South Fayette boys finish runner-up in WPIAL golf
South Fayette entered the 2024 scholastic boys’ golf season with high hopes.
The Lions returned five starters from last year’s squad that placed fifth in the WPIAL and featured one of the top players in the district.
“Coming into the season we thought we could get to the finals and hopefully do something,” said SF skipper Bobby Ruffolo. “We had everybody back from last year and that was great. The goal was to try and get a WPIAL championship.”
Three shots separated the Lions from that objective.
During the WPIAL Class 3A finals played Oct. 10 at the Cedarbrook Golf Course in Belle Vernon, South Fayette finished runner-up to North Allegheny. From the blue tees on the 6,413-yard Gold course, the Lions fired a 389 while the Tigers posted a 389 score.
“It’s not fair to say it’s a disappointment but we set a goal that we fell a little short of. Three shots,” Ruffolo emphasized. “The boys played great. We are very, very proud of them.”
Jackson Stephens led the Lions with a 1-over-73. Randy Fisher and Sam Bishop followed with 76 and 77 respectively. Noah Nicholas and Brady Newman finished with 80 and 83.
Fisher and Trevor D’Alessandro are the lone seniors in the line-up. Both are standout hockey players, who helped the Lions capture the school’s first Penguins Cup as well as state championship in 2023.
“Both are fantastic students and great kids,” Ruffolo said. “It’s nice having them on the team because they know how to win and are familiar with the feeling. Unfortunately, they also know how that feels not to win.”
Ruffolo added Fisher and D’Alessandro are good enough golfers to also continue their careers in college if they chose that route but emphasized their love of hockey.
“They will be successful in whatever they do,” he predicted.
The future is bright for Stephens, Newman, Nicholas and Bishop and the Lions. They are all juniors.
“We are losing two great seniors but we also have four of our top six back next year,” Ruffolo said. “We had unbelievable play out of all our juniors. Jackson, Brady, Noah and Sammy have been phenomenal players all year.”
“So the goal obviously is to try to get back here and try again. That’s all we can do.”
While the team has to wait until next year because only the top team from Class 3A in the WPIAL advance to the state tournament, Bishop has qualified for the PIAA individual championships set for Oct. 21-23 at Penn State. He finished tied for ninth place in the WPIAL tournament to advance to the state championships.
“Sam has been one of the best in the WPIAL so we are looking forward to see what he can do moving forward and I am really excited to see what the team can do next year.”