Prospect, Stevenson survive regional

Through 14 holes, Prospect knew it had work to do.

After hearing about the scores from the likes of Glenbrook North, Stevenson and Deerfield, Prospect coach Tom Martindale urged his team to make a push.

And push they did.

The Knights’ top four of Ryan Kowalski (73), Neil O’Grady (73), Joey Corrado (78) and Josh Johnson (78) combined to make 7 birdies over those final four holes to vault the team into second place in regional play at Deerfield Golf Club and advance to next week’s Fremd sectional.

Prospect (302) trailed only Glenbrook North (293) and barely edged out Stevenson (304) and Deerfield (305).

“We heard there was some scoring going on (from other teams), so we knew we had to make birdies,” Martindale said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen something like this. That was some unbelievable play down the stretch.”

Kowalski shot 40 on the front but recovered to birdie 15, 17 and 18, including a 35-foot putt on 17. Corrado birdied 17 and 18, Johnson birdied 18 and O’Grady, who Martindale called the team’s “rock,” birdied 18.

“We were fortunate,” Martindale said. “We could have been on the outside looking in. The kids made some big time shots and putts. It was lights-out.”

While most of the Knights struggled on the front, O’Grady played consistent throughout the day shooting 37 on the front and an even-par 36 on the back.

“I was hitting my irons solid and hitting every fairway,” O’Grady said. “We felt some pressure. It was definitely one of my best days but I was more focused on getting us through as a team.”

Stevenson was the third and final team qualifier. The Patriots got strong outings from Nick Geissler (75), Amaran Sandhu (75), Jack Spellman (76) and Reed Aren (78) to extend their season at least another week. Sandhu shot his low round of the season.

“We played well on the front, and we were just trying to hang on at the end,” said Stevenson coach John Rueth. “As a team, our main goal was to get out of here. At the sectional, everyone starts over. To get downstate is going to be very tough. We’ll see what happens.”

Grant Manno (75) qualified individually for a Hersey squad that shot a respectable 319. Manno wasn’t particularly pleased with how he played but birdies on 14, 15 and 16 more than made up for it.

“My energy changed,” Manno said of the difference between a 35 on his first 9 holes and a 40 on the second 9. “I didn’t eat after nine holes. But my irons were perfect today. I can’t complain about them.”

Luke DeTrempe (75), Tim Orlowski (77) and Sam Masini (77) of St. Viator were also individual qualifiers while Robert Renner (83) got a hole-in-one on the par 3 13th hole. The Lions shot 309 to finish fifth.