What we learned from shocking results at Arcola Invitational golf tournament
PARAMUS – Ramapo produced a shocker by winning the team championship at the Arcola Invitational golf tournament.
Tenafly senior Michael Crosby followed with another stunner by winning the individual title in a playoff.
Ramapo rallied to edge Bergen Catholic by two strokes on Monday afternoon at overcast Arcola Country Club. The Green Raiders carded a shoot-five, count-four score of 311 and Bergen Catholic had 313 in North Jersey’s final 18-hole tune-up leading into league, county, sectional and state championships.
“This is an unbelievable win,” Ramapo coach Brian Gogerty said. “I have a group of guys this year who just love to play golf, and I can’t keep them off the golf course.”
Tenafly was a surprising third at 324, while favored Don Bosco and Northern Highlands tied for fourth at 330. Ridgewood and St. Joseph shared sixth at 332 in a 13-team field that featured almost every top Bergen County team.
Crosby joined Ramapo’s Harry Cohen and Bergen Catholic’s Ryder Hodgson in a playoff after the trio shot 2-over-par 74 on one of the most challenging courses a North Jersey higher schooler will encounter. Crosby won it by parring the par-4 10th with a 3-foot putt, while the other two had bogeys.
“There’s no better way to end this tournament,” Crosby said. “It’s my senior year and it’s making everything the best for last.”
Here’s what we learned at the Arcola Invitational:
The elite players
Crosby is capable of joining the list of players who can earn first-team All-North Jersey. On the playoff hole, he hit his drive right into the first cut of rough, hit his approach shot to the back of the green and two-putted from 20 feet. He was the only one on the green in two shots.
“It definitely opens up new horizons,” Crosby said. “It just makes me enjoy the game of golf even more.”
Ramapo rallies
Cohen has been on fire the previous couple of weeks and is a leading candidate for North Jersey Golfer of the Year. His teammates may have been the bigger story. Alex Jolakian birdied his final hole of the shotgun start for a 76, and Henry Nord carded 78. And Jordan Weiss held it together and played his final eight holes at 1-under for an 83.
“We’ve been losing to these schools a lot, so it’s good to get them back finally,” said Cohen, whose Green Raiders face Don Bosco on Tuesday and Bergen Catholic on Wednesday in nine-hole matches. “For this tough of a course, this was a really good score.”
Bergen Catholic finds a fourth
Bergen Catholic may have lost the Arcola battle, but it might have moved closer to winning bigger wars. Adam Sincavage, the Crusaders’ No. 4 player, shot 79 and that bodes well for a lineup that includes standouts Hodgson, Ryan Applin (78) and Liam White (82).
“We had it in our grasp with two or three holes to go and we let it slip away,” Bergen Catholic coach Jim Jacobsen said. “But I think we might have found our fourth guy. We’ve been waiting for Adam to come to life, and this should help us in the future.”
Tenafly has strong 1-2 punch
Crosby could join teammate Jayden Ko to give Tenafly one of North Jersey’s best 1-2 punches. Ko had 75 to finish fourth, one shot out of the playoff. Additionally, the Tigers secondary players were respectable, with Johnny Minnetian shooting 87 and Noah Rubach and Haewon Park each carding 88.
“To get third place, they all had to put up good scores,” Tenafly coach John Nicolai. “To have one person with the ability to shoot under 40 [for nine holes] is good. To have four people able to do it on any given day is extraordinary.”
Arcola Invitational
at Arcola CC, Paramus
Par: 72; Yardage: 6,390
Team scores
Ramapo 311
Bergen Catholic 313
Tenafly 324
Don Bosco 330
Northern Highlands 330
St. Joseph 332
Ridgewood 332
Old Tappan 344
River Dell 349
Ramsey 371
Glen Rock 378
Pascack Hills 380
Mahwah 386
Individuals
Michael Crosby, Tenafly 74*
Harry Cohen, Ramapo 74
Ryder Hodgson, Bergen Catholic 74
Jayden Ko, Tenafly 75
Alex Jolakian, Ramapo 76
Jun Chun, Old Tappan 76
Liam Moloney, St. Joseph 77
Henry Nord, Ramapo 78
Ryan Applin, Bergen Catholic 78
Adam Sincavage, Bergen Catholic 79
Michael Asselta, St. Joseph 79
Reese Taubin, Ridgewood 79
Stephen Viray, Don Bosco 80
Ryan Klarreich, Northern Highlands 80
Braden Bhalia, Ridgewood 80
Liam White, Bergen Catholic 82
Jordan Weiss, Ramapo 83
Lucas Hofmeister, Don Bosco 83
Aarush Malmandi, Don Bosco 83
Nico Pantello, Northern Highlands 83
Tommy Padilla, Northern Highlands 83
Matthew Volmar, River Dell 83
Nick Theodorou, Don Bosco 84
Chris Chiodo, Northern Highlands 84
Mike Buckley, Old Tappan 84
Julius Viray, Don Bosco 85
John Souva, St. Joseph 85
Alex Na, River Dell 85
Hayes Williams, Ridgewood 86
Johnny Minnetian, Tenafly 87
Parker Rollins, Ridgewood 87
Dylan Ayer, Ramsey 87
Brendan Burkhardt, Glen Rock 87
Haewon Park, Tenafly 88
Noah Rubach, Tenafly 88
Jaden Han, Mahwah 88
Adam Chu, River Dell 89
Ryan Ledlow, Ramsey 90
Noah Eide, Ramsey 90
Padraig Leahy, St. Joseph 91
SeongJune Bae, Northern Highlands 91
Tim Clune, Old Tappan 91
Sean Donahue, Pascack Hills 91
Owen Moynihan, Mahwah 91
Matthew Scipioni, River Dell 92
Dylan Sawyer, Pascack Hills 92
Jack Sposa, Ramapo 93
Matt Wall, Ridgewood 93
Ian Kim, Old Tappan 93
Dan Sadulah, Pascack Hills 95
Johnny Keyes, Bergen Catholic 96
Will Casper, Glen Rock 96
Kevin McKegney, Glen Rock 96
Luke Chang, Old Tappan 97
Jayden Na, River Dell 98
Tyson Noberto, Mahwah 99
Jack Gault, Glen Rock 99
*-Crosby won on first playoff hole
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Arcola Invitational golf tournament NJ: Takeaways, results
