Top Sports Stories 2017: More titles for Mattituck golf team

Fore!

Or maybe the word should be “four,” as in four straight Suffolk County League VII Tournament titles for the Mattituck High School boys golf team.

Not only that, but Mattituck, which had finished in a first-place tie with Eastport-South Manor the last two years, went on to run away with the regular-season crown, carding a perfect 12-0 record.

And this in a season that Mattituck coach Paul Ellwood said during the preseason would see the race for the league championship be “wide open.”

So much for that.

With only two players, Matt Sledjeski and Chris Talbot, back from last year’s squad, Mattituck didn’t have a single senior on its roster. “We probably had the least experienced team in the league going into the matches,” Ellwood said. “I thought we’d at least have a hiccup on the road.”

Nope. Not even one.

Mattituck, which has a 37-2 record (both losses coming to Eastport) over the last three years, was aided by its depth this past season.

“It’s been the same story over the years,” Ellwood said. “We just have depth. We put six guys out there and they all put the best score up for us. It takes the pressure off the guys, knowing that we have a deep lineup, so they know they don’t have to put up a low number every day.”