DCC Closes Perfect Spring with Repeat
June 11, 2016
By Paul Morgan
Special for Second Half
ALLENDALE – Even though Detroit Catholic Central led after Friday’s first round of the Lower Peninsula Division 1 golf tournament, coach Mike Anderson knew things weren’t just right.
‘’On the drive up and during breakfast on Friday morning the guys were very quiet,’’ Anderson said. ‘’Today, it was back to normal, having fun.’’
Ben Smith was the Shamrocks’ poster child for quiet-Friday, fun-Saturday. The junior shot a 6-over par 78 for the first round, but came back for a 2-under 70 on Saturday to help DCC repeat as MHSAA champion.
The Shamrocks shot 299-298 – 597 for the two-day tournament, held at The Meadows at Grand Valley State University. Grosse Pointe South was second with rounds of 302-303 – 605.
Battle Creek Lakeview’s Andrew Walker won a one-hole playoff over Plymouth’s Jack Boczar to take medalist honors. Each shot a 143. The championship was Walker's second straight.
Smith and junior James Piot (71-77 – 148) have been the leaders on Catholic Central’s team, according to Anderson.
‘’As it turned out James had a good first day and Ben had a good second day, so it worked out pretty well,’’ the coach said.
The turnaround for Smith was pretty simple.
‘’Today, I think I missed like two fairways and Friday I think I hit only two fairways,’’ Smith said. ‘’On the first day, it wasn’t really nerves, but I just wasn’t hitting it well and I couldn’t find the fairway, which leads to problems on this course.
‘’Overall, I played really well, but I left a few shots out there. I three-putted twice for par and missed a couple of short ones, but that’s going to happen.’’
Three holes on the back nine were crucial for Smith and his teammates. The junior double-bogeyed the par-3 13th hole, but came back with a birdie on the par-5 14th and then drained a long putt on the par-4 15th for a par.
‘’After making the double bogey, I used that to motivate me to play better,’’ he said. ‘’Luckily, I had that short par five and it’s a birdie hole.
‘’I was thinking to hit a drive out there, put it on in two and either get an eagle or birdie, which is what I did.’’
Added Anderson: ‘’Ben’s played well all year and Friday was his worst round of the season.’’
Also in the top five for Catholic Central was senior Max Palmer (75-75 – 150), junior Sean Niles (75-76 – 151) and junior Sean Sooch (79-83 – 162). Anderson is all smiles when thinking about next year and having to replace just one player.
‘’They didn’t lose an event all year,’’ Anderson said. ‘’All the boys on our team are going to play college golf and they have bright futures.’’
That goes all the way to Catholic Central’s ninth golfer.
‘’My sixth-through-nine golfers could make anyone’s top five,’’ he said. ‘’They will probably play college golf and they can’t make their high school top-five.’’
The all-smiles thing can be said about Grosse Pointe South coach Doug Roby, who isn’t losing a player off his top five. The Blue Devils’ scores were junior Oliver Livingston (71-74 – 145), sophomore Evan Theros (73-75 – 148), junior John Schoof (80-75 – 155), freshman Coalter Smith (78-79 – 157) and sophomore Patrick Sullivan (82-82 – 164).
‘’The kids played well both days,’’ Roby said. ‘’Friday night, we reviewed where we potentially gave away some strokes and it was in the last four holes.
‘’One of the things with this team is our play in that stretch. We just came up short today.’’
Actually, it was most of Catholic Central’s players getting off to hot starts, which put Grosse Pointe South in a position of playing catch-up all day. As a team, the Shamrocks had a seven-stroke lead over the Blue Devils after six holes.
‘’We talked about continuing to do the same things we’ve done all year,’’ Anderson said about the Saturday pep talk. ‘’We have to play our game, which is hitting greens and fairways, making good decisions and taking the double bogey out of play.’’
In doing so, the Shamrocks won the school’s fourth MHSAA golf championship in the past 13 years.
