Thornton edges Brewer for ‘A’ title; Bangor 3rd Falmouth, Telstar collect crowns in ‘B’ and ‘C’

VASSALBORO – When the last of Brewer’s individual scores was posted on the cork leaderboard outside Natanis Golf Course’s clubhouse Saturday afternoon, it looked as though the Witches would have their first – and Eastern Maine’s only – state title at the Maine Schoolboy Team Golf Championships.

That was shortly after 3 p.m. On a day when weather conditions fluctuated from bright and balmy to blustery and brisk in just a few minutes, it took only 25 minutes for that delightful, warm feeling Brewer’s team members and supporters had to turn cold and empty.

No sooner had the Witches let their minds entertain thoughts about what kind of jackets they’d like to order to commemorate their title, a little-known senior from Western Maine Class A power Thornton Academy of Saco turned in a scorecard that would change everything.

Pete Mohlin, the No. 4 golfer in the Trojans’ team hierarchy, not only bested his teammates and the rest of the Class A field, he recorded the best score of the day with an even-par 72 for 18 holes and singlehandedly vaulted the Trojans from as far back as fifth to first… Just like that.

“That kind of put a damper on things,” said Brewer coach John Norris. “I don’t know what he usually shoots, but those things happen in sports.”

Mohlin’s scoring shocker meant the Witches would have to settle for their second state runner-up finish in the last three decades and the West would make it a clean sweep of the state championship trophy hardware. Brewer had squeaked by archrival Bangor after the Rams and Witches finished with identical team scores of 311 because the tiebreaker went to the No. 5 golfers with Brewer’s Craig Douglass turning in the lower score.

In Class B, the Falmouth Yachtsmen edged defending champ Cape Elizabeth 304 to 307 to win the program’s first state title since 1993 (Class C). East representatives Winslow (325), Mount Desert Island (338) and Presque Isle (338) were next, but MDI took third on the strength of No. 5 golfer Nate McMullen’s 89, which was 11 strokes better than the 100 posted by Presque Isle fifth man Doug Cyr.

In Class C, the Telstar Rebels of Bethel won their first-ever state crown. In the process of blowing away the rest of the field with a team score of 320, Telstar not only ended a three-year reign by Dexter, it also became the first Western Maine team to win it all since Hall-Dale in 1998. Old Orchard Beach was runner-up at 334, Hall-Dale took third at 356, and Dexter finished fourth at 358.

In Class A, the leaderboard was the most popular and crowded spot as fans, coaches and golfers alike tried to carve out elbow room while nervously surveying the scores as they were posted. What looked like a dogfight between Bangor, Brewer and Lewiston was turned on its head by Thornton’s late charge.

Bangor took the early lead when top two golfers Ben Estabrook and Zach Adair came in with a 75 and 73, respectively, but Brewer’s top three of Chris Wilson (80), Matt Grimes (79) and Sam Walls (75) and Lewiston’s Daniel Cloutier (76), James Morin (78) and Brandon Marcotte (79) made things too tough to call.

After Bangor’s Brian Johnson (78) and Jamie Hardy (85) came in, sophomore Dave Perry turned in one of his best scores of the season (77) to up Brewer’s spirits. With Bangor’s Jamie Hardy carding an 85, that left it up to the No. 5 scores to decide things. That meant Douglass’ 84 – 36 strokes better than his Thursday practice round score – gave Brewer the nod as No. 5 Bangor scorer David Finch had a 90.

“That was nice for us to be able to beat Bangor,” said Norris, the 75-year-old veteran coach who came out of retirement to fill the vacant Brewer job he held for 25 years. “It’s tough and to come three strokes away, but it’s a learning experience and we had fun.”

Thornton’s title was its first since 2001 and second overall.

In Class B, whether the blustery conditions or travel time had anything to do with it, Presque Isle coach Richard Sirois wouldn’t say, but his young Wildcats were not happy with their fifth-place finish.

The fact that PI shot 38 strokes worse than the 300 the team shot to win the Penobscot Valley Conference title a week earlier was the main reason.

“The kids didn’t play well as a group and they’re disappointed because they wanted to perform on the big stage, but you’ll see these kids back here again next year,” Sirois said.

Many of MDI’s golfers will be back next week after qualifying for the individual state title tourney.

“They’re a young team and they’ve got everybody back, so between us coming back to beat them this week [after losing to PI by a wide margin last week] and beating Bangor [regular season], which we hadn’t done in a long time, we had a very good year,” said seventh-year MDI coach Wilton Jones.

The Yachtsmen were virtually untouchable as they averaged a score of 78.2 per man and had 74’s turned in by both Dane Hutchins and Tony Galli.

In Class C, scores were especially high, but the steady play of Telstar’s golfers made it an anticlimactic finish as their average individual score was a respectable 84.6.