It will be a victory lap for Malvern Prep at Waynesborough

   Malvern Prep will play host to Round 6 of the Inter-Ac League’s mini-tournaments Wednesday at Waynesborough Country Club, but a young and talented group of Friars has long since taken the drama out of the race for the league title.

   Off their latest 5-0 sweep in Monday’s mini-tournament host by Germantown Academy at Plymouth Country Club, the Friars have already clinched the title with a 25-0 mark. The only question now is whether they can match the accomplishment of the 2012 Haverford School team that swept its way to the title with a perfect 30-0 mark.

   I managed to tack on a brief, and it turns out a little flawed, report from Monday’s action at Plymouth to my report from the East Regional at Golden Oaks Golf Club that appeared in Tuesday’s Daily Times.

   Once again, the Friars were led by two freshmen with Matt Civitella firing a 2-over 37 and Andrew Curran adding a 3-over 38. Curran, a Media resident and Overbrook Golf Club member, missed some time this fall due to illness, but showed he, like Civitella and John Updike, is a freshman who’s got some game. It looks like Gary Duda’s team is going to be a handful for a while to come.

   Senior Marty McGuckin and junior Gavin Sims added 39s and Updike and sophomore Matthew Davis rounded out the counting rounds with 41s.

   It added up to 235 as the Friars survived a challenge from another team with a bunch of talented youngsters, Episcopal Academy, by four shots to keep their perfect record intact.

   I credited Cole Kemmerer, who shot 40, with being the low score for Episcopal, but upon closer review (it was a long ride – scenic but long -- up to Berks County and back to Delco, what can I say), the Churchmen were led by senior co-captain Cole Testaiuti and freshman Michael Zeng, both of whom carded 3-over 38s. Kemmerer was their third best score at 40 and four players, eighth-grader Case Hummer, junior Matt Marino, sophomore Jon Perry and senior co-captain Scott McConnell, all had 41s.

   Episcopal’s 239 total was two shots better than Haverford School, which placed third at 241. The battle Wednesday at Waynesborough will be for second between the Churchmen and the Fords. Haverford School, with a 17-7-1 mark, will take a narrow edge into the final mini-tournament over Episcopal, which is 16-8-1, in the fight for second.

   Haverford School was led by Thomas Gravina, who was the overall medalist for the day with a 1-over 36.

   Haverford School’s senior All-Delco Max Siegfried had a 41, but held onto first place in the overall individual standings at 201-21-13. The three top contenders for the top spot in the individual standings for the six Inter-Ac mini-tournaments all had their worst round of the fall. The 41 by Updike leaves him at 198-25-12 while Penn Charter sophomore Brian Isztwan, the reigning Inter-Ac Tournament champion, had a 42 and sits in third at 197-32-6.

   The next three players are all from Malvern Prep with McGuckin (193-31-12), Civitella (189-39-6) and Davis (185-35-15), in fourth, fifth and sixth places, respectively. It’s pretty scary for the rest of the league that Malvern Prep has two freshmen, Updike and Civitella, in the top five. And Davis in sixth is just a sophomore.