Falling just short of a perfect regular season, the Derryfield Cougars were officially crowned on Tuesday as the 2017 NHIAA Division III State Champions in boys’ golf.
Derryfield defeated each of its foes this season except for a rematch against second-place Kearsarge on Sept. 27 in Jaffrey. There, the Cougars finished with 191 total team strokes, seven strokes behind Kearsarge on that day, but good enough to defeat Campbell and the hosts, Conant.
The Cougars would defeat Kearsarge a day later in Claremont, as well as every other opponent throughout the regular season.
In Round One of the individual boys’ golf championship on Tuesday at the Owl’s Nest Resort and Golf Club in Thornton, Derryfield’s Gunnar Senatore and Colin McCaigue made the cut with 80 strokes, behind Jake Bears of Kearsarge (79) and Keegan Branham of Sanborn (76).
Derryfield’s Reese Collins narrowly missed the cut, finishing with 90 strokes, just two strokes above the cutoff. The final round is on Saturday, again in Thornton.
In the first round of the Division I tournament for individual golfers, Manchester’s only contestant in the final round is Noah Greenwood of Central, who hit an 82, just one stroke over the cutoff.
He’ll go against over two dozen other golfers for the Division I state title at Portsmouth Country Club on Saturday.
