THE LHS golf team handed out team awards at their annual banquet recently. The Pioneers concluded an historic season in which they went undefeated at 12-0 and won the CAL Kinney Division title. (LHS Golf Photo)

 

By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI

LYNNFIELD — At the recently-held Lynnfield High golf team banquet, head coach Mike Moresco gave out four awards.

The Pioneer Pride Cup Award went to freshman Brady Cole. Cole got the award being the lowest-scoring junior varsity player.

The Most Improved Player Award went to senior Ryan MacEachern who averaged over 21 points per match (Stableford Scoring) in his second year on the roster.

The Student-Scholar Award went to fellow senior, Joe Raffa, who averaged 22.8 points per match including a season-high 32 points against Pentucket

The Most Valuable Golfer Award went to the two senior captains, Deven Henehan and Gavin Leuci.

This was a very memorable season for the Pioneers as they went a perfect 12-0 overall and 11-0 in the Cape Ann League to capture the CAL Kinney Division title.

In the Division 3 North Sectional on Oct. 22 at Stow Acres, they just missed qualifying for the state finals by one stroke coming in 4th place overall.

“This is, undeniably, the best team I have ever coached,” stated Moresco, who just completed his sixth year at the helm. “As far as I know, this is the only team in school history to go undefeated and the 12 wins is also a school record. I say that this is the best for not only what they accomplished on the course, but how they acted off the course. It was a pleasure coaching them.”

Along with Henehan, Leuci, Raffa and MacEachern, the team will also lose Owen Mullin, Zach Benedetto, Niko Kozakis, Jarret Scoppettuolo, Matt Papagikos and Pat Spythalski to graduation.

“The senior class was special to me,” said Moresco. “I had five of them for four years. They were great leaders and a cohesive unit.”

Next year, the Pioneers will try to defend their CAL Kinney title. They return five veterans and some players who played on the junior varsity team that went 4-2 this fall.

“I am cautiously optimistic for next year,” said Moresco. “There are some good teams in our division like Newburyport and North Reading.”

Key members coming back include CAL First-Team All-Star, Paul Daley along with Owen Doherty and Brady Field.

Daley, Doherty and Field all played in the Division 3 North Sectionals.