District 2’s Class 3A individual champions from 2019 and 2020 stood out when the 2021 season opened Thursday.
Logan Paczewski shot a 1-over-par, 36 on the front nine at Fox Hill Country Club to lead defending champion Dallas to a 163-173 victory over Pittston Area in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 match between teams that opened the season ranked in the Scranton Golf Center Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams.
Bill Pabst from North Pocono shot a 3-under-par, 69 to win the individual title at the Happy Valley Invitational and help the Trojans to a second-place team finish.
Paczewski, the 2019 district champion, helped Dallas win on the road against last season’s second-place team in the division.
Dallas began the season ranked second among Big Schools in the Super Six. Pittston Area is sixth.
Both teams made their team scores from four players shooting 46 or better.
Max Steinruck shot 41, Austin Finarelli 43 and Kyle Langan 44 for the Mountaineers.
Zach Valeski and Karl Pecha shots 42s to lead Pittston Area. Tyler Wassel had a 43 and Ethan Owen a 46.
The match was one of three WVC openers on the first day of the season.
Hazleton Area opened its Division 2 title defense by defeating Wyoming Valley West, 166-177, at Valley Country Club with the help of a 39 by Jonathan Joseph.
Josh Brown’s 44 led the way as Tunkhannock edged Wilkes-Barre Area, 190-195, in a Division 1 match at Shadowbrook Golf Resort.
The Happy Valley Invitational was played on the 6,328-yard, par-72 Penn State White Course. The format called for best three scores out of four teams and schools were allowed to enter more than one team.
Defending district champion Pabst posted a three-stroke victory to help North Pocono’s top team finish at 10-over-par, 226 for second place out of 16 Class 3A teams. The Trojans had their second team finish 10th.
Valley View’s top team placed eighth with a 248 and its other team finished last.
L.V. Pegula shot a 78 and Fritzy Durkin an 83 to lead Valley View.
The tournament drew 21 total teams and 84 players.
Lackawanna Trail swept all three better-ball matches while defeating Dunmore, 6-3, in a non-league opener between teams that made the Lackawanna League Class 2A playoffs last season.
Nathan Wescott, Gavin June and Michael Bluhm won individual points and led their better-ball teams to victories for Lackawanna Trail, the defending Division 3 champion and the fifth-ranked Small School in the Super Six.
Kevin Walsh, Evan McHale and Colby Murray had Dunmore’s wins.
Honesdale downed Lakeland, 8 ½- ½, in another non-league match.
GIRLS GOLF
North Pocono finished last out of 13 teams with a score of 422 in the Class 3A division at the Happy Valley Invitational, which, for girls, was played on the Penn State Blue Course.
