After his team edged Mitty last week by a single stroke, Serra High golf coach Joe Hession wondered how the Padres pulled it off.
"Sometimes I wonder how we're doing it (beating some of the best teams in the Central Coast Section on a consistent basis)," he said. "We're not blowing anyone away, and we've had other teams here with more pure golf talent."
Led by Dennis Carson, who has been the medalist in all but one of Serra's matches this season, the Padres are in a familiar place -- on top of the West Catholic Athletic League. After yet another nail-biting win Thursday -- Serra edged Bellarmine 199-202 -- it improved to a league-best 10-1 and 11-1 overall.
Carson carded a 1-under 35 at Green Hills Country Club in Millbrae, while Brendan Young (39), Johnny O'Leary (42), Mike Domanico (41) and Dominic De Martini (42) rounded out the scoring. O'Leary sunk an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole at San Jose Muni last week in the win over Mitty.
Tim Byrne is also a regular in the rotation, and has had some of the best scores behind Carson in a couple of matches. Hession said the key has been finding balance behind Carson, who has had a breakout year.
"Carson has been steady as a rock and everyone is doing a good job of filling in around him," Hession said. "We just keep doing everything we need to do to be successful. We don't have a whole bunch of country club players; we have some muni guys who are just as good. We have some swings that are not pretty, but we just get the ball in the hole."
Under Hession, who is in his 14th year as Serra's coach, the Padres have won five WCAL and four CCS championships. Last year in league they swept both the round-robin slate and playoff tournament. Even though Serra is looking solid, it doesn't have the title locked up just yet.
The Padres have three matches against their chief competitors, two with St. Francis and one more with Bellarmine. Serra gets a chance to show its stuff on Monday when it competes in the De La Salle tournament, which is one of the most prestigious in the state. While this might not be Hession's most talented team, it can still be its most accomplished.
"We have some players who know how to work their way around the golf course and make good decisions," Hession said.
One thing Hession particularly enjoys about this team is the physical difference in some of his players, especially when Young and Byrne are paired up.
"Brendan probably weighs 120 pounds and Byrne 300," Hession said. "You should see these two guys when they're together. Brendan is one-half the size of Tim. We call Brendan our munchkin. He doesn't hit the ball a far way, but he's steady and puts it in the fairway. And he makes his putts. And this group probably makes more clutch shots than any team I've had here."
Emanuel Lee can be reached by e-mail: emanuel@smdailyjournal.com, or (650) 344 5200, ext. 109.
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LaurieHietter said:
Thank you, Lisa. I hope all of San Mateo reads this letter. More people need to know.
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