ST. HELENA — The seesaw battle that is the race for the Coastal Mountain Conference South golf championship swung back in St. Vincent”s favor on Thursday as the Petaluma team topped the field during a match at the par-62 Meadowwood Golf Course in St. Helena.
St. Vincent came into the match trailing defending CMC South champion Kelseyville by a game. When the day was over, the Mustangs had a one-game lead over the Knights, who could manage only a third-place finish. St. Vincent won with 366 strokes, host St. Helena came in second at 376, Kelseyville was third with 388, Tomales came in fourth with 407, Rincon Valley Christian was fifth with 440, and both Middletown and Calistoga were incomplete (fewer than five golfers).
Kelseyville and St. Vincent had taken turns finishing 1-2 in each of the previous five CMC South matches, so the third-place finish leaves the Knights in a tough position with only two matches remaining.
“We need to win both at Windsor and Oakmont to pull this out,” Kelseyville coach John Berry said. “It will be very difficult ? not that we”re not capable, but we need to play better at the top-three positions.”
Middletown”s Doug Quinones fired the low round, a 4-over-par 66, with Calistoga”s Raymond Fechter and Tomales” Zack Wenrich both at 69. Rincon Valley Christian”s Ty Cazet finished with 70 and St. Vincent”s Mike McGowan had 71.
Kelseyville”s low rounds belonged to Hipolito Perez at 73 and Nick Schaefer and Jonathan Bridges, both at 75. Middletown”s Blaine Ruggio also carded a 75 and teammate Lisa Copeland had 82.
Quinones” low round included four birdies.
