HINCKLEY, Ohio -- The 2020 Boys' Golf season came to a close at Pine Hills Golf Club Monday afternoon. The Rocky River Pirates finished an excellent season with a solid day at the DI Northeast Ohio Hinckley District Tournament. River carded a team score of 335 on a track set up to test some of the best prep players in the area. [Results]

Rocky River placed 15th in the field of 20 teams. The top-four squads (Hoban-292, Hudson-299, St. Ignatius-299, Stow-Munroe Falls-305) advanced to the next stage (regional) of the Buckeye State's premier high school golf event. The Pirates were led by senior Will Bennett and freshman Luke Dietrich, and perhaps that was most appropriate, because -- while they won't be headed to regional play -- the 2020 Sons of Blackbeard were a talented squad with veterans and newcomers alike.

Bennett bounced back from an early triple-bogey (at the par-4 sixth hole) to post a 42-40--82. Luke Dietrich birdied the sixth -- a hole which flummoxed the Pirates overall -- on his way to a 42-40--82. On a breezy day and on a course well-defended against such scores, Dietrich managed to cobble together eight pars. 

Senior Hayden Weaver (42-42--84) finished with Rocky River's third-best score; Nick Tianello (44-43---87) was the No. 4 Pirate. Pine Hills played to a par-71 at 6,663 yards and was a fine test of the mettle of 120 players.

Aside from Dietrich's three on No. 6, red-number highlights for the Double-R included a Weaver birdie on the par-5 fifth, a Bennett birdie on that same hole, and a Tianello eagle -- on a 30-yard chip-in -- on the par-5 15th.

"We were really solid tee to green today, but the greens were a challenge," said Head Coach David Hendrickson, whose Pirates were the champions of the Great Lakes Conference for a sixth straight year this fall.

Translate "really solid tee-to-green" to really solid summer-to-fall, and that's the 2020 Boys' Golf team in a phrase. It covers their exploits certainly. But, perhaps this season more than most -- it covers their shared experience.




CANNON FIRE ...

FALL FLOURISH: Pegging tournament finishes as wins and losses (example: fourth in a seven team field as a record of 3-3), Rocky River went 60-25 (.706) in matches and tournaments after Sept. 1. River's match record in 2020 was 23-3.

NOTABLE: The Pirates final scoring race for 2020 finished thusly (top-four): Will Bennett 81.4, Nick Tianello 81.6, Luke Dietrich 82.0, Hayden Weaver 83.0. In 22 events, Bennett -- the 2020 GLC MVP -- carded a top-two River score 17 times.

QUOTABLE: "I'm proud of how we competed and wish it would've ended differently. But I'm incredibly happy with our success this season. I can't say enough about the senior class and the outstanding careers those six [Bennett, Weaver, Aidan McDonald, Matt McDonald, Nathan Robertson, John Snyder] had. They left the program in far better shape than they found it, and we're so thankful for their efforts." -- David Hendrickson.

by Skip Snow