Ryan survives all the drama to reach semifinals of GAP's Junior Boys' Championship at The 1912 Club

   Josh Ryan proved that he was among the top junior players in southeastern Pennsylvania last fall when he captured the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Club and finished in a tie for third two weeks later in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort.

   After a long day Wednesday at The 1912 Club that included a couple of clutch makes at the 18^th hole, Ryan, home-schooled through Commonwealth Connections Academy, finds himself one win away from a spot in the final of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 106^th Junior Boys’ Championship.

   Ryan represents Norristown High on the golf course and he has represented the Eagles and the Pioneer Athletic Conference well. Last year was his third straight appearance in the state tournament and he was District One’s highest finisher in Class AAA at Heritage Hills.

   In Thursday morning’s semifinals, Ryan, playing as a GAP Youth on Course entry, will take on one of the Inter-Ac League’s top returning seniors, Jake Maddaloni, a key figure in The Haverford School’s last two league titles, extending a string of three straight Inter-Ac crowns for the Fords. Maddaloni is a product of the outstanding junior program at Aronimink Golf Club.

   The other semifinal will feature a matchup between La Salle senior Corey Haydu, a member of an Explorers team that made an undefeated run through the Catholic League and finished third in the PIAA Class AAA team chase last fall, and Peddie School senior Christopher Dorey, who plays out of Metedeconk National Golf Club. Haydu is representing Spring Mill Country Club.

   Ryan, Haydu and Dorey all emerged from a playoff among seven players for the final four spots in the match-play bracket very early Wednesday morning.

   Ryan was the first playoff survivor when he rolled in a 20-foot birdie try on the par-4 18^th hole.

   Several hours later, Ryan dropped in another birdie putt on the 18^th hole to send his opening-round with Win Thomas, a talented youngster out of Concord Country Club, to extra holes. Ryan then earned a spot in Wednesday afternoon’s quarterfinals by winning the 19^th hole.

   Such was the challenge from Thomas that Ryan had to shoot a 3-under 67 with the usual match-play concessions, just to get past him.

   In his quarterfinal match, Ryan got the jump on Shane Lawler, an Episcopal Academy senior playing out of Chester Valley Golf Club, early in the match and went to claim a 4 and 3 victory.

   Ryan got back-to-back wins on the fifth and sixth holes to take a 2-up lead over Lawler. He hit a lob wedge from 90 yards away at the par-4 fifth hole to tap-in range for a birdie and then chipped from 40 yards away at the par-5 sixth hole to three feet and holed the birdie putt to win the hole.

Maddaloni took out a couple of league champions on his way to the semifinals.

   He knocked off recent La Salle graduate Matt Lafond, the Catholic League champion last fall playing out of Blue Bell Country Club, 4 and 3 in the opening round.

   In Wednesday afternoon’s quarterfinals, Maddaloni outlasted Conestoga senior Morgan Lofland, who was the Central League co-champion for the second year in a row, in a hard-fought 1-up victory. Lofland, playing out of Phoenixville Country Club, was the medalist with a brilliant 6-under 64 in Tuesday’s qualifying.

   “I’m really excited to have the opportunity to go out there and compete against a really good player,” Maddaloni told the GAP website in assessing his semifinal matchup with Ryan. “I’ve been hitting a lot of greens, not necessarily super close to the hole. But I’m getting on the green and rolling it well.”

   Haydu’s day had a pretty dramatic start, too, as he holed out a chip on the second hole of the playoff, the par-4 10^th at The 1912 Club, to earn a first-round match with John Cooley of Bidermann Golf Club. Haydu edged Bidermann, 1-up.

   That earned him a quarterfinal matchup with Merion Golf Club’s Charlie Baker, a recent Haverford School graduate who played a key role in each of the Fords’ three straight Inter-Ac crowns and finished third in last fall’s Bert Linton Inter-Ac individual championship at Gulph Mills Golf Club. Haydu pulled out a 3 and 2 decision over Baker.

   Dorey was the last survivor of the morning playoff, dropping an A wedge three feet from the hole from 132 yards away at the par-4 18^th hole to get himself a berth in the Championship Flight.

Dorey earned a 3 and 1 victory over Cardinal O’Hara standout Thomas Larkin, playing out of Paxon Hollow Country Club, in his opening-round match.

   Dorey then earned a semifinal match with Haydu by knocking off Carlisle Country Club’s John Peters, who finished in a tie for third with Ryan in the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a junior at Carlisle last fall, in a 3 and 2 decision.

   The First Flight semifinals Thursday morning will feature some talented players as well, led by Calen Sanderson, who shared second place behind Ryan in the District One Class AAA Championship at the Turtle as a sophomore at Holy Ghost Prep last fall.

   Sanderson, playing out of Jericho National Golf Club, will take on Jack Davis, another product of the junior program at Aronimink, in one semifinal while Philadelphia Country Club’s David Fitzgerald, a recent Harriton graduate, and Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Patrick Isztwan, the Inter-Ac’s top player in the regular-season individual standings as a junior at Penn Charter last fall, will square off in the other semifinal.

   Sanderson, a casualty of the Championship Flight playoff, edged Golden Oaks Golf Club’s Elijah Ruppert, who finished in a tie for third in the PIAA Class AA Championship as a junior at Brandywine Heights last fall, 2-up, in their quarterfinal match.

   Davis pulled out a 2 and 1 decision over William Pabst of Elmhurst Country Club to reach the semifinals.

   Fitzgerald had to go the distance to earn a 1-up victory over Loch Nairn Golf Club’s Evan Barbin, the youngest of the golfing Barbin family from Elkton, Md.

   Isztwan was a Championship Flight semifinalist a year ago, falling to Evan Barbin’s older brother Austin, the eventual champion, at Coatesville Country Club. He moved into the First Flight semifinals with a 5 and 3 victory over Matt Zerfass, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a sophomore at Emmaus last fall. Zerfass was representing Brookside Country Club in Macungie.