Braden Loff Earns Medalist Honors as Lakeland Wins Team Title

Lakeland captured the Valley Cup on Tuesday, firing a team score of 139 at Scott Greens to edge Valley View and Mid Valley, who tied for second at 141. Carbondale Area finished fourth with a 212.

Braden Loff of Valley View was the match medalist, shooting a 32 to pace all boys golfers on the par-33 course. Ian Scanlon of Mid Valley was second with a 34, while Lakeland's Ty Sokoloski and Aiden Babarsky also shot 34 to tie for third. Brenan Pantzar and Mikey Pisarcik of Lakeland each carded 35 to round out the top six, with Pisarcik's score also counting toward his team's winning total.

Rocco Farina of Valley View recorded an eagle on hole 7 and finished with a 35, tying for seventh with Xavier Franklin of Mid Valley.

Lakeland's team score of 139 was built on counting its best four of six scores, as is standard in Lackawanna League play. Pisarcik's 35, Sokoloski's 34, Pantzar's 36 and Babarsky's 34 combined for the winning total. Mid Valley's best four, led by Scanlon's 34, Xavier Franklin's 35, Aaron Merrifield's 36 and Connor Perna's 36, totaled 141 and tied Valley View, whose counting scores came from Loff's 32, Rocco Farina's 35, Caeden Krause's 36 and Jack Kelly's 38.

Carbondale Area's team total of 212 came from Jack Moran's 56, Gabrielle Kielar's 48, Connor Ancherani's 60 and Ryan Waters' 48.

Ella Mackrell of Valley View was the girls medalist with a 38, and Molly Gilgallon of Mid Valley finished second among the girls.

After the match, team records stood at Lakeland 3-0-0, Valley View 2-1-0 (based on tie breaker), Mid Valley 1-2-0 (based on tie breaker) and Carbondale Area 0-2-0.

Valley View coach Jamie Addley praised his team's effort despite falling short of the Cup. "Our kids played excellent today, especially Braden shooting an awesome 32 for medalist. I thought we might have snuck out and stole the Cup back from Lakeland. We had a 2 shot lead for a little bit but I knew it was going to be tough with some of Lakeland's guys still out there, especially Brenan Pantzer who is a really strong player for them, especially at Scott Greens. We fell just 3 shots short to a really good Lakeland team and tied with a really strong Mid Valley team, so I feel like even though we didn't win, it was a win for us going into next season," Addley said. "I wasn't really sure what to expect since we haven't played since last week, but I was hoping they would show up ready to play, and they absolutely did. I felt we finished the regular season pretty strong and it continued today. I couldn't ask for much more. Our older guys shot great scores and our younger guys have continued to improve as they did all season chipping in with some really solid scores. They all shot some of their best scores for the season today and I was really happy for them. It was a nice way to end the season for a lot of them. And our couple of girls who got to played today chipped in as well. Ella shot her usual solid 38 taking girls medalist and Aubrie and Liza both did a really nice job. I really like how hard all of these kids, both boys and girls work and how they listen and take instruction."

Photo: Rocco Farina - Ella Mackrell - Braden Loff

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