After graduating eight seniors from last year\u2019s team that went undefeated in league play and made it all the way to the Suffolk County Final Four, Riverhead\u2019s boys golf team had a major question to answer this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI asked everyone before this season started,\u201d head coach Steve Failla said. \u201cAre we going to rebuild or are we simply going to reload and showcase the program we\u2019ve been building here for years? To their credit, they answered the call.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only one player returned from last year\u2019s starting six, Colby Baran, who just happened to be one of the best golfers in Suffolk County as a sophomore last year. The rest of the lineup is brand new, choosing golfers from the JV team last year, who also went undefeated. With Monday\u2019s 8-0 victory over Greenport\/Southold, Riverhead is now 9-0 on the season and haven\u2019t lost a league match since 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baran led the way, as he has all season, with a personal record 33, which was three shots under par at Cherry Links in Riverhead on Monday. It was the second time he reached that low during the season. He has averaged a score of 36.5 for nine holes of play during his junior campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI still feel like I have ways to cut my score down even lower,\u201d Baran said. \u201cI\u2019m super happy with how I have been playing but I definitely left some shots out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After going undefeated last year, the Blue Waves cruised through the conference championship and earned the No. 1 seed in the Suffolk County tournament. It wasn\u2019t until they met Ward Melville in the semi-finals that they finally got a loss on their resume and that was simply because of team stroke play. The Patriots earned three medal points because they as a team had less strokes than the Blue Waves even though the rest of the head to heads were split right down the middle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGolf is the only sport that doesn\u2019t separate into classes,\u201d Failla said last year. \u201cOther sports get four divisions and six classes. Golf has one champion and that\u2019s why it\u2019s the hardest sport to win it all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Riverhead has made it to the final four twice in its history, once in 2019 and the second time last year. They\u2019re looking to get right back in the mix this season. The conference championships are scheduled for Oct. 16, which will determine the seeds for the Suffolk County tournament. Then the playoffs begin on Oct 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Riverhead has trotted out Baran, Cam Wallace, Logan Dempsey, Mason Sidik, Max Gajowski and Brady Hubbard as their starting six for most of the season. Any of them are capable of putting together a strong round and earning the team a point. Wallace, the team\u2019s No. 2 golfer, has averaged a score of 40 during the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur lineups have looked very similar the last three years because they all came up to varsity as sophomores,\u201d Failla said. \u201cThis year was a big change. This was going to be a big test of the program. It\u2019s going to be hard to replicate the success we\u2019ve had the last few years because these guys are brand new to the varsity team but they haven\u2019t missed a beat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lot of that has to do with Baran\u2019s ability to lead. The players feed off of him and try to improve their game alongside him. They see how hard he works and golf is a game that requires constant repetition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the years past Baran was always the best golfer but he was the youngest on the team,\u201d Failla said. \u201cThe seniors pushed him last year but this year he\u2019s taken on more of a leadership role. He\u2019s the veteran out there. And nobody works harder than Colby, he lives golf.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baran was the second player to make it to the individual New York State championships in Riverhead\u2019s history. He\u2019s looking to take it a step further this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think we have all the tools to be successful as a team this year,\u201d Baran said. \u201cMy first goal this year is to win Riverhead\u2019s first team championship. That\u2019s our goal right now. The individual stuff is great but we\u2019re a team first and hopefully a few shots fall our way this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a team, Riverhead went down to Spring Lake Golf Club in Middle Island this weekend to get a feel for the course they\u2019ll be playing in the championships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s all them,\u201d Failla said. \u201cI didn\u2019t tell them to do that. But they know these are the steps that you need to do. You need to constantly get ahead and play as much as you can. Familiarizing yourself with the championship golf course is only going to help when it\u2019s time to shine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After graduating eight seniors from last year\u2019s team that went undefeated in league play and made it all the way to the Suffolk County Final Four, Riverhead\u2019s boys golf team had a major question to answer this year. \u201cI asked everyone before this season started,\u201d head coach Steve Failla said. \u201cAre we going to rebuild…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331,"featured_media":122282,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1743,35,37],"tags":[662,15485,836,124,13186,852],"coauthors":[16616],"class_list":["post-122275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-story","category-news","category-sports","tag-boys-golf","tag-colby-baran","tag-golf","tag-high-school-sports","tag-premium","tag-steve-failla"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n