Laconia, n.h.
The game — in which players compete for the lowest score through nine rounds — was the closest they came to actually playing golf. The tournament was canceled at 11:15 a.m. after multiple attempts to get outside.
The rain, however, had other ideas.
“I had a feeling it was definitely going to be canceled,” Lebanon head coach Chris Pollard said. “They did whatever they could to get it in. … It was a bummer to end the season that way, but it is what it is.”
Added Lebanon senior Kyle Pelletier: “When we first got there, it was raining pretty hard. There was standing water in a lot of places.”
Team trophies were handed out based on where each finished the regular season in the team standings; Bow won the D-III crown by default. Lebanon finished in eighth place.
Teams in the top 10 — including the Raiders — were given two spots to fill for the individual championship, scheduled for Saturday at Derryfield Country Club. Teams out of the top 10 will send one athlete.
Seniors Dupree and Pelletier will represent the Raiders, who finished the season 13-8. Stevens finished 6-16.
The canceled tournament left some Raiders feeling unfulfilled.
“In the regular season, you want to shoot the best you can,” Pelletier said. “I think a lot of us felt like we left a little bit out there, that we didn’t give it our best every match. (On Thursday), we were hoping to pull it all together.”
Added Dupree: “It definitely was (disappointing). We were hoping to go out there and have a fighting chance to improve our standing.”
The group featured five seniors this fall — including Pelletier, Dupree, Graham Ten Haken, Zack Barden and Colin Kiernan. Only Pelletier and Dupree will get one last shot at varsity golf.
“It was a good four years playing with those guys,” Pelletier said. “It’s definitely a bummer going out like that. Joey and I will definitely be giving it our all on Saturday.”
Pollard said he was particularly disappointed with the cancellation; his team played well in a rainy match last week against Belmont and Laconia at Canterbury Woods Country Club, with Ten Haken and Pelletier leading the way with 20 points each.
“It was the best round they had ever had,” Pollard said. “I was anxious to see what they would look like.”
Despite the offseason losses to graduation, Pollard is excited about his team for next year. Sophomore trio Stephan Krueger, Ben Begin and Joe Roberts should return to the varsity squad, as well as freshman Zach Bitler.
“We’ve got some kids in the JV program that could move up,” he said. “I also had the chance to see the younger kids at one of our practices; we invited the middle schoolers to come play with us. Some of them will be freshmen next year, and they looked promising.
“Without seeing them all at once, we should be right around where were this year, if not a little better.”
Saturday’s individual tournament begins at 10 a.m.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.