After DCC and Grosse Pointe South, the rest of the team scoring was Grand Blanc 617, Warren DeLaSalle 618, Midland 620, Battle Creek Lakeview 622, Detroit U-D Jesuit 624, Plymouth 630, Bloomfield Hills 632, Ann Arbor Skyline 637, Grand Ledge 641, Northville 650, Rochester Adams 655, Birmingham Brother Rice 657 and Rockford 669.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Catholic Central clinched its second straight Lower Peninsula Division 1 title. (Middle) Battle Creek Lakeview's Andrew Walker (right) shakes hands with Plymouth's Jack Boczar after winning a one-hole playoff for the individual medalist honor. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Newberry Follows Record-Setting Medalist to 1st Boys Golf Finals Team Title
By
Jason Juno
Special for MHSAA.com
May 27, 2026
HOUGHTON — Newberry usually doesn’t bother with the mobile app utilized for scoring at the Upper Peninsula Finals because there isn’t cell service on most of the courses they play during the regular season.
But the technology worked fine at Portage Lake Golf Course in Houghton on Wednesday, and when the Division 2 Finals came down to one stroke, being able to track the score in real time made for high drama.
Coach Kenn Depew said it was the most nervous he’s ever been on a golf course. The players, he said, knew one bad shot could ruin the day for the entire team.
It also made the ending even sweeter.
When Newberry freshman Austin Boulton got out of the bunker and made the putt on the final hole, Depew, and the team, could finally exhale.
And celebrate.
“When Austin made that putt, I went up and gave him a big hug and said, ‘You just won a state championship,’” Depew said.
Newberry edged Hancock 316-317, putting an end to the Bulldogs’ two-year reign. The championship also was Newberry’s first in boys golf, with its previous high MHSAA Finals finish second in UP Class C-D in 1992.
“We knew we were in for a tough battle,” Depew said. “We had to play real good because Hancock was the defending champs, I think they returned everyone and they were on their home course. We knew we were in for a battle; we had to shoot some really good numbers.”
Sophomore Jarrett Zellar certainly did that. He shot a 4-under-par 68, the first time anyone in the U.P. in Division 2 had shot in the 60s at the Finals. He ended five shots ahead of Boulton, who finished runner-up with a stellar round of his own.
“Basically my putting was a big factor,” Zellar said. “I never really putted that good before. Somehow everything was clicking.”
Depew stayed away from Zellar as it was pretty apparent early on the kind of day he was going to have.
“I’ve played quite a bit of golf with Jarrett and he was in a zone,” Depew said. “I went and dealt with the other four players because it became very apparent that every stroke was going to matter to us.”
Zellar will be an upperclassmen next year.
“Last year Jarrett was the best freshman I ever coached, and now this year he’s the best sophomore,” Depew said. He didn’t quite finish the word “sophomore,” continuing instead, “He’s the best player I ever coached.”
And Zellar does far more than putt.
“He’s really the total package,” Depew said. “He hits it good off the tee. He hits irons good, he chips good and today he really got hot with the putter as well. So that’s a great combination to have.”
For Zellar, it was also a great combination to win the U.P. Division 2 title individually and with his team.
“It felt pretty good,” he said. “It was the defending team that we beat; we beat them on their home course.”
Everyone stepped up to do that, Depew said, including their No. 4 golfer, Oliver Sevarns, who also hit a big putt late.
Nine golfers finished the day shooting under 80. Ironwood’s Caleb Sprague shot a 76 in a tie for third place with Kirby Storm, who led the way for runner-up Hancock and was the only senior among the top five.
Baraga’s Alden Leiter and Painesdale Jeffers’ Tage Rajala rounded out the top five with 77s.
PHOTOS (Top) Newberry's Jarrett Zellar follows a drive during Wednesday’s Upper Peninsula Division 2 Final at Portage Lake. (Middle) Jeffers' Carson Lesperance tracks one of his shots. (Photos by Jason Juno.)