MIAA Division 2 Golf State Championship: Pope Francis top team; Foxborough's Zac Georgantas wins playoff

Michael McGrath shot a 1-under-par 71 to match the lowest round of the day, and while it wasn't enough for medalist honors, McGrath's performance led Pope Francis Preparatory to the 2024 MIAA Division 2 Golf State Championship at Berkshire Hills Country Club in Williamstown.

McGrath matched scores with Foxborough's Zac Georgantas over the par-72 Berkshire Hills layout, necessitating a playoff. Following up his individual victory in last week's Division 2 South Championship, Georgantas outscored McGrath on the first playoff hole to give Foxborough its first state champion since Scott Congdon in 2001.

Georgantas carded five birdies in his round, but his double-bogey 5 on his final hole, No. 13, opened the door for McGrath. The Cardinals standout highlighted his round with an eagle-3 on the 378-yard, par-5 No. 15.

Before that, McGrath's score topped the list for Pope Francis to finish with a +20 score of 308 for the first golf championship in program history. Quinn Woytowicz and Jack Ouellette each were in a pack at T-22 with their +6 scores of 78, and Jack Dias provided the key fourth score of +9 (81), tying for 36th but securing the championship for the Cardinals.

There also was a rare playoff for the runner-up team spot after Westwood High, Old Rochester Regional and Nashoba Regional all finished at +22 310 and 2 strokes behind the Pope Francis pace. The format calls for a match of scores for the No. 5 and, if necessary, No. 6 players for each team - but Westwood and Nashoba were tied in each of those slots. Ultimately, Westwood prevailed in a one-hole playoff between the teams' six players.

Over the regulation 18, Patrick Dalton tied for third (+1 73) and Lilly Gulesarian was tied for seventh (+2 74) to lead Westwood, which also got contributions from Sean Blomquist (+9 81) and Aidan Smith (+10 82).

Matching Dalton's third-place +1 were Gavin Goich of Newburyport High, Matt Oliveira of Bishop Stang High, and Gabe Deters of Whitinsville Christian School. As their teams were playing to a deadlock in the team competition, Gulesarian, Peter Le Gassick of Old Rochester and Troy Gregg of Nashoba all were at +2 and tied for seventh.