In the 2023 Boys Varsity Golf season, the Latrobe golf team was able to find a large amount of success in many different ways. Not only did the team have two sophomores representing them in the individual WPIAL championships, and one at individual states. The team was also able to win the section and advance to the team playoffs as a top-seeded team. The team continued to play with confidence in the playoffs. They backed up their top seed by finishing 6th overall in the state, just a few strokes off of the top teams.
The team also found a lot of success in the individual championships with some young golfers. Sophomore golfers Jack Sacriponte and Parker Berk both qualified for the WPIAL championships despite their youth. The boys disregarded their lack of experience, and entered the opening rounds with confidence.
In the opening round of the WPIAL championships, the boys got to play at their home course, The Latrobe Country Club. This was a big deal for the boys as even though they are only sophomores they already have an advantage over the other golfers as they know this course. Latrobe is a very tight course and unforgiving for players golfing there for the first time. Jack said, “Latrobe is obviously a very tricky and tight course so I knew where to put it and most kids didn’t.” This clearly had an effect on the boys round as Jack finished with a final score of 79 and finished tied for 8th place, and Parker finished with a score of 81 putting him tied for 20th. These great rounds put both the boys in the top 30 and put them above the cutline, qualifying them for the 3A WPIAL finals. These sophomores were just playing in some of their first rounds at this high of stakes and both were able to qualify for the finals.
The 3A WPIAL finals were held at Willow Brook Country Club where the top 14 of the 39 golfers would advance. The boys once again impressed and not just for being there. Parker finished with an 87 and placed him at 34th. This brought Parker’s great season to an end. Incredible play from Parker down the stretch helped the team place 6th in the state and helped him make a run individually. This play in just his sophomore year gives Parker a good look in the future to be one of the team’s key leaders.
Jack once again had an incredible round, finishing with another 79. This left him tied for 12th and advancing to the Pennsylvania State Championships at Penn State University. Being able to play at this level in the championship rounds when it is just his
sophomore year says a lot about what he will be able to do going forward in his career with the confidence gained from this season. Jack said “It’s going to give me a big confidence boost. It will give me experience and going into my next two years I will have more confidence.” This early success has helped Jack also set more lofty but still reasonable goals for his next two seasons. Jack said, “Hopefully I can do what I did for the next two years and maybe win WPIALs or win states maybe.”
A big part of Jack’s success was the leaders on the team this year which helped him fit into a key role and play with more confidence. Jack looked to senior captain P.J. Germano as a source of leadership this season. Jack spoke on how P.J.’s leadership affected everyone on the team. “I’m really great friends with P.J. and him being the captain and being a senior so him taking me everywhere like practices was great. He was so nice to everyone on the team and helped everybody when they needed help like on the range or putting the small things like that.” Jack hopes to fill that leadership role as an upperclassmen next season with the seniors gone.
The look for the teams future thanks to these two’s play is bright and their ability to perform at this level in that type of situation can hopefully translate to good leadership for years to come. The golf team looks to continue with success for the future backed by consistent play from guys like Jack and Parker. The experience gained from these young golfers this year puts them a step ahead of most golfers their age from the area. That experience will help the team, as they look to finish even better than this season as individuals and as a team.
