Bergen Catholic dominates at Arcola Invitational by Greg Mattura of The Record
PARAMUS – Bergen Catholic straightened itself out and appears poised to contend for titles in every golf tournament that lies ahead in May.
NV/Old Tappan looks ready to challenge for multiple championships.
And Midland Park has emerged as a small-school powerhouse.
Top-ranked Bergen Catholic dominated Monday’s Arcola Boys Invitational at cold, windy and rainy Arcola Country Club – the final 18-hole test before league, sectional and state championships.
In a 14-team event that featured most of the Bergen County elite, Bergen Catholic carded a shoot-five, count-four score of 303 to finish 15 strokes ahead of NV/Old Tappan. Don Bosco was third at 341 and Midland Park fourth at 351.
Remarkably, Bergen Catholic’s quintet all finished among the top six: Junior Will Celiberti was medalist with 3-over-par 74, and senior Chris Lee was runner-up with 75. Senior James Pak and junior Brandon Valvano shot 77 apiece to tie for fourth, and senior Jason Salameno tied for sixth with 78.
“I think it shows we have a good mental game going into play tough conditions,” said Celiberti, who birdied his final hole.
“Five players in the 70s on any day is a very, very good score, but on a day like today it was absolutely terrific,” said Bergen Catholic coach Jim Jacobsen, whose team has its sights set on Big North, sectional and Tournament of Champions titles. “Cold, windy and wet, that’s a good comeback.”
“Before this event, we were not playing the best we could,” said Lee, referring to a trio of third-place finishes in their previous tournaments. “We were putting up numbers higher than we should have been, but finally putting some solid numbers up is a big confidence boost going into the rest of the season.”
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Northern Valley at Old Tappan, bidding this year for a third consecutive state Group 3 title, was solid en route to its 318. Ryan Lee was third with 76, while fellow senior Sam Yom tied for sixth with 78.
“We’re very happy with a 318 – the conditions were really difficult,” said coach Tom Quinn, whose Golden Knights hope to challenge Bergen Catholic for Big North and TOC titles. “We’re right there, and we’re excited about the next three weeks, and we’re going to give it our best shot. That’s all we can ask.”
Midland Park made its debut at the Arcola Invitational and finishing fourth was a smashing success. The Panthers, who next week are favored to win the NJIC Championship, were led by junior Joe Furlong, who tied for sixth with 78.
“We didn’t put up our best score,” said Furlong, “but we can compare it to the other great teams [in Bergen County] and see where we can go from there.”
Arcola Boys Invitational
at Arcola CC, Paramus
Par: 71; Yardage: 6,400
TEAM SCORES
Bergen Catholic 303
NV/Old Tappan 318
Don Bosco 341
Midland Park 351
Ramsey 352
Glen Rock 355
Pascack Hills 357
Ridgewood 357
Mahwah 363
St. Joseph 372
Ramapo 375
Tenafly 395
River Dell 403
Paramus 420
INDIVIDUALS
Will Celiberti, Bergen Catholic 74
Chris Lee, Bergen Catholic 75
Ryan Lee, NV/Old Tappan 76
James Pak, Bergen Catholic 77
Brandon Valvano, Bergen Catholic 77
Jason Salameno, Bergen Catholic 78
Joseph Furlong, Midland Park 78
Sam Yom, NV/Old Tappan 78
Jordan Rarich, Ridgewood 78
Shawn Blandine, Don Bosco 80
Jake Torres, NV/Old Tappan 81
Drew Hliboki, St. Joseph 82
Min Jun Choi, Glen Rock 83
Chan Park, NV/Old Tappan 83
Sean Choi, Ramsey 83
Liam Heffernan, Don Bosco 84
Nick Cowan, Mahwah 84
Kyle Spielman, Pascack Hills 84
Spencer Chatfield, Pascack Hills 84
John Leighton, Ramsey 84
Cole Merlino, Ramapo 85
Jesse Henderson, River Dell 86
Spencer Jeffries, Glen Rock 87
Chris Rauchet, Don Bosco 88
Joe Back, NV/Old Tappan 88
Mike Posma, St. Joseph 88
Sagar Ohri, Glen Rock 89
Joe Viera, Don Bosco 89
Mikey Folignani, Midland Park 89
Matt Grayson, Tenafly 89
Matt Dudek, Don Bosco 90
Corey O’Keefe, Midland Park 90
Jack Fetherston, Ramsey 90
Kevin Pushie, Mahwah 91
Marcus Kang, Paramus 91
James Kessler, Mahwah 92
Calvin Wang, Ridgewood 92
Alex Miller, River Dell 92
Jarrett Bierman, Pascack Hills 93
Davis Weil, Ridgewood 93
Sean Furlong, Midland Park 94
Matthew Altomare, Ramapo 94
Evan Pillow, Ridgewood 94
Alex Kwon, Tenafly 94
Matt Diani, Midland Park 95
Bryan Schwab, Ramapo 95
Michael Pevny, Ramsey 95
Liam Krey, St. Joseph 95
Leo Taras, Glen Rock 96
Tyler Ziman, Mahwah 96
Benji Polson, Pascack Hills 96
Brody Boucher, Mahwah 98
Dylan Miller-Jones, Glen Rock 99
Aiden Frazier, Ramsey 99
Peyton Berger, Ramapo 101
Scott Chung, Paramus 105
J.A. West, Pascack Hills 105
Noah Kaldenhoven, Tenafly 106
Calvin Chen, Tenafly 106
Brett Buckman, St. Joseph 107
Michael Altomare, Ramapo 109
Jon Reveille, Paramus 110
Ryan Bogdanski, St. Joseph 110
Justin Brown, River Dell 112
Stephen Mills, River Dell 113
Adian Cullen, Paramus 114
Ryan Soehnel, Paramus 114
Jungann Park, Tenafly 118
Nick Mun, River Dell 125