North Pocono’s Billy Pabst Jr. made it into a playoff to determine the champion Tuesday, leading three District 2 golfers who earned Class 3A boys state medals at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Golf Championships.
Pabst led for much of the day before winding up in a playoff that Downingtown West’s Nick Gross won on the second sudden-death hole after both players shot 2-under-par, 69s.
There was a point in the middle of the day where Logan Paczewski from Dallas was also under par and part of a three-way tie for second place behind Pabst.
Paczewski ended up tied for fourth while James Flickinger from Abington Heights finished strong to tie for eighth. Paczewski shot 1-over, 72 and Flickinger 73.
Two of the three seniors wrapped up their high school careers with state medals.
Paczewski has one more shot, playing Monday for Dallas, which is one of six entrants in the state Class 3A boys team tournament, back at Heritage Hills.
Medals go to the top 10 finishers.
Pabst medaled for the second straight year, moving up from a sixth-place tie to second place.
Paczewski also medaled for the second time. He played in the state tournament as an individual all four years, with eighth place in 2019 his previous best, and also led Dallas in the team tournament as a freshman.
Flickinger had played in the team tournament before, but the individual medal came in his debut in that state event.
Both Pabst and Gross parred the first playoff hole before Pabst got in trouble off the tee on their second hole. Pabst recovered to salvage a bogey, but Gross came up with a par to take the state title.
Gross played his last 11 holes, including the playoff with eight pars and three birdies. The birdies at 10, 15 and 17 gave him a 3-under, 32 on the back nine.
Pabst, who played the front nine in 3-under, 33, birdied all three par-5s – 2, 7 and 11. Along with a birdie-2 at the 160-yard eighth hole, Pabst got to 4-under and briefly led by four.
Bogey-5s at 13 and 14, then four straight pars to finish brought Pabst back to 2-under.
Calen Sanderson from Holy Ghost Prep also broke par, finishing one shot back in third with a 70.
Paczewski tied for fourth with Sam Feeney from West Chester Rustin, Eli Yofan from Fox Chapel and Nick Turowski from Penn Trafford.
After moving to 1-over for the first time with a bogey at 5, Paczewski birdied two of the next three holes to get to 1-under and into a second-place tie.
Following bogeys on three of the next five holes, Paczewski had a birdie at the par-4, 14th. He finished with four straight pars.
Flickinger shook off a double bogey that left him at 3-over after 5 holes. He birdied four of the next nine.
The comeback started with a birdie on 6, right after the double. The birdies at 11, 12 and 14 allowed him to play the back in even-par.
Michael Marion, Flickinger’s Abington Heights teammate, tied for 44th in the 72-player field with an 81. His 42-39 included a stretch of five holes at 1-under following a double bogey at 11 that left him 8-over-par.
MORE DISTRICT/STATE GOLF COVERAGE
State Class 3A girls: https://nepasportsnation.com/powell-franchetti-finish-in-lows-80s/.
State Class 2A boys: https://nepasportsnation.com/sems-werner-earns-state-golf-medal/.
State Class 2A boys: https://nepasportsnation.com/toomey-repeats-state-golf-medal/.
Abington Heights state representatives: https://nepasportsnation.com/comets-have-3-at-state-tournament/.
District 2 Class 3A boys: https://nepasportsnation.com/paczewski-outlasts-pabst-in-playoff/.
District 2 Class 2A boys: https://nepasportsnation.com/lugiano-edges-werner-for-title/.
District 2 Class 3A girls: https://nepasportsnation.com/successful-title-defense-for-powell/.
District 2 Class 2A girls: https://nepasportsnation.com/tunkhannock-freshman-brown-tops-experienced-2a-girls/.
Complete district scores: https://nepasportsnation.com/district-2-individual-golf-championships/.
Two players declined state berths: https://nepasportsnation.com/two-players-choose-faldo-event/.
