By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Last fall the Hopedale golf team were co-champions of the Dual Valley Conference, finished third at the District Tournament and found themselves one shot short of advancing to the State Tournament. Coach Brett Boyd called it a successful season after having lost four seniors who helped the Blue Raiders to the best season in school history. 

This year Hopedale will be looking to continue their success, while hoping to improve upon their post-season play. Senior co-captain Trevor Lachiatto will be relied heavily this fall to keep the team in the hunt once again teeing off in the number two slot.

“Two years ago with the group of seniors we really didn’t have to rely on Trevor and he could just go about his business and do his thing,” Coach Boyd said. “Last year he put too much pressure on himself with expectations, this year I expect him to settle in and help these kids perform as a team.”

Another senior, Brady Wajda, will follow Lachiatto on the tee as the team’s number three golfer. Boyd loves the seniors determination and mentality moving past his mistakes and is looking forward to what he’ll be able to give the team this year. Rounding out the top six will be senior Dylan Ferris, junior Jacob Whyte and sophomore Cam Vaillette. The trio of golfers have all shown flashes of putting together solid rounds but occasionally still find themselves having issues on the course in some form. Boyd believes that they are all capable of lowering their scores this season.

 Hopedale will open the season in late August and will have completed seven matches before the first week of September.

While the Blue Raiders two through six golfers will be looked upon to help get the squad into he post-season; its main golfer will be co-captain Colin Haynes. The team’s number one golfer has been a team medalist in every match last year, including 14 out of 16 as a match medalist and was named the DVC’s Player of the Year last fall as a sophomore.

“As a freshman playing with seniors during his first season Colin continuously found himself playing as our number two or number three that year,” the Hopedale Coach said. “Being so young, he really didn’t have a voice on the team, but over the years he has become an incredible leader. The way he talks to the younger kids is phenomenal.”

Last year Haynes was by far the team’s number one golfer and was ready to put the team on his shoulders. 

Golf was something that had been in Haynes’ family for several generations and his dad, who Haynes said was very good, taught him everything growing up. It was around the age of 13 he began committing himself more to golf.

“I was playing baseball as well as golf and although I was one of the better baseball players at that age, but I found that I put up even better performances at junior golf tournaments,” he said. “That summer before seventh grade I figured I was wasting my time with baseball, especially if I wanted to play golf in college, so I quit baseball.”

Upon entering the Hopedale Jr/Sr High School Haynes was named the teams number two golfer while shooting an average of 44 per round. Being the youngest athlete on the golf course was very intimidating to the seventh grader, but his teammates had his back and helped the youngster get through the season and all its difficulties.

“Being the team’s number two golfer was some big shoes to fill and it was an important spot on the team,” Haynes said. “I was nervous and it did put a lot of pressure on me that year, but I just learned to shutoff the background noise going into matches.”

Over the next two seasons the Blue Raiders found themselves with overall good teams, while Haynes continued to improve his game as well. Playing alongside of Lucas Levasseur Haynes learned a lot from the team’s number one golfer. 

“Lucas showed me what it would take if I wanted to be a college level player,” he said. “A lot of golf is mental. You can have all the skills in the world, but it all comes down to what you have between your ears and can you avoid the mistakes.”

Last year as a sophomore Haynes qualified for the Individual State Tournament with an average of 36 throughout the season and was named the DVC Player of the Year, something that blew him away.

“It was rally important being named the Player of the Year in the conference,” he said. “Playing in my fourth season in the DVC and having strong bonds with all the coaches it really meant a lot for them to vote for me.”

As he enters his junior season Haynes doesn’t want to look to far ahead. He is hoping that he can once again help his team put together yet another successful regular season, qualify for the post-season and win the District Tournament.

Last year the Blue Raiders top four golfers tied Ayer-Shirley’s top four golfers so it went to a card off and Hopedale’s fifth golfer was edged out by Ayer-Shirley’s fifth golfer. Haynes would like another shot to avenge last year’s narrow loss at the District Tournament. 

Although he still has two years to complete at Hopedale, the junior is already looking into playing collegiate golf once he graduates. Haynes is looking at all three divisions and everything will all depend on the school and what they have to offer. Although everything is on the table, he is looking to stay in the New England area when he eventually makes his final decision on where to continue his schooling and golf career.