Scouting boys golf / Northwest

By Bill Esbrook

Daily Herald Correspondent

Mid-Suburban East

Prospect is banking on another successful season in the MSL East in 2012 after finishing 17-2 last year and sharing MSL conference championship honors with Barrington. The Knights return outstanding players Ryan Maloney, Jeff Blethen, Tyler Yarwood, Joey Corrado and Josh Johnson. It was Johnson who led the way for the champs in 2011 by advancing all the way to the state tournament in Bloomington, while Prospect as a team advanced out of regionals with a second-place finish at Deerfield Golf Course. Wheeling was a surprising second in the East last season and returns a solid 1-2 punch in seniors Jack Ferguson and Zach Nauert. “Both of those golfers have a lot of experience,” said Wildcats coach Mark Menich. “I look for them to carry our team, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see either one of them or both go downstate.” Menich also expects Jeremiah Levin, Jake Jordan, Winston Derry, Zach Boesen, Jorge Rodriguez and Tommy Winkelman to make solid contributions. “These guys all have the potential,” added Menich, “but we just have to see if they can reach that potential.

Hersey will be as competitive as ever behind a senior-laden squad that includes Grant Manno, Matt Haussmann, David Milligan and Nick Starkman. The Huskies will also count on a couple of dynamic underclassmen as big things are expected out of juniors Kenny Mleko, who already medaled this year at the Rolling Green Invite by firing a 74, and Matt Johnstone. Kyle Adams will also be in the mix. Elk Grove boasts one of the top players in the area in senior Ryan White, who just missed out on advancing to Bloomington in 2011. “He’s going to make a strong push this year,” said Grenadiers coach Mike Meyer. “That’s a goal of ours, to get him to state.” But the Grens won’t be a one-man team as Meyer counts on seniors Anthony Stacey, Thomas Nickolson and Tom Valdez, and juniors Connor Loughlin, Anthony Dianchini and Jake Anderson. New to Elk Grove’s roster this season will be three more juniors; Devin Chey, Jack Valente and Scott Furlong. “I expect us to be very consistent,” said Meyer, “and I’ll be disappointed if we don’t finish at least in the middle of the pack in the MSL.”

Rolling Meadows also strides to the tee behind an experienced, top-line player in senior Dan Wojtowicz, who won four Illinois Junior Golf Association tournaments over the summer. “I expect us to get off to a solid start,” said Mustangs coach Rob Bowers, “and off our performance of last season, I think we’ll finish in the top half of the league standings.” Bowers has a lot of firepower as the roster will include seniors Jake Hill, Pat O’Neill, Mike Nugent and Matt Kuzniar, and juniors Alex Miller, Sean Behrens (who also had an outstanding summer) and Gino Tunzi. Buffalo Grove has an experienced squad as coach Peter Duffer says that juniors Brandon Matchen, Matt Froemming and Matt Eilrich all “played a significant amount of varsity matches last year — and I expect consistent play from them this year.” Duffer will also count on Anisse Chaker, a four-year player, and Scott Bissonnette, another four-year standout who the coach says has “made quite a few off-season adjustments and improvements. Other Bison players will include Nick Carpinelli and Trent Day. “We hope to be competitive this year,” said Duffer. “I feel that we can move into an improved position in conference and have some success with the 18-hole events.”

Mid-Suburban West

Barrington will hope to occupy its usual position at the top of the division and repeat as conference champs. They’ll have a great head start with the return of Greg Conrad, last year’s Mid-Suburban League individual champion. The Broncos were regional and sectional titleists in 2011 and advanced as a team to the state tourney. “We’re looking forward to another exciting year,” said Barrington coach Mike Kallenbach, “where we hope to win conference again and make a repeat trip to state.” Also in the fray for the perennially successful Broncos will be Nick Schippel, Mike Ross, Garrett Danelz, Connor Maytnier and Greg Powell. Fremd is looking forward to a “very exciting year,” according to coach Josh Teschner. Seniors Zach Isoda (a former state qualifier), Zack Schutz, Gibsyn Martin and AJ Markowski will lead the Vikings, and juniors Josh Rosenzweig and Jamie Drost should assist with some low scores. “Josh, Jamie and Zach are three of the most talented and experienced players in the conference,” added Teschner.

Conant has great hopes to repeat as a regional champion behind a group of stellar seniors, but coach Jerry Song says to watch out for his underclassmen as well. “My expectations are high,” said Song. “We have a solid bunch of juniors that will push our seniors. Coming off our first regional championship and seeing what it takes to compete at a high level really opened up their eyes.” Ryan Curran (Sr.), Ryan Bailey (Sr.), Zach Piepho (Sr.) and juniors Jonathan Chang, Michael Mayers and Zach Prill will be at the forefront for the Cougars. Palatine was fourth overall in the MSL last year, its best finish in years, and senior captains Sean Temple and Anthony DePersia return to lead the Pirates attack. “We’re hoping to maintain or even improve on our position in the conference,” said Palatine coach Mark Johnson. “If all the pieces fit into place, I think we could challenge for the conference title.” Also competing for the Pirates will be seniors Matt Lynch and Will Baumgartner, juniors Tim Klein and Preston Towers and sophomore Tom Broders.

Hoffman Estates fields a junior-laden lineup behind top players David Rohlfing, Matt DeCarlo, Matt Davis and Clayton Zolp. “We’re going to need all four of those guys to work hard everyday and lead the team,” said Hawks coach Dave Grabarek. “We are going to be very young at the varsity level, and these juniors will be the key to any success we have.” Schaumburg returns seniors Matt Flasza, Carmen Valerio, John Imber and Wasuwat Sierchsireol to what coach Chris Zickert hopes will be a very competitive lineup. “We’ve got a strong group of upperclassmen,” said Zickert, “and also a quality group of underclass support. Matt and Carmen had succesful summers in different tournaments and we’ll look to them to provide a good core.” Also on the squad will be Tom Hartney, Kyle Didier and Jeff Barash, all juniors.

CSL North

Maine West has five seniors coming back from a squad that set a school record for victories in 2011, three individual sectional qualifiers and a state qualifier (Tom Kukec). Kukec retuns along with Tony Volk, Justin Mustari, Ken Fester and Matt Gutzeit. “We have seven of our top nine golfers back from last year,” said long-time Warriors coach Mike Godlewski. “Hopefully we can equal or better our record from last season and qualify multiple players to sectionals and state.”

WSC Gold

Patrick Barnett, a senior, returns to help the cause of Leyden. Barnett consistently scored in the low 40s in 9-hole matches in 2011, and he’ll get help this year from seniors Cody Hankins and Kyle Acevedo. “We’ve got six seniors on our team and also three juniors that contributed last year as sophomores,” said Eagles coach Steve Siekierski, “so we bring back a lot of experience and talent — we just need to perform.” Leyden may also get some assistance from a sophomore standout, Jennifer Feliciano, who has been impressive in the off-season and will play on the boys squad as the Eagles do not field a girls team.