A quest for perfection leads to title for Bangor Individual championships on the line Saturday

Even when they got on the bus to go home, the members of Bangor High’s golf team were talking about how they could have improved on their scores.

“That’s one of the reasons they’re state champions,” coach Rob Jarvis said. “They were saying, man, I could have made that shot or that putt. I said, Boys, you just won the state title. You don’t need to worry about that. But that’s just the way they are. They’re very much a bunch of perfectionists.”

That drive helped the Rams win their first Class A championship since the program won back-to-back titles in 1978 and 1979.

The Dexter golf team continued its recent successes, winning the Class C title for that program’s third straight championship. Cape Elizabeth took the Class B crown.

Bangor has a relatively large squad with 18 golfers, so Jarvis said the Rams held some qualifying rounds to determine their top five (each team enters five golfers into the championships).

“We have a very deep team,” Jarvis said. “That was our top five, but I feel confident that there were some other guys who could have been there, too.”

Bangor had no clue it was in the running and had left the building to wait around outside when Jarvis went back inside to get a cup of coffee. He looked at the leaderboard and saw that the Rams were ahead.

The team had a nerve-wracking 20-minute wait for the final Thornton Academy golfer to finish, at which point the Rams knew they had won. The Trojans of Saco were second.

Jarvis said the Bangor golfers were appreciative of the teams who were out of contention but waited around for the awards ceremony anyway.

“It was a surprise coming from players and coaches we didn’t know, shaking our hands and congratulating us,” he said. “It was very rewarding.”

The Rams would have been undefeated this season if not for a one-stroke loss against Nokomis of Newport at the Warriors home course in Palmyra. Bangor returned to Palmyra a few weeks later for the Penobscot Valley Conference league championship.

The Rams won that title as all of the Bangor golfers shot lower than a 40, which none were able to do in the regular-season loss.

The golf season concludes Saturday with the individual championships, which will also be held at Natanis. The schoolboy division will be divided into Classes A, B and C. The schoolgirl division will be open.

Lynch makes flight, game

Benji Lynch had to take his SATs Saturday, and sitting in a classroom all the Presque Isle senior could think about was missing the Wildcats’ soccer showdown against Hampden.

But the standout center midfielder didn’t miss too much of the game. After completing the college entrance exam, Lynch got on a Cessna airplane piloted by his father for a 50-minute flight from Presque Isle to Bangor International Airport.

After Lynch landed he was picked up by his brother Chris, who is a student at the University of Maine. Chris Lynch drove Benji to the Hampden Academy field at the Weatherbee School.

Lynch jogged and did some stretches on the sideline, and entered the game with 25:05 left in the first half.

It was the first time Lynch has flown to a game, he said.

Although he had limited time to warm up, the hardest part was gaining his footing on the field’s new artificial surface.

“It took a little while to get used to it,” he said.

Lynch provided a big spark when he got into the game and scored a goal early in the second half for the Wildcats, but the Broncos won 3-1.

MPA, law firm offering seminar

The Maine Principals’ Association and Drummond Woodsum & MacMahon are sponsoring a seminar on School Athletics and the Law set for Nov. 4, 2003 from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Augusta Civic Center.

The seminar, which is open to athletic directors and school administrators, will cover discipline of athletes, substance abuse, Title IX, coach employment, athletic policies and other topics.

Athletic directors and school administrators should call Ruth Wentzel at 207-772-1941 for more information or register on-line at SchoolLaw.com, Calendar of Events page.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.