The Rockport High golf team enjoyed a record-setting campaign last fall, shattering program records for points on numerous occasions.
Tuesday afternoon on their home course, the Vikings appeared to pick up where they left off.
While their final score of 147 points may not quite have rivaled their top marks from a year ago, it was still more than enough to top rival Manchester Essex’s 126 in a season opening win at Rockport Golf Club.
“We talked at practice about what the lineup had to do to be successful and we executed,” said Vikings’ head coach Larry Burnham, his team coming off an 11-win campaign.
As expected, Rockport’s four returning players led the charge in match No. 1.
Junior Landon Parco poured in a match-best 30 points while his fellow classmate and co-captain Nolan Bace was right behind him with 29. Freshman Jack Rose — who played on varsity as an 8th-grader last season — impressed as well with 27 points, while sophomore Will Carlson dropped in a birdie en route to 26 points.
The Vikings also got contributions from seniors Charlie Chmiel (19 points) and Tyler Moran (16), the latter of whom was making his varsity debut.
For Manchester Essex, senior captain Graham Lewis had a strong day with 29 points while Damian Etna was equally effective with 28. Seniors Alex Haley and Jacob Zachareas both finished with 20 points in their first varsity matches.
For those unfamiliar with how the quota points system works for the Cape Ann League scoring format, golfers are awarded a certain number of points based on what their score is on any given hole. For example, a bogey is worth two points, par gets you four, birdie is worth six and if you’re lucky enough to net an eagle or hole-in-one, that’s good for eight points.
Each player keeps a running total of their points from each hole, which is then added up for a final tally at the end of the nine hole match. Typically, the top six individual scores are taken for a team’s total.
Rockport is back in action on Thursday at Ipswich Country Club to face the Tigers, while Manchester will head to Black Swan Country Club to face Georgetown the same day.
Sports Editor Nick Giannino may be contacted at 978-675-2712 or ngiannino@northofboston.com.