Sep 27, 2022 3 min read

BOLIVAR – Peters Township’s boys golf team broke out their secret weapons Tuesday at Champion Lakes Golf Club.

Each member wore a pink golf cap, pink shoelaces and pink belt in honor of breast cancer awareness month.

Though it was a few days early for the event – breast cancer awareness month is October – the golf caps brought luck, if you believe in those things, in the semifinals of the WPIAL Class 3A Individual Golf Championships on a chilly, windy day.

Ben Miller, Colton Lusk, Austin Malley and Nick Wetzel each advanced to next week’s finals. And Nick Haught missed advancing by one stroke.

The top 36 and ties from the field of 77 advanced to the finals, which will be held Thursday at Allegheny Country Club. Golfers will carry their scores into the next round.

Rocco Salvitti, a resident of Canonsburg and senior at Central Catholic High School, was medalist with an even-par 71.

“I got off to a slow start, made a lot of bogeys on the front nine,” said Salvitti, who will attend Notre Dame University next year. “I played the last four holes in 4-under par. The greens were really good. They were fast but pretty smooth.”

Salvitti’s teammate, Conner Walker, and Nick Torowski of Penn-Trafford were tied for second, two strokes back with 73s.

Peters Township had golfers in four of the first eight foursomes, the top 32, to start and missed some of the wind and rain.

“The way it was looking out there, I didn’t think we’d get more than one in,” said Peters Township head coach Dave Kuhn. “The cut was higher than we anticipated. This is a tough golf course, when you consider the wind, the cold, the tough pin placements. But everybody played the same course. We didn’t play it as well as we wanted to. That being said, we’re fortunate to get four guys through.”

The cutoff score was 84 and all ties.

Miller shot 42 on the front and probably saved a spot for him in the finals with a 39 on the back for an 81.

“It played hard,” said Miller. “The wind was pretty strong and the pin placements were difficult. I drove the ball pretty well. I hit a lot of fairways.”

Lusk was a lesson in stability, shooting 40 on the front nine and 39 on the back to tie for 14th place with a 79.

“I did pretty good, pretty windy out there,” said Lusk. “The wind off the tees made it hard to figure it out.”

Malley was also steady, shooting 41 on both sides and finishing with an 82.

“It was tough out there, really windy,” said Malley. “I didn’t play my best. Probably my chipping saved me on a couple of holes.”

Wetzel was looking at an early exit after shooting 45 on the front nine. But he was scorching hot on the back, going 1-over-par 36 for an 81.

“I had to play well on the back nine,” said Wetzel. “It had to be a complete turnaround. I was helpless on the front. I just had to put it behind me.

“It was the hat.”

Divots

Blake Bertola of Mars had a hole-in-on on the par-3, 158-yard No. 11 hole. He used an 8-iron. It was Bertola’s first ace of his career. … Braden Gerchow, a senior from Canon-McMillan, shot 96.