South Fayette captured the 2025 WPIAL Class 3A championship in boys golf. The Lions won with a 385 score, to edge runner-up Fox Chapel by four strokes. The title was the first at the Class 3A level for the Lions, but fifth overall for the program.
Bobby Ruffolo acknowledges that golf is an individual sport. The activity, however, requires a collective effort at South Fayette High School.
“When you start understanding it’s about we, then we can be great,” said Ruffolo, who has coached the Lions since 2013. “That’s how we approach it.”
On Oct. 9, that process worked as South Fayette captured the WPIAL Class 3A team championship in boys golf. The Lions fired a 385 score on the Gold Course at the Cedarbrook Golf Course to win the title by four strokes over Fox Chapel, which edged North Allegheny for runner-up honors. The Foxes and Tigers tied with 389 scores before an extra-hole playoff to determine second place.
“I have to compliment everyone,” Ruffolo said.
“We said we can’t make big numbers,” Ruffolo said. “We just needed to make sure if we put ourselves behind a tree, in a bunker or someplace that wasn’t advantageous, that we made bogey be our worst score.”
Senior Sam Bishop led off for the Lions and produced the second-best score of the match. He fired a 2-over 73, four strokes off the pace set by medalist Carson Kittsley from Fox Chapel.
Though seniors Brady Newman and Hayden Downs produced identical 84 scores, Noah Nickolas, Hudson Vennum and Jackson Stephens finished with 76, 78 and 74 scores to close out the victory.
“A couple of our guys didn’t have their best days but their teammates sure did pick them up,” Ruffolo said. “We backloaded our lineup today with two birdie makers just in case we needed them and Jackson and Hudson held down the anchors.”
Throughout the regular season, the seniors held the squad together. After a 2-2 start, the Lions reeled off 10 victories and won the section banner.
“We set a goal at the beginning of the year to try and win the section but it’s extremely difficult because Upper St. Clair, Moon and West Allegheny are all wonderful teams,” Ruffolo said. “We got behind a bad spot with our start but then just kind of got on a roll.
“Give the boys a ton of credit. They worked really hard. We do practice rounds every weekend and myself and our other coaches join the players so we can give them input.”
The Lions received plenty of support from the players’ parents as well as community businesses. For example, Hickory Heights Golf Club permits the Lions to practice and play matches there for free.
“For them to open up their facility for us to use with very limited restrictions is unusual beyond belief,” Ruffolo said. “In a dog-eat-dog world, that doesn’t always happen. So we can’t thank Hickory Heights and the staff enough.
“Last but not least, the parents have been so supportive. They come to all the matches. They stand on the 18th hole waiting for all the kids to come off.
“We do have a family here,” Ruffolo continued. “It’s pretty cool.”
The 2025 championship is significant because it is South Fayette’s first in the highest classification since the school jumped up to Class 3A in 2016.
Under former coach Joe Cochran, the Lions captured four Class 2A crowns in a row. The streak ran from 2002 through 2005.
“Coach Cochran deserves a lot of credit. He started the golf program,” Ruffolo said. “Since being up in Triple-A, we battled to get (to the championships) and just had not been successful.”
The Lions were 2024 runners-up in last year’s district championships.
“We didn’t push them to try and replicate what we did in the past,” Ruffolo said. “It’s too much stress.”
The Lions, however, likely will apply pressure on the opposition long into the future. Ruffolo noted that the program has grown from eight golfers in 2013 to 16 members on the boys team and 14 on the girls side.
“We have 30 something kids that participate in golf in our school every single year. The district is glad that we do it. They love having both teams.”
And the Lions love having a winner, especially at the highest level.
“(The WPIAL) is the hardest championship to win in all of high school,” Ruffolo said. “There’s only two classes and it’s little and big. When you graduate 275 and somebody else graduates 800, it doesn’t matter. You’re playing everyone. For us, to be considered one of the good ones this year is pretty remarkable.”
Thanks to their WPIAL title, the Lions qualified for the PIAA team tournament, scheduled for Oct. 22 on the Blue Course at Penn State University. Additionally, Bishop and Newman will compete in the state’s individual tournament, also scheduled at Penn State on Oct. 20 and 21.
