La Salle’s first PIAA state golf title ‘stands on the shoulders’ of those who came before
The last and only Catholic League school to win the 3A state golf championship was St. Joe’s Prep in 2014. Now, the Explorers achieved history and are “in a great spot for the future.”
Lucas Nye stood on the first tee of Penn State’s White Course shaking.
After 18 holes of stroke play, Nye and his La Salle College High School teammates clinched a playoff spot against State College Area High School for a chance to win the program’s first PIAA Class 3A championship.
“I was shaking, to be honest, on the first playoff hole,” Nye said. “That first hole I really couldn’t feel my body. My wedge shot was really juiced just because of how much adrenaline I had and over the putt I couldn’t feel my body.”
Head coach Michael McCabe shared similar nerves.
“I was really just standing there as a spectator as nervous as [I] could be,” McCabe said. “I said to my assistant, I would rather be playing for $50,000 in a tournament right now. I would be less nervous because I could do something, but this is totally out of my control.”
The five-man lineup of senior captains Liam Littleton, Ben Robbins, and Ethan Starkey and juniors AJ Cifra and Nye won by one stroke in a two-hole aggregate playoff to become state champions on Oct. 21.
It was an accomplishment that many La Salle golf teams had come close to winning several times in prior years.
“This group of guys stands on the shoulders of so many amazing La Salle golf teams who deserved to be there or have had that opportunity,” McCabe said. “All 13 guys really bought into the message of the most important shot is the next one. We have to be able to control our emotions. We cannot let outside forces control us and we are playing for each other. We are playing for this school.”
That message resonated with the players, especially when they found themselves trailing State College during stroke play. Littleton was the last golfer out on the course and the team was two back from the lead with four holes to play.
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“I was able to talk to [Littleton], and he wanted to be in that position,” McCabe said. “He knew where we stood, and he knew what he had to do.”
Littleton birdied 15 and parred 16, and needed one more birdie to tie State College at 8-under and force a playoff.
“As that was all happening though, his teammates were all watching,” McCabe said. “We had a couple guys who had a bogey on No. 18, missed the putt that they felt they should have made throughout the day. So, it’s only natural to be like, ‘If I had made that or if I didn’t do this, we wouldn’t be one down.’
“I pulled the team together and I said, ‘Guys, we are in this position. Liam wanted this. We put him in this position. You guys put him in this position. Now, let’s root him on because he’s going to go out and do what he needs to do.’”
Littleton birdied 17 and parred 18 to earn a spot in the playoff. Roughly 200 spectators watched the playoff holes, with about 90% of them rooting for State College, the team said. When Nye learned they were headed to a playoff, he said he almost had to withdraw because he wasn’t sure he could handle the pressure. The captains pulled the team together for a chat.
“Instead of being nervous about every shot and overthinking it, the biggest mindset change that I made was just embracing it and embracing how cool it is to play with this many people that are following along for you and what it means to be able to play for your school in this moment,” Littleton said. “I definitely talked to them before and I was like we got to embrace it.”
The last and only Catholic League school to win the 3A state championship was St. Joe’s Prep in 2014. La Salle’s victory was built on the confidence that the players had in each other and selflessness that can be difficult to find in a traditionally individual sport, McCabe said.
Thirteen players make up the varsity roster, but only five compete in the state championship, with the team’s four lowest scores counting toward its total. Starkey shot a 74 during the competition, but the rest of the lineup scores’ were all under par so he wasn’t selected to compete in the playoff.
It was a difficult decision for McCabe, who knew Starkey would not have another opportunity to hit a shot for La Salle golf. But for Starkey, he had full faith in his team.
“Every one of us understood what this meant for the school, the program, and their friends,” McCabe said. “That’s what we try to build, that we’re grateful every time we get to play the game of golf. Seeing the buy-in across the board, I can’t say enough good things about how these young men carry themselves.”
The Explorers’ state title builds a foundation for what’s to come next for the program.
“This state championship is exactly what La Salle golf needed to break us through the barrier of so many tough losses by very few shots,” Robbins said. “With a bunch of great leaders like Lucas and AJ coming up, going to be seniors next year, I think that we’re in a great spot for the future.”
