Colin Mitchell of Lincoln Academy tees off on the fourth hole during the Class B championship on Saturday in Vassalboro. Mitchell shot 74 to win medalist honors and lead the Eagles to the title. (Rich Abrahamson/Staff Photographer)
Colin Mitchell of Lincoln Academy tees off on the fourth hole during the Class B championship on Saturday in Vassalboro. Mitchell shot 74 to win medalist honors and lead the Eagles to the title. (Rich Abrahamson/Staff Photographer)
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VASSALBORO — For years, with players like Bailey Plourde and Kellen Adickes coming through the program, the Lincoln Academy golf team had seen individual success at the Class B state championships.
Team success, however, kept eluding the Eagles. It was always another team’s time, another team’s turn at the top.
Until Saturday, that is. With medalist Colin Mitchell leading the way with a 2-over 74, Lincoln won its first state championship, shooting 317 to hold off Freeport (326), Yarmouth (334), Cape Elizabeth and Fryeburg Academy (both 341) in the Class B tournament at Natanis Golf Course.
“It was a huge goal of ours. We won KVACs, which was nice, but we knew that this was a bigger goal on our minds,” Mitchell said. “We knew it was definitely doable. … We knew if we played well, we would have a fighting chance.”
Freeport’s Ryan Savona finished second to Mitchell with a 76. He was followed by Henry Stone of Gray-New Gloucester and Caden Chretien of Nokomis at 77, and Declan Hickey of Yarmouth at 78.
Carla Ferraris of Fryeburg Academy and Kathryn Peterson of Lake Region tied for girls medalist honors at 90.
Lincoln Academy finished ninth the last two seasons and had only one top-five finish the previous four years while failing to qualify twice. But after winning the KVAC B qualifier by 15 strokes, the Eagles had the answers this year.
“It’s been on my mind for a couple of years,” coach Todd Brackett said. “This team has a lot of potential. They’re young, and we’ve seen it coming up.
“They’ve had some great (individual) performances, but just never put it all together. Obviously, it came together today.”
In addition to Mitchell, the Eagles got a 79 from Brody Day, an 80 from Drew Nichols and an 84 from Max Blake — all juniors. The medalist honors were particularly sweet for Mitchell, who shot a 91 in the tournament last year and began making frequent trips to Natanis in the spring to ensure he’d be ready in October.
“This is one of the first courses to open in the spring. It’s kind of far from my house, but it’s worth the trip,” he said. “(Then) I’d play every day in the summer, like four to five hours a day, if not more.”
The work paid off Saturday. Mitchell got his round going with birdies on the fourth and sixth holes, and after bogeys on the eighth, ninth and 11th, he played his final seven holes at even par to maintain his lead.
“I felt like I was still swinging it good, so I just had to trust that,” he said. “It’s easy to drift out of focus a little bit. … I definitely checked back in mentally.”
Savona’s 76, combined with Liam Nihill’s 81, Will Obrin’s 84 and Charlie MacDonald’s 85, kept Freeport close. Savona opened with a birdie, then got two more on the 11th and 17th while playing the back nine at 1 under.
Sod flies as Ryan Savona of Freeport tees off on the fourth hole during the Class B championship. Savona shot 76 to finish second. (Rich Abrahamson/Staff Photographer)
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“It got kind of scrappy for a little bit, but I felt like I held it together well,” he said. “I made a couple of double (bogeys) out there, and my mentality was (that) it wasn’t even a bad double, I hit a couple of bad shots. I still feel solid about my game.”
Yarmouth also got an 82 from Lucas D’Alessandro, an 86 from Rory Truesdell and an 88 from Charles Hughes. Cape Elizabeth was led by an 82 from Charlie Lampman. Fryeburg’s Sergio Trejo shot an 81.
Lake Region’s Shane Plummer also finished in the top 10 with an 80 that tied him with Lincoln Academy’s Nichols for seventh.