Two of the top MVC teams over the past decade renewed their rivalry this week.

St. Dominic Academy and Winthrop have combined to win the past five Class C state championships. Monday, the Ramblers hosted the Saints at Springbrook Golf Club in Leeds. Friday, the two teams meet up at Fox Ridge in Auburn for the final regular season matchup between the two teams.

The quirk in the schedule of seeing each other twice in the same week was in part due to Winthrop coach Lonney Steeves. He created the conference’s schedule, and forgot when the official start date for countable matches were. The season started a week later than normal.

“We are playing eight matches in 17 days,” Steeves said Tuesday. “It’s very compressed and when you are going to do that, you are going to see everybody a couple of times. We play Dirigo tomorrow and we play (St. Dom’s) again next Friday. The turnaround is pretty quick on playing teams. We play every other day for three weeks and that’s the whole season.”

The Ramblers came out on with the 5-2 victory on Monday in match play. Winthrop’s top three players — Anthony Owen, Zach Robertson and Brogan Plossay — all won their matches. Owen was the top medalist with a 40 in a 4-and-3 victory over Justin Keaney. Robertson won his match, 4-and-2 over Brandon Donvan. Plossay won his match against AJ Parisi, 2-up. Nate Richard scored a point for the Saints with a 1-up win over Charlie De Haas. Janelle Bryant won her match for St. Dom’s with a 5-and-3 victory over Carson Camick.

Winthrop’s top four scorers beat the Saints’ top four scorers by 173-185.

“It was a nice team victory,” Steeves said. “It started up at the top with Anthony Owens — as the number one — and our number two Zach Robertson, who had been in a little bit of a slump, he came up big. That was kind of the key. My three and four guys, Brogan Plossay, the three and Charlie De Haas, the four, both of those guys didn’t get a chance to play much last year. They were both exhibition guys on our State Championship team and both guys have stepped up really great this year.”

The Saints’ top two players scored higher than normal.

“They definitely shot higher than normal in that round,” St. Dom’s coach Michael Lacombe said. “Whether that be nerves or whether the case may be, or just unfamiliar course, but when they come and play us at home, hopefully we will have a little home course advantage.” 

Steeves was pleased the way De Haas played as he shot a 44, the same score Nate Richard shot. Camick ran into a very good golfer.

“Carson lost yesterday, but Janelle Bryant — St. Dom’s number five — is one of the top girl players in the state,” Steeves said. “(She’s) a darn good golfer and took him out. It was a great match across the board.”

Steeves said Monday’s result isn’t necessarily a sign of things to come Friday, because each team plays well on its home course.

Lacombe said his team needs to focus more on the mental side of the game.

“I think if we can minimize our mental errors, which is happening a lot out there, we should have a pretty good chance on Friday,” Lacombe said. 

Friday’s match begins at 3:30 p.m.

Lewiston goes low in victory over Brunswick

Monday, Lewiston battled Brunswick in a key KVAC match with the Blue Devils coming out on top winning the match 7-2 at Martindale Country Club. All six Blue Devils shot 45 or better as they redeemed themselves after a loss to Brunswick in the second match of the season. The Dragons won that match, 5½ to 3½.

Lewiston’s No. 1 player, Brendon Croteau halved his match with Ben Lord, shooting a 41. Stephanie Rodrigue shot a 37 as she defeated Josh Clark 4-and-3. Despite losing 4-and-3, Andrew Loisel shot a 40. Zack Grant, his adversary from Brunswick, shot 37. Kyle Morin defeated Sam Sharp 2-and-1 while carding a 45. Alex Robert put a 43 on the board in a 4-and-3 victory over Jack Bates. Sam Zashut, who’s sixth on the Blue Devils’ depth chart, halved his match with Liz Day. They both shot 40.

“I was telling our players (on Tuesday), the old saying, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Lewiston coach Tom LeBlond said. “That was certainly the case yesterday. Out of our six players, four of them doubled bogeyed the first hole. I think they were all down a hole from the beginning. They played well down the stretch.”

Even the one match they lost helped them in the team strokes total, which the Blue Devils won 158-163. Teams are able to take their four best individual scores for the team total.

“One match with Andrew Loisel, the kid he played against shot a 37, he lost his match, LeBlond said.” “He finished strong and had a 40. So you know, that was a big score (for the team total) despite with three holes left, he was already closed out but he posted a good score. It helped the team.”

Spruce Mountain earns first win in two years

Last Friday, the Spruce Mountain Phoenix won their first match in two years as they defeated Morse, 8-1. They finished 0-10 last season.

Lucas Alley shot a 48 in his 5-and-3 victory over Everett Bates. Brandon Anctil won his match 2-up while scoring a 58. Noah Preble had a 52 in the 5-and-4 win over Brad Barone. Trevor Doiron had the lowest score for Spruce Mountain with a 51 in the 4-and-2 win over Jared Harper. Ryan Small was victorious with a 3-and-2 win over Jacob Anderson as he shot a 57.

Evan Parsons, Boothbay’s top golfer, won the lone match for his team, shooting a 42 in a 3-up victory over Tyler Poisson.

nfournier@sunjournal.com