The 2017-18 Farmingdale golf season is officially over. Well, not quite for some of us though. Some of the players on the team have made it to counties. Counties is an event for golfers who played high school golf in the past season and had an average score that was below the requirement for that year. With Farmingdale High School having enough players that made the required average score for the 2017-18 season to participate as a team in this event, each player is going in with confidence in hopes for a county and possibly a state title for their school.

After a great golf season under Coach Foley, Anthony Mazzella, Justin Bifolco, Eddie Brown, James Cavanaugh, Joe Smalkin, and Kristian Srica are the golfers who made it to the county event for Farmingdale High School this season. Every player wants to do the best he possibly can, so all are preparing well in advance for this event. “I’m feeling nervous but happy and excited. I have been going to the gym every day during the week and sometimes the golf range. Most of my days off are spent at the range to prepare for this event. I’m looking forward to a great time in counties,” says Kristian Srica, a sophomore. Srica made it to the counties event for his first year and wants to prove he is a true contender. He went from not even being ranked to now being ranked 62nd out of 112 who made it to this event. Anthony Mazzella is 100% confident going into counties this year. Last year Mazzella made the cut to make it into the second day, and finished in 10th place, the alternate spot to battle it out for a county championship. Unfortunately for him, everybody was able to play, which means he could not. “I’m not going to let what happened last year happen again. There were many mistakes I made last year that I will be sure do not happen again,” says Mazzella. As confident as he might be for this event, there is a reason as he is currently ranked number one in the county. He went from being ranked 13th last year to first this year. With this big improvement, he has earned himself an All- County recognition. Alongside him, there is also Justin Bifolco, who was ranked 36th in the county last year and has jumped up a total of 32 places and is now ranked fourth in the county, also earning All-County honors. Eddie Brown, now a senior, is currently ranked 16th in the county, also improving from last year. Brown wants to close off his high school golf career on a good note by doing the best he possibly can in this event. As for seniors James Cavanaugh and Joe Smalkin, this was their first year on the golf team, and they have both put on stellar performances by being ranked 27th (Cavanaugh) and 39th (Smalkin). Both continue to practice to try to cap off a great season with an even greater counties performance. Our goal is to win the county title and move on to win a state championship.

Everybody on the team believes it is possible and with the work put in, that dream could very well become a reality. With the support from the players who did and did not make the stroke average to make it to counties, Farmingdale High School’s golf team very well has a chance to win a county title or possibly even a state championship. As stated by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, “Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.”