Only the four best scores turned in by a six-player team count in high school golf, but Old Rochester Regional High School’s two best players insist that added roster depth was the difference maker for the Bulldogs in a magical run that saw them go through the regular season at 14-0, win the South Coast Conference tournament, qualify for states at the South Sectional tournament and then cap it all off on October 25 with the MIAA Division 2 state title.
“Last year, our team wasn’t as consistent from the first spot to the sixth spot. This year we had six really good players,” said senior Markus Pierre. “It takes the pressure off each one of us because we can rely on our teammates to go out there and play well. Last year, it was only four of us that could really contribute to it so, like, ‘This is all on us.’ But this year is like, ‘Alright, I can relax and do my own thing.'”
The 2022 additions, senior Gabe DeBlois and freshman Brady Mills, shot 85 and 83 respectively in the state tournament. Though their cards did not count toward ORR’s aggregate, four-player total in the state tournament, the support they provided all season was not without positive effect.
“They made us stronger as a team, as a whole,” said ORR golf coach Chris Cabe. “A lot of our players were playing … in Junior PGA tournaments. They had that fire in the belly. Sometimes the high school season isn’t as competitive as their junior season. But pushing each other made them stronger, they have that competitive drive.”
Pierre has done his thing so well that Cabe matter of factly calls him his best player and has done so since Pierre was a freshman.
“He’s the steadiest golfer I’ve ever seen come through this program. He’s self-taught, and with all the work he’s put in … at the putting green,” said Cabe, who considers Pierre a no-doubt, Division 1 college golfer if that’s what he chooses to do next year.
The irony is Pierre’s cousin, fellow ORR senior Philip le Gassick, went on a postseason tear. He was the SCC tournament medalist, the South sectional individual runner-up and the Division 2 state final individual runner-up.
“Philip, I call him our ‘tournament MVP.’ Every time we’ve had a big tournament,” Cabe said, le Gassick stands out.
His round of 69 in the state tournament put him 3-under Maplegate’s par 72 and only a stroke behind medalist Patrick Ginnity of St. Bernard’s (68).
Collectively, the Bulldogs were best, as Pierre shot 3-over 75 and was complemented by junior Braden Yeomans, who came in at 6-over-par 78, and sophomore Peter le Gassick, whose 80 (8-over) helped ORR total an aggregate 302 strokes. That got the Bulldogs under a second-place tie between Bishop Stang and Duxbury, which both shot aggregate scores of 303 at the Bellingham course.
“Not only did we win by one shot so every shot counts,” said Pierre, “when Philip was playing so well in that stretch, the rest of us were like, ‘Alright, let’s just go out and kind of support him. … Limit the damage and survive.'”
Last year the Bulldogs tied for fourth in the states and settled for a fifth-place finish on a scoring technicality, and they did so with some regret. “It was a letdown last year because we knew we could compete but didn’t shoot our best that day,” said Cabe.
This past summer Philip le Gassick competed more frequently and anticipated carrying that momentum into the fall high school season, but the transition did not come automatically. The season itself was a grind as he struggled to break 40 in early-season nine-hole rounds, but buoyed by the added roster depth, he was ready to go at tournament time.
“My problem was staying confident. I couldn’t stay in the right mindset,” said le Gassick, whose confidence grew thanks to support he received during the season from Pierre, Yeomans and his younger brother Peter. “For this one, it was more about having fun, and if I could just trust my game and trust everyone else to play well as well.”
When the state tournament arrived, Cabe just wanted his team loose. “I told them, ‘It’s your last day. Just enjoy this, don’t put any pressure on yourselves,'” he recalled.
When the round was over for ORR, Cabe and the Bulldogs joined a growing hoard gathering around the tented scoreboard, where they intensely engaged in a peculiar sort of math for which golfers wish they could be graded.
“Everyone’s huddled around, and we know what we need them to come in. you’re on your calculator. We needed an 80 to come in,” said Cabe, who got that number from Peter le Gassick.
ORR’s contingent then shifted its attention to the missing lines in the scores representing remaining Bishop Stang and Duxbury.
By Mick Colageo