It will be a fight to the finish in Inter-Ac after Episcopal's sweep at Gulph Mills

   Getting 37s from senior leader Jacob Zeng and talented eighth-grader Jack Yearly, Episcopal Academy finished first in the fifth Inter-Academic League invitational hosted by The Haverford School at Gulph Mills Golf Club Tuesday.

   The sixth and final invitational, hosted by Springside Chestnut Hill Academy at Sunnybrook Golf Club, was supposed to follow right on the heels of Tuesday’s stop at Gulph Mills, but Wednesday’s rain forced the postponement of the Springside Chestnut Hill Invitational, which won’t be played until next Wednesday, Oct. 23 at Sunnybrook.

   Episcopal’s sweep Tuesday created what is essentially a three-way tie for first place, meaning a victory by Episcopal, two-time reigning champion Haverford School or Malvern Prep would give that team the Inter-Ac title.

   Malvern Prep came into Tuesday’s Haverford School Invitational in first place after the Friars had pulled off a sweep of the Penn Charter Invitational at Huntingdon Valley Country Club. But Malvern Prep struggled to a fourth-place finish Tuesday at Gulph Mills.

   Zeng and Yearly helped Episcopal finish with a 193 total. For the second time this fall, upstart Germantown Academy claimed runnerup honors with a 200 total. The Haverford School finished third. I didn’t get the team totals after Germantown Academy, but doing some quick math off the Inter-Ac golf spreadsheet gave me a 202 total for the Fords. I got a 207 total for Malvern Prep in fourth place.

   That leaves Haverford School and Malvern Prep with 18-6-1 marks with Episcopal right there with an 18-5-2 mark. Germantown Academy can’t win the title with its 12-13 mark, but the Patriots have helped create some of the havoc at the top of standings with their two runnerup finishes.

   Penn Charter is in fifth place with a 4-21 mark and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy is sixth at 3-22.

   Not sure what happens if there’s a tie and it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility considering Malvern Prep and Episcopal tied for first in the Penn Charter Invitational at Huntingdon Valley Country Club and Haverford School and Episcopal tied for third in the Malvern Prep Invitational at Waynesborough Country Club.

   This thing might come down to a putt, much as it did in 2016 when Episcopal Academy senior Matt Marino holed a birdie putt on his final hole at Gulph Mills to give the Churchmen a one-shot edge on Haverford School and their first Inter-Ac title since 1999.

   Backing up Zeng and Yearly for Episcopal Tuesday at Gulph Mills were juniors Giles Elliott and Augie Reilly, both of whom carded 39s, and junior Shane Lawler, who posted a 41. While the 42s registered by Max Giles, Eric Morgan and Eric Dzwonczyk weren’t counters, there wasn’t much of a dropoff from the top five scores for the Churchmen.

   Germantown Academy was led by sophomore Luke Marvin, who fired a 37. Haverford School was led by its senior leader, Charlie Baker, who also signed for a 37.

   James Gradisek was the low man for Malvern Prep with a 39. Ryan Kennedy and Jack Fialko chipped in as each posted a 41. Rounding out the scoring for the Friars were two of the three 43s registered by Patrick Traynor, Henry Fish and Dimitri Collias.

   Penn Charter junior Patrick Isztwan, who captured the Bert Linton Inter-Ac individual crown as a freshman two years ago on his home course at Huntingdon Valley, was the day’s individual medalist with a solid 34.

   The performance helped Isztwan take control of the individual points race, which is based on the results from the six Inter-Ac invitationals. Isztwan has piled up 447 points with his closest pursuers, Haverford School’s Tyler Zimmer and Jake Maddaloni, at 416 and 406 points in second and third place, respectively. Zimmer and Maddaloni each posted a 40 Tuesday at Gulph Mills.

   Episcopal’s Zeng, who won the individual points race a year ago, is fourth with 387 points while his precocious teammate Yearly, the eighth-grader, is fifth at 366 points.

   Speaking of the Bert Linton, this year’s edition was originally scheduled to be Tuesday at Gulph Mills, but the postponement of the final invitational until Wednesday will force the Bert Linton to be moved back since the automatic qualifiers for the Bert Linton field come off the individual points list.

It might be Friday, Oct. 25, but stay tuned on that.