Golfers Claim First Conference Title In 65 Years

To get a real perspective on what the Evanston boys golf team accomplished Wednesday, just consider this.

Seniors Miles Gomberg and Kieran Low not only weren’t even born the last time the Wildkits won a conference golf championship – neither were their parents.

Evanston wrote a new chapter in the program’s history book on a sunny and windy day at Winnetka Golf Course, capturing the first Central Suburban League South division title in school history and earning the program’s first conference crown since back in 1960.

Climaxing one of the best seven-day stretches ever for ETHS golf, the Kits built on last week’s dual meet triumphs over nemesis New Trier and Glenbrook North and completed a perfect league season by posting a team score of 298 at Wednesday’s championship meet.

Gomberg (73), Kieran Low (74) and Lester Low (74) all scored top five individual finishes for a program that had to endure a long title drought while competing in the best golf conference in the state of Illinois.

Evanston outscored New Trier (302), Glenbrook South (302), Deerfield (307), Glenbrook North (308) and Maine South (311) after also defeating all five foes during the dual meet portion of the season. The Wildkits also counted a 77 from Luciano Giangrossi, who tied for 13th place.

Henry Schmidt and Henry Way each totaled non-counting 80s and senior Nick Bonaguro fired an 82 to share in the most memorable moment for the Orange and Blue in decades.

Evanston ruled the Suburban League back in the 1960 season and also won the title in 1949. The Wildkits shared the crown with Waukegan in 1948, and with both Highland Park and Proviso in 1933, as part of that short list of titlists.

It was a long time coming, and worth the wait for ETHS head coach Jed Curtis.

“The crazy thing is that last year we were second in State, but we had two losses in the dual meets and didn’t win the conference. That’s how good this conference is,” Curtis said. “The strength of this conference every year is really something else.

“I am just super proud of these guys right now. This is the culmination of years of creating a team culture that I’m proud of. For us to ever win a conference championship started out as just a wild dream. But sometimes, you’ve got to have a wild dream.

“It’s a great accomplishment. We have a lot of goals as a team, and one of those goals clearly was to win a conference championship. We had a big win at New Trier (by three shots last Tuesday) and then they came back two days later at GBN, stayed focused after we got behind them and were able to finish strong.”

Gomberg was still pinching himself after turning in the team’s low score for the first time this fall. His 73 included one birdie, on the No. 15 hole, and he finished third in the individual standings. Ezra Primosch of New Trier and Will Herakovich of Glenbrook South both fired one-over-par 72s, with Primosch snatching the individual crown in a two-hole playoff.

“It just feels awesome!” Gomberg exclaimed. “This is a great team win, something we’ve been working for all season. I never would have expected this when I first came into the program, and to see how far we’ve come now feels really great.

“I did a lot of scrambling today, a lot of up and downs, just grinding away. I knew the course was really playing tough, especially with the wind, and I had to stay steady. And it always feels great to beat New Trier. We all know that if we play our game, we can beat anyone.

“I’m hitting the ball a lot better this year, and when I miss, my misses aren’t as big. I’m a lot more confident in the tee box, and my short game has come a long way, too.”

“Miles Gomberg came up huge for us today,” praised Curtis. “The course was so tight that he put away his driver and hit a lot of good irons off the tees. He plotted his way around the course beautifully. That’s the first time he’s had the team’s low score, and that was really big for us.”

If anyone wearing an Evanston uniform experienced mixed emotions Wednesday, it might have been Lester Low. The sophomore standout led the field by one shot with two holes remaining, but unexpectedly stumbled with a bogey and a double bogey on the final two holes and didn’t get a chance to even participate in the playoff that followed the 18-hole test.

Curtis said Low just missed the green on No. 17, landed short in a bunker and settled for a bogey. On the final hole, he hit the ball out of bounds and that cost him a shot at the title.

But the Kits wouldn’t have been in position to win the title in a system that combines a school’s dual meet won-loss record with its placement in the CSL South championship meet to determine a winner without his performances earlier in the week. Low recorded five straight birdies after a slow start versus GBN in the dual meet to help preserve that perfect dual meet mark.

“This was a big team win, that’s the most important thing,” Low noted. “I had to keep grinding today. I just got a little too comfortable over those last two holes. It was a good thing we had enough of a cushion (today), but I need to be better and not hurt the team when the meets get closer (at the regional and sectional tournaments).”

Low, who scored a top 10 finish at the Illinois High School Association state tournament as a freshman, fired birdies on No. 9 and No. 14 as the pacesetter for much of the round Wednesday in Winnetka.

“The wind was a big factor today,” he said. “Adding in that wind made it play really tight. I thought we all did a decent job off the tee today, and that’s why we came out on top.

“It means a lot to get the job done like this for the first time in 60 years. It’s a big deal, and it’s a good feeling to make it a reality. Every time we play against New Trier I feel the need to step up and play great golf. It’s a whole different competition, because it brings out the intensity, it makes you try your hardest to do your best against them.”

Now Curtis, who took over the boys program from long-time veteran coach John Willson back in 2008, has to make sure that his squad stays focused for IHSA postseason play.

The Wildkits will compete in the Class 3A Loyola Academy Regional next Wednesday for the right to advance to the Walter Payton Sectional.

“I want to celebrate tonight, and then turn our focus to the regional. We can’t take anything for granted, because other teams won’t stop playing their best,” he said.