Beavers shine in new division

By Chris Villani

Blackstone Valley Tech golf coach Craig Allen was driving home after a rained out state tournament with Leopaul Gamelin and Charlie Leighton and the trio reminisced on what was a stellar season.

“If you had told us at the start of the year that we would go undefeated, and win the league championship in a very tough bracket, I think we all would have been surprised,” Allen said, noting that Valley Tech played in a new league this year with a group that included Hopedale, Whitinsville Christian, AMSA, Nipmuc, and Keefe Tech in CMAC Division B.

Leopaul Gamelin earned medalist honors in 10 matches, finishing with a 36.6 stroke average. Courtesy photo

BVT not only ran the table in its league, it also knocked off Grafton to win the Highfields Cup, named for the course where both teams play.

“They had 10 seniors and we had not seen them all year,” Allen said. “We beat them by one stroke, which was cool.”

Gamelin led the way for the Beavers this fall and has aspirations of playing college golf. Fellow senior Ayden Joseph earned the number two stroke average through the fall.

“They both worked on their games extremely hard over the summer,” Allen said. “They just had phenomenal seasons.”

Leighton bounced back from a slow start to the season to finish tied for third in the sectional tournament, an event where Gamelin shared the medalist honors. Allen teased Leighton, telling him that he had to adjust to a body strengthened by a summer of hard work at his trade.

Two more seniors, Matteo Lame and Evan Griffin, were consistent contributors throughout the year, their fourth with the program.

“I kept them as freshmen because I could see they had a lot of potential and over the years they both grew and grew, and they both ended up scoring in matches and helping us out.”

Junior Drew Shanahan also ‘moved up in the ranks,’ Allen said. “He played in the number four spot for us. He just played golf all summer. He played in tournaments and sharpened his game.”

Two more juniors, Chase O’Connell and Nathaniel Nelson, came on strong by the end of the stellar Valley Tech season.

In addition to the success on the golf course, Allen pointed out that many of his players are in similar trades and take classes together. It helped strengthen their bond during the season.

“They all just meshed, they all got along,” Allen said. “They all wanted to get the better of each other in practice and it made them really competitive. It was a really nice season.”