Staff Photo / Neil Madhavan Warren JFK’s Henry Phillips watches his tee shot during a practice round at Trumbull Country Club in Warren last week. Phillips and the Eagles will look to defend their Division III state championship this weekend.
WARREN — After winning its second straight Division III Northeast Regional title last week at Tannenhauf Golf Club, Warren JFK is in a different position this season than it was last year.
Last fall, the Eagles used house money to play in the Division III state tournament at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course and returned with the fourth state championship in program history.
But this week’s target is on JFK’s back. JFK will defend its state title this weekend at North Star Golf Club, looking to repeat the feat the program accomplished during back-to-backs in 2000-2001. .
“I think the reliability is definitely high.” Head coach James LaPolla said: “I think all the boys feel it. They’re definitely in that front-runner position. They’re looking forward to competing. They’re looking forward to getting back and doing it again. Golf is a game of confidence. We all need that. We play better when we have it. So I’m glad we’re in that position.”
This will be the third straight state trip for the Eagles, who have gone on the trip with nearly the same core group of players each season, including juniors Henry Phillips, Andrew Fredenberg, Julian Bolino and Andrew Lapolla. . Senior Taggart Karfanjia becomes JFK’s fifth golfer this season.
And that core only gets better each season.
“The only difference between them is maturity.” James LaPola said. “They’re all older. They’ve got another year of experience. They’ve all played in a lot of summer tournaments. They’re all used to it, but I’m trying to get them as freshmen. Their maturity has really grown over the last three years from when I saw them to now.”
In 2022, as a freshman, the Eagles finished second in the district with a team score of 332 and seventh in the state with a score of 695. And last year, as a sophomore, the Eagles won district with a team score of .319 and won the state title by one stroke. The score was 648.
JFK, which returned to Tannenhauf last week, had 312 shots, the lowest in the district.
“It helps to have the same golfers.” James LaPola said. “Thanks to their growth, we know what we have to do, we know what we have to do. We’re a lot less nervous than we have been in years past. But… I think it all comes from them growing up, getting a little older, playing a lot more in the summer and practicing harder.”
With that growth comes a bond, and their closeness has contributed to JFK’s success over the past few seasons.
“They are my best friends in the world.” Phillips said. “There’s no one in the world I’d rather play with. I was talking to my mom (Wednesday) night, saying, ‘I’m happy to go to state, but I’m sad that (the season) is over.’
The Eagles were able to maintain success throughout the season.
In addition to several first and second place finishes in the regular season tournament, JFK won the Portage Trail Conference championship for the second year in a row with record-breaking team scores. The Eagles hit 295 shots, breaking a 15-year conference record of 307. Phillips shot 69 and also broke the individual conference record (71).
Then, in the winning section at Riverview Golf Course, JFK posted a season-low team total of 290.
In districts, the Eagles held the lead on the front nine at Tannenhauf and overcame some minor setbacks on the back nine to perform well, shooting 312, nine strokes ahead of second-place Cardinal Mooney (321). I broke it. .
“We looked really good. Then when we got to the end, I think we got a little complacent, even though we ended up doing well.” James LaPola said. “We were like, we know we’re going to go to state, all we have to do is get in the top three, so we were able to ease off a little bit towards the middle. However, we were able to get the job done.”
The first round of the state tournament begins Friday morning at 9 a.m. at North Star, followed by the second round on Saturday.
The Eagles are looking forward to returning to a familiar course, like JFK played at Northstar during the 2022 state championship.
“I think we’re all really happy to be back on a familiar track.” Phillips said. “I think this will really help us in terms of knowing how to move around and making fewer mistakes than we did. As freshmen, we obviously weren’t as good as we are now. I think we’ve all gotten a lot better. But it’s still a big advantage over some of the teams that haven’t played there.”
