Wilde Lake off and running with win over Centennial

It had to wait an extra day, but Wilde Lake's boys golf team, the defending county champs, began its title defense with a victory Wednesday afternoon.

After Tuesday's earthquake had pushed back the season opening matches, the Wildecats came out against an upstart Centennial squad at Hobbit's Glen and held on for an 85-78 victory. Tyler Silberberg led the Wilde Lake charge with a one-under-par round of 28 points, followed by teammates David Yancich (20 points), Nick Mathews (19) and Joe Boccher (18).

Centennial, which was led by Connor Flach's even-par round of 27 points, was within three points entering the final two holes. However, Wilde Lake's experience prevailed down the stretch to pull away for the win.

"It helps being at home on a course you know. Those last couple holes are difficult and that familiarity definitely makes a difference," Wilde Lake coach Diane Caporaletti said. "We hit the shots we needed to at the end."

Included in those important late-round shots was a pair of par putts by Silberberg and Yancich on the par 3 eighth hole. Silberberg also two-putted for par on the ninth to secure the year's first sub-par round.

Overall Silberberg's round included two birdies, including one on the opening hole to get him going.

"Being the first match, getting off to a good start definitely makes you more comfortable," he said. "I just went out and played my game after that."

Flach made two birdies of his own and also added an eagle on the par 5 seventh hole. His round would have been even better if it wasn't for the four bogies scattered on his card. As it was, he still served as the pace setter for a Centennial team that also got 20 points from Matt McShane, 16 from Mike Humphrey and 15 from Sahil Mehta.

And, although the Eagles ultimately fell short, Flach says the team's effort coming off a 3-7 regular season last fall was encouraging.

"We've improved a lot … way better than we were at this time last year," he said. "Hopefully this will be a good stepping stone and we'll be able to build off this."

Wilde Lake 85, Centennial 78

WL (1-0): Silberberg 28, Yancich 20, Mathews 19, Boccher 18.

C (0-1): Flach 27, McShane 20, Humphrey 16, Mehta 15.

Other scores:

Atholton 69, Hammond 32 (boys)

A (1-0): Wallace 20, Wolfe 18, Robinson 16, Potter 15.

Ha (0-1): Stanton 15, Creighton 10, Kopnitsky 5, Mitchell 2.

Atholton 61, Hammond 0 (girls)

A (1-0): Nguyen 26, Fields 19, Peterson 9, Tae 7.

Ha (0-1): N/A.

Centennial 42, Wilde Lake 5 (girls)

C (1-0): McShane 19, Kuan 13, Kim 6, Wojanowski 4.

WL (0-1): Teachman 5.

*The other season-opening matches that were originally scheduled for Tuesday will be made up during the coming weeks. All 12 county teams will be in action on Thursday afternoon, weather permitting.