Derrick Yuengling and Victoria Fuss capture individual crowns, Lehighton upsets Blue Mountain for team title
It was a misty fall morning at the Schuylkill Country Club on Monday September 28th for the Schuylkill League Golf Championships. After a wet and rainy weekend, the course was a bit damp, and the early morning conditions were a tough start for the 11 am start time.
The conditions did not affect Blue Mountain senior Derrick Yuengling and Pottsville Junior Victoria Fuss though, as Yuengling took home his first league title and Fuss repeated as the girl’s champion. Lehighton pulled off the stunner of the day, winning the team title by 20 strokes over a previously undefeated Blue Mountain team.
Derrick Yuengling had a stellar regular season. He averaged a tad over 73 strokes per match and shot around par nearly the entire year. Shooting two rounds of 68 and staying under 80 strokes the whole year, Yuengling was one of the favorites to win the individual title. Yuengling carded a six over 42 on the front nine and a one under 35 on the back to defeat Lehighton’s Aaron Miller (78) and Schuylkill Haven’s Tyler Barton (79). The top three were all in different pairings, so the scores during the middle of the back nine were virtually unknown by each other.
Miller had the lead after the front nine after carding an impressive even par 36 on the front in the morning conditions. Yuengling’s birdie-par finish on the par five 17th and par four 18th outlasted Miller’s par-bogey finish on the final two holes. Besides Yuengling as a senior, the next six golfers in order of placement will all return next year, meaning a bright future is ahead. Rounding out the place winners were North Schuylkill sophomore Jeff Markosky and Leighton’s Trey Spring. The top five automatically qualify for the District XI championship.
Victoria Fuss won the Schuylkill League as a sophomore in 2019. She was determined to repeat this year, but a strong, evenly matched girls field made the competition very tough. Fuss (95) outlasted Lourdes Regional’s Allesandra Albert (96) by one stroke. The key to her victory was a 42 on the card on the back nine holes. Both Fuss and Albert were close the entire match, but the one stroke was just enough to take the victory. The third through fifth place finishers were Brooke Powis 108 (NS), Leyna Warner 109 (Nat), and Maddie Von Frisch 115 (Wea).
Lehighton finished the regular season with two losses, both to Blue Mountain. The Indians lost both away at Schuylkill Country Club and home at Olde Homestead. The Indians avenged their regular season losses by taking the league crown with a score of 341, beating Blue Mountain (361), Mahanoy Area (399), and Weatherly (411). Three of Lehighton’s top four golfers scored better than their season averages, while Blue Mountain’s top four all shot below their averages. Runner up in 2019, Connor Gherghel (BM), whose season average is 74, dealt with a back injury during the round and carded a 90. Lehighton’s top four scorers, all underclassmen, were Aaron Miller (78), Trey Spring (85), Jack Lorenz (86), and Kyle Nahf (92). The top scorers for Mahanoy Area and Weatherly were Luke Matta (93) and Ben Ramirez (95).
