Individual champion Schmidt leads Drexel to team crown in City 6 Championship at Huntingdon Valley

   Cold weather has become just a part of the script for the City 6 Championship.

   So yeah, it was cold Saturday at Huntingdon Valley Country Club, a William Flynn classic, as five of the six Philadelphia area Division I programs gathered to close out the fall campaign of the wraparound 2019-2020 college season. Penn was not involved for the second straight season, for whatever reason.

   It is an interesting cast of characters, some very familiar names from the junior scene and from the scholastic scene in this area and some guys from not so close, but who, I’m sure, have grown to appreciate the golf scene in the Philadelphia area. A big part of that scene is the quality of so many of the courses, Huntingdon Valley being typically outstanding.

   One of the stars of this fall campaign, Drexel senior Connor Schmidt, a product of Peters Township in western Pennsylvania and the winner of the 2018 Pennsylvania Amateur at Sunnehanna Country Club near Johnstown, was the only player to better par with a 1-under 69 over the 7,042-yard, par-70 Huntingdon Valley layout.

   The day started with temperatures in the 20s and peaked in the mid-40s. As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, it was probably more playable than it was a year ago in a windstorm at Galloway National Golf Club at the Jersey Shore. But the conditions were tough and the golf course is challenging, no matter what the conditions.

   Schmidt and teammate Jeffrey Cunningham, a junior from West Palm Beach, Fla., finished 1-2 in the individual standings, Cunningham matching par with a 70, to lead the Dragons to the team title by 10 shots over host and defending champion Temple with a 10-over 290 total.

   The Drexel record book had to go through some serious rewriting with one brilliant two-day burst by Schmidt at the Elon Phoenix Invitational last month. Schmidt put together a sizzling 14-under 199 total for 54 holes at Alamance Country Club in Burlington, N.C. to claim runnerup honors.

   Schmidt got off to a fast start with birdies at the second and the fourth holes before bogeys at the fifth and ninth holes left him at even-par on the outgoing nine. A bogey at the 11^th hole dropped him back to 1-over, but he got it back in red figurers with birdies at the 12^th and 15^th holes.

   Temple, with a pair of players finishing tied for third in the individual standings, sophomore Conor McGrath, a product of the junior program at Huntingdon Valley, and Graham Chase, a freshman from Charlotte, N.C., posted a 20-over 300 total to earn runnerup honors.

   La Salle was another six shots behind the Owls in third place with a 26-over 306 total. Saint Joseph’s, like La Salle an Atlantic 10 representative, was three shots behind La Salle in fourth place at 29-over 209. Rounding out the five-team field was Villanova out of the Big East Conference, at 36-over 316, seven shots behind St. Joe’s.

   Head coach Ben Feld’s Dragons, who play in the Colonial Athletic Association, have had a very good fall and the depth of their lineup was on display Saturday. With such a small field, teams were allowed to go with a six-man lineup.

   Backing up Schmidt and Cunningham was junior Stephen Cerbara, the 2015 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Holy Ghost Prep who finished in a tie for sixth place with a 5-over 75. Angelo Giantsopoulos, a junior from Canada, was the final counter for Drexel as he finished alone in eighth place with a 76.

   Rounding out the Drexel lineup were senior Alex Butler, a member of St. Joseph’s Prep’s 2014 PIAA Class AAA championship team who finished in a tie for 23^rd place with an 82, and sophomore Ben Pochet, a two-time District One Class AAA champion at Spring-Ford who finished among the group tied for 25^th place with an 83.

   Conor McGrath, who starred scholastically at the Academy of the New Church, and Chase each carded a solid 3-over 73 to share third place for Temple, out of the American Athletic Conference

Saint Joseph’s Michael O’Brien, a senior from West Chester, Ohio, finished alone in fifth place with a 4-over 74.

   O’Brien has been spectacular at times this fall. His scintillating final round of 10-under 61 at Kilmarlic Golf Club in Powell’s Point, N.C. gave him the individual title in the Old Dominion/Outer Banks Intercollegiate. Earlier this week, O’Brien lost in a playoff after finishing tied for the top spot in the Homewood/Hilton Garden Airport Classic at Old Corkscrew Golf Club in Estero, Fla.

   Sharing sixth place with Drexel’s Cerbara at 5-over 75 and leading the way for La Salle was junior David Kim, a former Upper Dublin standout.

   La Salle had half of the group of six players who finished in a tie for ninth place at 7-over 77. Ron Fischang, a junior from McKinney, Texas, sophomore Parker Wine, who starred scholastically at Unionville, and freshman Karsen Rush, a former Chambersburg standout, rounded out the scoring for the Explorers while backing up Kim.

   Temple also had a pair of players who landed among the group tied for ninth place, junior Dawson Anders, a Souderton product and winner of the 2017 Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Boys’ Championship, and Danny Nguyen, a freshman from Vietnam.

   Rounding out the group tied at 77 was Saint Joseph’s sophomore J.T. Spina, who was a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in each of his last two seasons at Pope John Paul II.

   Rounding out the Temple lineup were Aaron Tobin, a senior from Tampa, Fla. who finished in the group tied for 15^th place with a 78, and senior Liam McGrath, like younger brother Conor, a product of the Huntingdon Valley junior program who finished in a tie for 23^rd place with an 82. Liam McGrath is also an Academy of the New Church graduate.

   Rounding out the La Salle lineup were Matt Werner, a sophomore from West Linn, Ore. who finished in the group tied for 18^th place with a 79. and freshman Nikita Romanov, who starred scholastically at Mount Pleasant High in Delaware and joined the group tied for 25^th place with an 83.

   Backing up O’Brien and Spina for Saint Joseph’s were senior Richard Riva, who starred scholastically at Lancaster Catholic, and junior Wills Montgomery, one of the Ches-Mont League’s top players at Downingtown East, both of whom landed among the group tied for 18^th place with a 79.

   Rounding out the lineup for the Hawks were senior Tommy Lewis, a Central Bucks East product who finished alone in 28^th place with an 84, and Noah Henderson, a senior from Solana Beach, Calif. who finished in a tie for 29^th place with an 87.

   Villanova head coach Jim Wilkes sent out a young team that was led by Jack O’Hara, a sophomore from Loudonville, N.Y., and Matt Minerva, a freshman from Elmsford, N.Y., both of whom landed in the group tied for 15^th place with a 78.

   Sophomore Matt Davis, one of the Inter-Ac League’s top players at Malvern Prep, and Luke Alexander, a freshman from Rochester, Minn., finished in a tie for 21^st place, each posting an 80.

   Rounding out the Villanova lineup were sophomore Danny Dougherty, who starred scholastically at Tower Hill in Delaware and finished in the group tied for 25^th place with an 83, and Reb Banas, a junior from Winnetka, Ill. who ended up in a tie for 29^th place with an 87.