STATE CHAMPIONS: St. Anthony boys' golf brings home fifth state championship in program history; Trupiano earns medalist honors

Oct. 9—Joey Trupiano stared down his putt as it inched closer and closer to the hole on the 18th green at Bloomington's Prairie Vista Golf Course Saturday.

As soon as the ball found the bottom of the cup, the St. Anthony sophomore clinched his fists while Bulldog fans and teammates were huddled together in the background, hollering and clapping their hands. Trupiano had just sunk a birdie putt and, in doing so, secured St. Anthony the program's fifth state championship.

"I was nervous; I was trying to make a par and win it for my team," Trupiano said. "I hit a good drive and second shot and made a great putt; it was a huge putt. Whenever I made that, I lifted the biggest fist bump ever. I went numb; I was so excited."

The Bulldogs finished with a four-man score of 297 on Saturday and a 618 score overall.

St. Anthony defeated Chicago Latin by five strokes. Elmhurst IC Catholic was third with a two-day total of 630. Winnetka North Shore Country Day was fourth with a team score of 639. Byron was fifth with a team score of 671. Carthage Illini West was sixth with a team score of 675. Monticello was seventh with a team score of 678, and Litchfield was eighth with a team score of 684.

"It's always nice to bring home hardware," Bulldogs' head coach Phil Zaccari said. "You put the time in, and the booster club gives us enough money to help us do this, so it's always nice to go home with a reward."

According to the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) website, since boys' golf transitioned to three classes in 2007, St. Anthony has qualified for the state tournament 11 times and has brought home five trophies. They have won it three times since then, tying Byron for the most.

Personally, Zaccari has been at the forefront of all five state titles; what he hasn't had a lot of, though, are individual champions.

Heading into the weekend, Zaccari coached one player that went on to win an individual state title — until Saturday.

Trupiano became the second Bulldogs' golfer in history to capture the individual crown.

Mike Imburgia won it in 2002 after carding a two-day total of 147.

Trupiano was one shot shy of tying that number. He shot a three-over-par 75 on the first day and a one-over-par 73 on the second.

After the first day, Trupiano was in a tie for fifth place.

When the round ended Saturday, though, Trupiano told Zaccari that he didn't realize he was in contention.

Trupiano ended up tying Litchfield junior Tug Schwab after both rounds, with both settling the top spot on the leaderboard in a playoff, which Trupiano ended on the first hole.

However, it didn't go as smoothly as Trupiano may have wanted.

Trupiano opened the first playoff hole by hooking his tee shot to the right, right to the side of a tree.

The lefty did have a good look at the green, though, with his second shot landing on the putting surface.

"I had a full swing; it spun perfectly toward the hole," Trupiano said.

From there, Trupiano two-putted for par before getting congratulated by his teammates.

Overall, Zaccari said that Trupaino never waivered throughout the day. He did what his head coach suggested, and it ended up paying off.

"All we talked about was staying in a routine, and he did exactly that. It's so nice when a plan comes together," Zaccari said.

Trupiano wasn't the only one to finish strong, though.

Freshman Coen Pennington fired a two-over-par 74 after a nine-over-par 81 on Friday.

"I played well on the second day; the first was an off day, but you always have those, so you have to bounce back and do what you can to make the team win," Pennington said. "I got off to a good start and cruised from there."

Pennington shot an even-par 36 on the front and a two-over-par 38 on the back. He had four birdies.

To Pennington, though, bringing home a state championship is much more meaningful.

"It's really exciting. Hopefully, we can do this every year," Pennington said.

Pennington wasn't the only one to have that same feeling; junior Lane Ludwig was also in that same boat.

"It feels great. We've worked hard for this, and it feels great to bring back a state championship," Ludwig said.

Ludwig fired a five-over-par 77 on the second day after a nine-over-par 81 on the first.

He finished with the fourth-best score on the team.

Senior Jonathan Willenborg finished with the third-best score after a one-over-par 73.

Willenborg made four birdie putts, including one on the 13th hole that led to a fist pump afterward.

"Jonathan did so great today," Zaccari said.

"He was disappointed with yesterday, and then we got together and talked a little bit and said to take care of tomorrow, and he did. It was so nice for him to get this round to finish with and be a central part of it."

Heading into the final day, Willenborg said that he did feel nervous when looking at the leaderboard. St. Anthony entered play nine strokes behind Chicago Latin.

That feeling wasn't new, though, especially to Willenborg and fellow senior Michael Martelli.

Both individuals have an innate ability to bounce back, which is what they've done their entire high school careers.

Willenborg and Martelli did not qualify for the state tournament as freshmen, had to endure a pandemic-shortened season in 2020, and did not place as juniors one year ago.

Now, they can be called state champions, and Willenborg wouldn't have it any other way.

"It's everything," said Willenborg with a wide smile. "We've worked hard all summer, and it's what we've been thinking about all year. We came up here about 10 times this summer to play this course to be able to be state champs, and it's just an incredible feeling."

Martelli added that even though he didn't play his best golf during the weekend, he still had the utmost confidence in his team.

"I didn't play my best golf this weekend, but I was really happy. I was cheering on my teammates; I knew they could do it," Martelli said. "I told them Friday night — we had a meeting with the top six — and I told them, 'I have faith in you; Jonathan, and I have faith in you. It's going to be our last round together,' and we love the group of guys we had this year.

"I knew we could get it done."

Martelli finished with an 11-over-par 83.

What he did do, though, was get things rolling for his team on the first hole.

Martelli birdied his first hole of the day to set the tone for the entire team.

"The neatest thing about Michael was that we needed someone to get us started. He went birdie, boom, and then, suddenly, we had another birdie," Zaccari said.

Junior Preston Phillips followed Martelli's birdie with back-to-back birdies — his only birdies of the day — before Willenborg birdied back-to-back holes on the third and fourth holes. Trupiano also birdied two holes during that opening four-hole stretch, while Pennington birdied one.

Altogether, that opening series of holes was all the Bulldogs needed to gain the confidence and swagger to ultimately hoist the large state championship trophy with "State Champions, 2022 Class 1A Boys Golf," engraved at the bottom over their heads.

Contact EDN Sports Editor Alex Wallner at 618-510-9231 or alex.wallner@effinghamdailynews.com.