With Angelo Giantsopoulos, a senior from Canada, earning a share of medalist honors and Drue Nicholas, a sophomore from Egg Harbor Township, N.J., continuing his strong play, Drexel cruised to a nine-shot victory in the City 6 Championship hosted by Saint Joseph’s Saturday at Llanerch Country Club, the underrated Haverford Township layout.
Giantsopoulos offset four bogeys with five birdies to share medalist honors with La Salle’s Matt Werner, a senior from West Linn, Ore., each landing on 1-under-par 70 over the challenging 6,780-yard, par-71 Llanerch layout.
Nicholas, a St. Augustine Prep product, was coming off a scintillating performance that earned him the individual title in the ODU/OBX Intercollegiate at the Kilmarlic Golf Club in Powells Point, N.C. Nicholas matched par with a 71 to finish in a tie for third place with Saint Joseph’s graduate student Wills Montgomery, who starred scholastically at Downingtown East, and Villanova’s Noah Peck, a senior from Hunt Valley, Md.
Giantsopoulos and Nicholas helped the Dragons, who play out of the Colonial Athletic Association, put together a 3-over 287 total. Villanova, which plays out of the Big East, earned runnerup honors as the Wildcats finished nine shots behind Drexel with a 12-over 296 total.
Host Saint Joseph’s, an Atlantic 10 entry, was another three shots behind Villanova in third place with a 15-over 299 total. Temple, which plays out of the American Athletic Conference, was a snot behind the Hawks in fourth place with a 16-over 300.
La Salle, another Atlantic 10 entry, was three shots behind the Owls with a 19-over 303 total behind the strong showing by Werner as the Explorers finished in fifth place.
For some reason, Ivy League representative Penn did not join the field. The Quakers have teed it up in the City 6 in the past, but have not participated the last few years.
It was the second straight time Drexel has claimed the team title, head coach Ben Feld’s Dragons having captured the crown two years ago at Huntingdon Valley Country Club. The City 6 was a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 as none of the Philadelphia area teams played a fall schedule a year ago.
The City 6 is always a neat gathering of the region’s Division I golf teams. Many of the players on the rosters are local guys, familiar with the classic golf courses in the area like Llanerch, site of the 1958 PGA Championship. It’s not quite the Big 5 basketball rivalries at the Palestra of yore, but it’s the same concept. A one-day shootout at one of the great Philadelphia area golf courses at the end of the fall portion of the wraparound season seems just about right.
The win was Drexel’s second team crown of the fall as the Dragons also won the other tournament played locally, the Wildcat Fall Invitational hosted by Villanova at Radnor Valley Country Club at the end of September.
Giantsopoulos, who has been strong all fall, made bogeys at the first and sixth holes around a birdie at the second as he started a little slowly. But he got it going in the middle of the golf course with birdies at the seventh, ninth and 13th holes to get it to 2-under. Bogeys at the 14th and 17th holes dropped Giantsopoulos back to even-par, but he closed with a birdie on Llanerch’s short par-4 finishing hole to end up at 1-under.
Nicholas backed up Giantsopoulos with his even-par showing. Nicholas had blitzed Kilmarlic with a 12-under 201 total over three days earlier last week, helping Drexel claim runnerup honors to CAA rival Delaware in the team chase.
Jeffrey Cunningham, a senior from West Palm Beach, Fla., and junior Liam Hart, the 2017 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Holy Ghost Prep, backed up Giantsopoulos and Nicholas for Drexel as they landed in the three-way tie for sixth place, each posting a 2-over 73 to account for the Dragons’ last two counters. Hart finished with a flourish, going birdie-eagle at 17 and 18, respectively.
Griffin Mitchell, a sophomore from New Albany, Ohio, gave Drexel a fifth player in the top 10 as he was part of a six-player logjam tied for 10th place with a 4-over 75.
The small field in the City 6 allows for a sixth player for each team and Tafadzwa Nyamukondiwa, a freshman from Zimbabwe, rounded out the Drexel lineup as he registered a 6-over 77 to finish among the group tied for 18th place.
La Salle might have finished last in the team chase, but the Explorers got to celebrate the individual success for Werner. After making bogeys at the second and eighth holes, Werner jump-started his round with an eagle at the par-5 ninth hole. A birdie at the 13th hole got him to 1-under, but he gave the shot back with a bogey at 14. A birdie at the 16th hole enabled him to finish 1-under and get a share of the individual title with Giantsopoulos.
Joining Drexel’s Cunningham and Hart in the trio tied for sixth place at 2-over 73, a shot behind Nicholas, Montgomery and Peck, was Peck’s Villanova teammate Matthew Copeland, a graduate student from Maryville, Tenn.
It was a little bit of a disappointing day for Temple, which started off strong in the fall campaign, highlighted by a team win in the Cornell Invitational, but the Owls got a nice outing from junior Buddy Hansen, one of several players in the field produced by the strong La Salle High program in recent years. Hansen finished alone in ninth place with a 3-over 74.
A couple of Hansen’s Temple teammates, senior Dawson Anders, the 2017 Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys champion, and Ethan Whitney, a freshman from Westminster, Mass., joined Drexel’s Mitchell in the large group tied for 10th place at 4-over.
St. Joe’s had a couple of local scholastic standouts of recent vintage in senior J.T. Spina, a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Pope John Paul II, and sophomore Kevin Smith, who led Strath Haven to the 2019 Central League and District One Class AAA titles, in the group tied for 10th place at 4-over.
Rounding out the gang of six that signed for 75 was Villanova’s Luke Alexander, a junior from Rochester, Minn.
Villanova’s last counter came from Peter Weaver, a sophomore from Frontenac, Mo. who finished among the group tied for 28th place with a 77. Vimal Alokam, a freshman from Ypsilanti, Mich., finished in a tie for 23rd place for the Wildcats with a 79. Senior Matt Davis, a scholastic standout at Malvern Prep, rounded out the Villanova lineup as he registered an 80 to finish tied for 25th place.
Sophomore Steve Lorenzo, another of those La Salle High guys and a PIAA Class AAA Championship qualifier in 2018, was the final counter for Saint Joseph’s as he finished in a tie for 21st place with a 78. Jake Avery, a junior from Avon, Conn., finished in a tie for 23rd place with a 79. Rounding out the St. Joe’s lineup was James Gorman, a sophomore from Greenville, S.C. who finished in a tie for 27th place with an 81.
The final counter for Temple was Graham Chase, a sophomore from Charlotte, N.C. who joined the group tied for 16th place with a 76.
Junior Conor McGrath, who captured the BMW Philadelphia Amateur last summer at Cedarbrook Country Club, had a disappointing day with a 78 that left him tied for 21st place. McGrath, though, has been solid for head coach Brian Quinn’s Owls this fall.
Rounding out the Temple lineup was freshman Joey Morganti, who starred scholastically at St. Joseph’s Prep. Morganti is a product of the Llanerch junior program and probably put a little too much pressure on himself. He carded an 83 to finish in 30th place.
Backing up Werner for La Salle was Kristian Fortis, a junior from Key Largo, Fla. who finished in a tie for 16th place with a 76. Junior Nikita Romanov, a product of Delaware’s Mount Pleasant High and the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour, added a 77 to finish among the group tied for 18th place.
The final counter for La Salle came from redshirt freshman Matt Lafond, the 2019 Catholic League champion at La Salle who finished tied for 25th place with an 80.
A couple of freshmen, Alex Gekas and Ryan Smiley, rounded out the La Salle lineup as Gekas finished in a tie for 27th place with an 81 and Smiley was 29th with an 82.
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