Allentown golf prepping for postseason play
"We really want to win the sectional this year. We're in the same division as Princeton, so it's very tough to challenge for the division title, because they're very strong again this year." - Doug Hunt Allentown High School golf coach
BY DOUG McKENZIE Correspondent
TheAllentownHigh School boys golf teamentered the spring with some lofty expectations.

With some prognosticators calling the Redbirds the team to beat in the Central and South Jersey Group II section, head coach Doug Hunt's team had very little room for error when the season began. The good news is the Redbirds have accepted the challenge and appear to be on their way toward living up to all the preseason hype.

"We're doing pretty well so far," Hunt said. "We're 7-2 coming off an excellent match last Thursday, where we beat Notre Dame, 194-196. Our school record (for the course) is 192, so that was a very good match for us."

Coming off a 15-3 season that saw the Redbirds finish second in the state sectional tournament to Lower Cape May (306-308), Allentown returned a bevy of seniors and juniors from that team. And that group has picked up right where it left off last spring.

Allentown could very easily be 8-1 at this point.

"We lost to Rumson-Fair Haven by one stroke, 163-164," Hunt said. "That was another very good match."

RFH head coach Craig Stoll agreed, saying Allentown is every bit as good as he'd heard.

"That's a very strong team and we were fortunate to beat them," he said. "The home-course advantage is very big in golf, and it was for us that day. Our kids knew the course very well, and that gave us just enough strokes to win."

Allentown's other loss came to the state's third-ranked team from Princeton.

"I wish I could say that one was close too, but it wasn't," Hunt said. "They beat us 193-214." Allentown will get another shot at Princeton next Thursday when the Tigers come to CreamRidge Country Club.

The Redbirds are led by junior Mike Argondizza, who is a legitimate No. 1 golfer, averaging just over 38 strokes per nine holes.

"The rest of the kids are pretty close after that," Hunt said. "Their averages are separated by literally tenths of a point. Senior Mike Novozinsky is our No. 2 right now and is averaging about 40, though that was hurt by one bad round where he shot 46. Junior Nick Salemme and senior C.J. Nafus are our third and fourth starters."

SeniorWillMorris is just getting over a case of strep throat, but should strengthen the team with his return. Hunt has the luxury of a very deep team this spring, enabling him to mix up the lineup.

"I've played quite a few kids so far," he said. "I mix it up as much as I can.We've played a pretty tough part of the schedule early on, so some of the other kids will be getting their shots in the coming weeks."

Players like seniors Chris Ripa, Joe Cook, Brendan Smith and Keith Fernandez, as well as juniors Ben Lawrence and Chris Polvere, will all see time in the starting lineup in the next few weeks.

With so many talented golfers on one roster, Hunt runs the risk of alienating some of them with a lack of playing time. However, he said that has not been the case thus far.

"I'm lucky to have a great group of kids; whatever I give them, they're fine with," Hunt said. "They get along great, get out and practice well, and really make it pretty easy on me. People think I know what I'm doing because of them."

Today, the Redbirds are taking aimat the Monmouth County Tournament, being held at the Hominy Hill Country Club in Howell. Many of the Redbirds played the course over the weekend in the hope of shaving some strokes off last year's total.

"I believe we finished either seventh or eighth, but from what I remember, we did not play that well there last year," Hunt said. "It's a difficult course when you don't play it very often. It's a very long course, which isn't really much of a problem for most of these kids today. It sure is for me, though."

Allentown will be facing a loaded field that includes the likes of Christian BrothersAcademy, RFH,Wall Township, St. John Vianney and Marlboro - all of which are among the Shore Conference's top teams expected to challenge for the title.

From there, the Redbirds will turn their focus to the upcoming state sectional on May 12 at Centerdon Golf Course in South Jersey.

"We really want to win the state sectional this year," Hunt said. "We're in the same division as Princeton, so it's very tough to challenge for the division title, because they're very strong again this year."

In preparation for the sectional, Allentown has been working hard to improve in all facets of the game.

"Some guys need to improve with the putter, while other guys have other areas where they need to improve," Hunt said. "We have one guy who's doing well at everything but off the tee. We're just going to get a lot of practice in and get all the pieces of the puzzle together.

"That's going to happen one day," he added. "This is a group of kids that can shoot some very low scores. They could definitely win the state sectional if they play well and those pieces of the puzzle come together."