By Katie Cavaca and Lauren Marcinkowski
Class of 2012 and 2010
When you think of the Walpole High School Rebels Golf Team, you might not guess that two players in the top eight are freshmen. This year the Rebel Golf Team, despite losing many of their senior players, is not a sinking ship; they are staying afloat with the help of freshman standouts Matt Bender and John MacDonald. The success that the WHS Golf Team has had this year can often be attributed to the hard work and good play of these two freshman athletes.
Bender often teams up with senior Corey Menno, but he measures up well with the senior captain. In fact, in the season opener on September 3 against Dedham, Bender shot a 43, an impressive score for a young player. Besides playing with Menno, Bender is also paired with junior Andrew Gambon quite often.
This season has been a huge success for Bender. He has won the majority of his matches, only losing and tying a few. With his lowest score being a 40 and his highest never exceeding 50, it’s tough to beat this freshman sensation.
Bender hit a rough patch in the middle of October. He had two tough losses back to back against Wellesley on the fifteenth and then Brookline on the seventeenth. The following Monday he tied against Milton. Bender began to bounce back and then on Tuesday, September 21 he shot an impressive 43 against their ultimate rivals, the Norwood Mustangs. He came out of his slump with flying colors and has been on a winning streak ever since.
Meanwhile, another freshman who is shaking things up is John MacDonald. He also only lost and tied a slim number of matches. In order to prepare for the season MacDonald said, “I spent a lot of time at the club getting to know the green.” He is often paired with senior Jake Donovan, and the two seem to play well together. MacDonald shot an unbelievable 31 against Natick, and his highest score hasn’t exceeded 53. He moved up to play in Match 3 against Dedham on September 24 and then Needham on September 29. When asked about his feelings towards getting moved up MacDonald said, “It’s good or bad depending on how we play. If we play well then our teammates are happy for us.” Thankfully, he shot a 40 in his individual match against Dedham and his fellow team mates must have been quite happy for him.
The team this year was not expected to do as well as they did. Besides Bender and MacDonald, the team was loaded with many other unexpected talents. Senior captain, Corey Menno consistently played in match one this season and shot some of the lowest scores on the team. Another player that did exceptionally well was Kyle Donnelly. He moved around between playing in matches two and three, and also shot the lowest score in the tournament. Brendan Maloney also contributed a great deal to the success of this season, moving around quite a bit amongst matches.
The Rebels played Weymouth on October 6 and won, giving them a bid into this year’s tournament. On Monday the Rebel Golf Team competed in the high school golf tournament at Easton Country Club. The tournament consisted of ten teams that are in Division II South. Corey Menno, Jake Donovan, Brendan Maloney, Kyle Donnelly, John MacDonald, and Matt Bender were the top six rebel golfers this season; therefore, they got to compete in the tournament. The top five scores were taken and added together to get a team score. Donovan shot an 89, Menno shot an 88, Bender shot an 86, MacDonald shot an 83, Maloney shot an 82 and Donnelley shot the lowest score, and 80. The Rebels came in last place with a team score of 334. In order to advance into the finals the rebels would have had to place in the top two. The results of the tournament definitely do not reflect the season that the rebels had. This year they went 11-7, and had many victorious wins. Although, they did face some difficult losses and tough competition. All of these successes were not expected to be accomplished this year and the rebels exceeded peoples’ expectations. Many key seniors graduated last spring leaving this years team made up of mostly young players. It wasn’t easy, but with the help of some up and coming freshmen the team was able to break 500 and get a bid into the tournament. Overall, the season was successful and the team achieved many things that were earlier deemed near impossible.
