BRETTON WOODS, N.H. — There seemingly hasn’t been a moment when circumstances haven’t conspired against the Hanover High golf team this fall.
Their season started late because of the coronavirus pandemic. Their home course was taken away from them. Their longtime coach decided to take the year off. Their original state championship date was rained out. And when they needed to get together to practice for the rescheduled tournament, they couldn’t thanks to a pandemic declaration.
That’s a lot for any team to overcome; too much, really. So the Marauders didn’t take offense at a ninth-place finish in a 15-team NHIAA Division I state team tournament on Tuesday, nor did they fret about not sending anyone to Sunday’s individual finals at Concord Country Club.
It’s been a fill-in-the-blank year for Hanover. Weird. Strange. Difficult. Pick your adjective.
“Honestly, it’s been a tough year because of the coronavirus,” said junior Spencer Lawe, who shot a team-best 10-over-par 82 at the Mount Washington Resort. “But at the end of the day, it’s all about having fun. It was a great year for us, looking back. We all played as best we could, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Exeter, last year’s runner-up, took the title with a team 301, edging out Concord (308) and defending champion Bedford (314). The Marauders shot a team 345, with senior Natalie Morhun (85), junior Casey Graham (87) and junior Ben Plottner (91) completing the scoring. Junior John Hill filled out the roster with a 92.
Zach Temple, who moved up from junior varsity to varsity coach with John Donnelly’s sabbatical, understood the general weirdness of the campaign. An assistant pro at the Quechee Club, Temple noted the irony of a booming golf industry at a time when so many other things have been hampered by the pandemic.
“We were accommodated great by local people,” said Temple, noting how Quechee, the Fore-U Golf Center in West Lebanon and Lake Morey Country Club in Fairlee pitched in to help the program after Hanover Country Club closed. “That said, I think that two months ago, for us to be sitting here today, this is like a win, because we didn’t even think we were going to have a season.”
The Marauders returned two people, Lawe and Morhun, from the roster that placed fourth at the D-I team tourney last year. Morhun had the advantage of having played in the NHIAA state girls tournament two weeks ago, but putting woes let to an unsatisfying share of 15th place there.
With her 13-over day, Morhun gave herself an early graduation present. Hanover’s only senior sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole, converted another birdie chance on 12 and added six pars, successes that put a nice punctuation mark on the day.
“I can’t be mad at it,” she said. “There were a lot of short chips that got me, and putts weren’t falling like they usually do. That’s OK. … Girls states was definitely not how I wanted to finish, so it’s nice to have a little bit better of a round here.”
Lawe’s day got better as it went along. Starting with back-to-back double-bogeys on 7 and 8, Lawe warmed up to the round with a 12th-hole birdie. He gave qualifying for individual states a good go, birdying three of his last five holes to miss the cut by two shots. The last, on the 461-yard par-5 sixth, began with Lawe striping his drive down the fairway, a memory he’ll carry into the offseason, he said.
“That will just reflect everything that’s happened this year,” Lawe added. “Good and bad, ups and downs, but overall a good year.”
Graham also posted a birdie for Hanover. Plottner and Hill each had five pars in their rounds.
With more schools in the field than usual because of an open-tournament format, teams could only field five golfers instead of the usual eight, counting four rather than the customary five. Hanover couldn’t do much group prep after Vermont reintroduced travel restrictions on Grafton County last week, meaning Temple could only hold brief short-game sessions rather than full rounds. The Marauders were ready for their original tourney date, he said; a final week of circumstance threw one last wrench in the machinery.
Too much to overcome, but not enough to rub out the silver lining.
“I’m glad Natalie got her senior year and got to play today,” Temple said. “It was fun. If I had the opportunity to do it again, I would in a heartbeat. These kids are awesome. I love all these kids. It’s not about the game itself; it’s more about them more than anything.”
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.