Hawks completing foursome

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Woodland’s Ryan Warner tees off against Holy Cross at Western Hills in Waterbury on Monday. Holy Cross won the match, 176-179. –KEN MORSE
Woodland’s Ryan Warner tees off against Holy Cross at Western Hills in Waterbury on Monday. Holy Cross won the match, 176-179. –KEN MORSE

BEACON FALLS — Before the Woodland golf team hit the links this season, head coach Bill Carangelo knew the key to remaining in the hunt would be finding consistency in a fourth scorer.

Woodland took the league by storm last year as the Hawks went 15-1 and finished as the NVL-runner up to Watertown. The Hawks, who lost All-NVL and two-time All-State golfer Mike Erickson to graduation, returned two-time All-NVL senior co-captain Ryan Warner, senior co-captain Zach Crowell and All-NVL sophomore Julian Perino.

For the Hawks to pose a legitimate threat and compete with the top teams in the circuit, the search was on for a No. 4 golfer to complete the Woodland foursome.

The Hawks may have found that missing piece and then some. Sophomore Chris Guerrette and freshman Josh Hassan have stepped up giving Woodland a chance to stay with the top teams in the league.

Woodland pulled out a 179-184 victory over Sacred Heart at Oxford Greens April 28. Perino shot a medalist round of 42 with Crowell coming in at 45 and Warner checking in with a round of 46.

For the first time this year, the Hawks had a fourth golfer break into the 40s with Hassan shooting a 46.

“We will see if we can get that on a consistent basis,” Carangelo said. “Julian is coming along nicely and we have Ryan and Zach who put up solid rounds. If we are going to be competitive with the top of the league we are going to need that fourth scorer to hit in the 40s.”

The match against Sacred Heart was the Hawks’ first in 14 days.

“We had a break with other teams needing to reschedule matches with us. So we utilized that time to try and perfect the little things in our game, and it showed with the round that Josh put in,” Carangelo said.

On Monday at Western Hills the Hawks went up against one of the league favorites in Holy Cross and came up just short dropping their first match of the season by a slim 176-179 margin.

“The last time we played here Ryan didn’t shoot that well,” Carangelo said before the match. “So we will see how that extra practice improved his game.”

Warner came through with a solid round of 42 against the Crusaders to lead the Hawks. Crowell was right behind him with a 43 and Perino finished with a 46. For the second time in two matches, Woodland found its fourth consistent scorer as Guerrette hit a 48.

That trend of rounds in the 40s continued on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Woodland beat Kaynor Tech, 179-209, on Tuesday. Warner was the medalist for the round with a 41. Perino (43), Alec Feducia (47) and Josh Hassan (48) rounded out the scoring for Woodland.

On Wednesday, Woodland improved to 5-1 on the year with a 177-185 win over Wolcott. Perino was the medalist with a 39. Crowell (41) Hassan (45) and Chris Guerrette (48) completed the scoring for Woodland.

The Hawks hosted the Woodland Invitational on Thursday. They will be back on the course next week when they host Wilby and Watertown on Monday and East Hampton on Tuesday.