It was a season that will go down in the annals of Marblehead High sports as historical with an all-time winning regular season record of 14-1 to win the Northeastern Conference Lynch Division golf title, before going on to secure the Division 2 North state sectional championship for the first time ever with a team score of 311.
What did it all mean for these Magicians? They were one of the 12 best teams in the state this fall, who competed for the state championship at Brockton’s Thorny Lea Golf Club on Oct. 31, where they tied for eighth place with Pope Francis.
Dover-Sherborn (314) was the 2023 Division 2 state champs, followed by Bishop Stang (316), Westwood (322), Duxbury (326), Old Rochester (330), Reading Memorial (332), Nashoba (334), Pope Francis (336), Marblehead (336), Gloucester (342), Wahconah (344) and Tantasqua (348).
“We didn’t have our best day in the state finals,” said coach Bob Green, who has just completed his sixth season as the Magicians golf mentor. “But in the end, we had our best conference record in years. We just had more talent and depth than anybody else. Our bottom four golfers in the starting lineup could have been No. 1 on any other conference team, and I’d classified our top four golfers as number ones. Instead of one through four, I’d ranked them 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D.”
Green, a 1967 Swampscott High graduate, added that this year’s roster was “an embarrassment of riches.”
Green led off with senior Charlie Grenier in the starting lineup. Juniors Simon Quicken, Marty Ryan and Jacob Hershfield followed to form a quartet of quality top golfers that would be the envy of most squads. To think that doesn’t include junior James Bickell, sophomore Toby Grenier and seniors Matt Mahan and Adrian Baron, who filled out the latter four spots. Marblehead’s alternates – sophomore Joy Meshulan, already a golf professional at DiLisio’s Driving Range in Salem, and senior Cam Comstock — also factored into the team’s success this year with extraordinary performances.
“We had 10 kids on the roster, and they were all fun to watch,” said Green. “They are all into the game, and are also good at it. But more importantly, they want to get better at it, as well. Those intangibles are hard to beat.”
Charlie Grenier was 9-3-2 this year with a stroke average of 37.5. He averaged 5.4 points per match for a winning percentage of 60. Quicken, a German exchange student, was 10-1-2. His stroke average was 38.4. His average points per match was 6.2 for a winning percentage of 69.
Ryan was 12-1-1 this year with a miniscule 36.1 stroke average. His average points per match was 6.1that computed to a winning percentage of 67. Hershfield was 12-2 during the regular season with a stroke average of 40.1. His average points per match was 6.1 for a winning percentage of 68.
Bickell (9-2, 40.2 stroke average, 6.4 points per match for a winning percentage of 71), Mahan (11-1-2, 40.4 stroke average, 6.5 points per match for a winning percentage of 73), Baron (7-5-2, 41.6 stroke average, 5.4 points per match for a winning percentage of 60), Toby Grenier (12-1, 41.0 stroke average,
6.7 points per match for a winning percentage of 77), Meshulam (3-0, 42.8 stroke average, 7.5 points per match for a winning percentage of 83) and Comstock (2-0, 44.7 stroke average, 7.3 points per match for a winning percentage of 81) rounded out the roster that was filled with impressive statistics.
The team’s lone loss this year was to Gloucester. The Fishermen play in the NEC Dunn Division.
Come next fall, Green is optimistic for continued winning results with a solid base of five returning to the roster, who are not a part of Magician championship history with a state trophy to prove it in the high school.
