It really is a tremendous story.
Four years ago, the hype around this up-and-coming golfer by the name of Jack Oreal was — pun intended — entirely real. As a 14-year-old, the Newburyport native was one step away from qualifying for the Drive, Chip & Putt National Championship on the iconic grounds of Augusta National. Then the following summer, he was ranked No. 1 out of 171 golfers for his 14-15 Division on the New England Junior PGA Tour.
But he had a decision to make.
Oreal could return home and attend Newburyport High School, or stay at St. John’s Prep where he went for middle school. Ultimately, Oreal decided that in his heart, he was a Clipper.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Because during Thursday’s comfortable 186-151 victory for Newburyport over rival North Reading, Oreal accomplished a feat that coach Mike Guthrie believes is a first in school history. After carding 35 more Stableford points during the win, Oreal — the three-time Daily News All-Star and our back-to-back MVP — eclipsed 1,500 points for his career. The four-year star is averaging 34.8 quota points per match this fall, and also just recently broke another school record with a 41-point day against Masconomet.
How impressive is this milestone, you ask?
“I equate this with (a high school kid) scoring 1,000 pts in basketball,” said Guthrie. “I don’t think that any other golfer in school history has accomplished this feat.”
And the best part: Newburyport (9-0) is still undefeated this year.
It was actually junior Sam Luekens leading the victory with 36 points, and both Tom Gagnon (32) and Ryan Downey (31) came home with more than 30. Up next, the Clippers travel for a road match at Essex Tech on Monday.
Triton golf hits 200 points against Pentucket!
You just rarely see this type of final score.
But on Thursday afternoon, Haverhill Country Club was surrendering a whole ton of birdies.
So much so that Triton hit a Stableford point milestone that you could go half a decade without seeing in our area, beating rival Pentucket, 205-164. Out in front for the winners was Cullen Kohan with 40 quota points, and he is believed to be the first Viking to hit that 40-point mark in a match since his older brother, Cael — who was a three-time Daily News MVP for us — did it during the 2020 season.
So how cool is that?
Then elsewhere for the Vikings (9-1), it was Jack Gagne coming home with 38 points, while Evan Allen was right behind him with 36. The Vikings will now enjoy the weekend before hosting North Reading on Monday.
Meanwhile, the incredibly rare final score doesn’t take away from the fact that it was also Pentucket’s best performance of the year. And in a great sign for how bright the future looks, the Panthers (0-11) were led by sophomore Brody LeColst with 31 points and freshman Colin Price with 30.
Elite depth lifts Amesbury golf over Georgetown
We’ve said it a handful of times this fall, but this type of depth is going to lead the Amesbury golf team a long way the rest of the year.
Just check out this top-6.
During Thursday afternoon’s 187-111 victory over Georgetown at Amesbury Country Club, the Redhawks could have put anybody in their opening three groups. Lincoln Kime was the team’s low scorer with 33 quota points, and the trio of Jack Kusler, Gus Headrick and Shawn Asselin all were right behind with 32. Then not to be outdone, both No. 4 golfer Nick Creps and No. 5 golfer Anderson Bolth came home with 29 points.
And it was also a Senior Day victory for the Redhawks (8-2).
Meanwhile for Georgetown (0-10), it was Gavin O’Brien out in front with 22 points.
Triton volleyball earns clean sweep victory
This was an important one for the Triton volleyball team to get.
It was a winnable match on Thursday evening, and the Vikings handled their business with a 3-0 sweep of visiting Saugus (25-23, 25-11, 25-12). That marks the second victory this season for the Vikings (2-8), who moved up to No. 39 in the latest MIAA Division 4 power rankings that were released on Friday morning.
Olivia Basile had a great day setting with 15 assists, and Emma D’Andrea did a bit of everything and finished with 6 kills, 3 aces and 2 blocks. Then the trio of Janey LeBlanc, Ava Martin and Charlotte Wilson all chipped in with 3 services aces apiece.
Maggie Rennick can’t be stopped!
It’d be tough to find someone in the area playing better field hockey than Maggie Rennick right now.
Over the last four games, the Daily News All-Star has been unstoppable.
On Friday morning, Triton saw itself still outside of the projected Division 4 playoff field, but climbing up “the bubble” at No. 35 in the latest rankings. But a few hours later, it was Rennick finding the back of the cage again to give the Vikings another positive result with a 1-1 tie against Haverhill.
The Vikings (2-4-2) are unbeaten over their last four games, where Rennick has scored a combined 6 goals with 4 assists. They’ll look to keep it rolling at Essex Tech on Monday.