shepardson's 39 gave Lenox a one-stroke lead going into the final group. And that is where the match stood when all the counting was done.
Max Digrigoli finished with a 40 that included a birdie on the par-4 second hole. Cliff Flynn was right behind him with a 41 after recording a birdie on the par-5 fourth. And Brendan Hayden rounded out the scoring for the Millionaires with a 43.
Mount Greylock recorded its best team score of the season behind a pair of 40s from Xander Axt and Paul Roeder.
The 163-164 final was a big improvement from the 158-184 score in the teams’ first match at Cranwell back on Aug. 29.
Senior Brayden Smith and eighth-grader Owen Petropulos scored for the Mounties with rounds of 41 and 43, respectively.
But the biggest cheer of the day was for Roeder, who eagled the 480-yard, par-5 fourth hole.
“Yesterday in practice, I birdied it, so I knew what I could do,” Roeder said. “I two-putted that birdie.
“Today, I hit my driver straight, hit the best 3-wood shot I’ve hit in a while. And it was an easy downhill 5-foot putt.”
Not bad for a kid who wasn’t even on the golf team a year ago.
Last fall, Roeder played football for Mount Greylock, but he decided this year to give golf a try, in part because the Mounties’ gridiron program last spring transformed into a cooperative with neighboring Drury.
“The switch to a coop -- I wasn’t really into that, and my concussion last year kind of put me out for a while,” he said. “So I just decided it would be a lot better for myself if I played golf this year.
“If [the coop] had happened a couple of years ago, I definitely would have done it. But this year, it was the nail in the coffin. I had the thought for a while, and then, with the coop, I said, ‘OK, I’m definitely going to play golf.’ “
Roeder said he played maybe 10 rounds the summer between his sophomore and junior years of high school but ramped that up this summer, working and playing at Skyline Country Club in Lanesborough.
In his first high school match, at Cranwell, Roeder carded a 51 -- 11 strokes more than his score on Wednesday at Waubeeka.
“It’s more just getting out here playing, getting to know your strengths, and then the whole mental aspect of the game,” he said. “You have really know how to keep yourself in the game and go shot by shot.”
Mount Greylock travels to Berkshire Hills to face Taconic on Thursday.