Sandburg stays course to take title

There's nothing like a little competition to bring out the best in a team.

With three squads in the running for first place, Sandburg seized the initiative and captured the team title Tuesday in the T.F. North/T.F. South Invitational.

The Eagles had a four-player score of 320 to finish five shots ahead of runner-up Homewood-Flossmoor and seven shots better than third-place Brother Rice among the 18 competing squads at Balmoral Woods Country Club in Crete.

"We talked about going out there and being consistent," Sandburg coach Jim Morsovillo said. "Balmoral Woods is a tough course. We talked about staying below the hole and staying out of trouble, and they did that today. You've got a lot of solid teams out there; to win by five strokes, that's a nice start to our season."

Brendan Stanford led the way for Sandburg with a 6-over-par 78 that enabled him to finish sixth individually. Pat Kennedy added a 79 for the Eagles in taking seventh, and Austin Craig was 10th with an 80. Dave Smulson tacked on an 83 for the winners.

"As the season goes on I think they can play better than this," Morsovillo said. "The kids kind of scrambled out there today. I'm hoping that as the season goes on they can hit more greens and fairways, which gives you more birdie opportunities."

Kyle Zegarac, of T.F. South, captured medalist honors with a 1-under 71. Rounding out the top five were JaMichael Jones (73), of Morgan Park Academy, Mark Bermele (75), of Brother Rice, Homewood-Flossmoor's Michael Fitzgerald (77) and Morris' Erik Siebold (78).

Also producing solid rounds were St. Rita's Jack Delaney (79) and H-F's Pat Cuellar (80), who were eighth and ninth, respectively.

Joliet Catholic Academy (338) was fourth in the team standings, followed by T.F. South (342), Morris (342), Marian Catholic (344), Morgan Park Academy (347), Oak Forest (349) and Bradley (357).