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Lakeville North Golfers Hope to Take A Swing At Fourth Straight Title Appearance

Lakeville North golfers are hoping to make return visit to state tournament.

The Lakeville North boys’golf team has made the state tournament the past three years and third-year head coach Steve Sabetti is hoping that the team’s search for a consistent fourth and fifth golfer can lead to a return appearance.

Lakeville North finished sixth in the state tournament the past two years and Sabetti feels that this year’s squad compares favorably to his past state tournament teams. 

“We have our top end talent,” said Sabetti. “We’ve got Adam Petterson, who has been playing varsity golf four years. We have Bobby and Freddy Thomas, who are twin brothers. Both are in their third year of playing for us. They are ninth graders and Adam is a senior, so we have three guys at the top, who have played on the last two teams that went to state"

But the team does have holes, Sabetti said. The Panthers lost Tyler Goss to graduation, and Brady Skjei, who was the team's No. 5 golfer, went to Ann Arbor, MI, to play hockey for the U.S. National Development program.

"He would have been a junior this year and that would have been nice," said Sabetti. "It sounds like he is going to be a first round draft pick in the NHL. I can tell you that his future was a little better in hockey than golf. He is good (in golf), but not that good (like he is in hockey).”

Sabetti admits that the team is still scrambling to find replacements for their two key losses. Garrett Gidlow, Joel Oxton, Troy Heid and Blake Winiecki are battling for the other two spots.

“Our biggest issue has been finding our four, five and six guys,” said Sabetti. “We have seven guys that are in a playoffs for three spots today. I just don’t think that we have quite the depth that we had the last couple of years. We usually have four or five guys that at anytime could shoot a 75, 80, 81, 82 or maybe 83. Right now, we are struggling for a fourth scorer. We played at the Tri-State this weekend (at Edinburgh Golf Course) and a lot of teams struggled. We finished tenth or eleventh out of 24. It was a little disappointing, but you play five guys up there and our fourth and fifth guys really struggled. We have to figure out who is going to step up.”

Sabetti said that the team, like everyone in Minnesota, is hoping for better weather in May than what they have seen so far this spring.
 
“I think that the weather, is obviously not ideal, but everyone has to play in the weather, too,” said Sabetti. “We started out last year a little slow. It took us a little time to get going and then we picked up the pace. Obviously, as a coach, you would like your guys to peak in the first week of June when the sections are. If we are struggling right now, I’d rather struggle now than at the end of the year.”

Lakeville North has come out of Section I the past three years to advance to the state tournament. Sabetti feels that the section has more balance than ever this season.

“I think that there are some good teams in there,” said Sabetti. “I know that Owatonna has a nice team this year. They have historically been good in golf. Winona has all their guys back and they have a really nice team. They had one individual who qualified for state (William Leaf) and had another guy who was right there. They have a nice team and were pretty young last year. Century has a couple of guys who are pretty good. South has a couple of guys who are pretty good. To be honest with you, there are five or six teams that on any day can shoot well and win it.”

Sabetti acknowledges that the Panthers will be the favorite in the section again this season. 

“I’m sure that there are people who would maybe say that (we are the favorite) since we have won it,” said Sabetti. “But we did lose, arguably, our number one guy from our team last year and our number five guy and we have not had anyone step up to replace the number one guy, that is for sure. He (Goss) is playing at Mankato State right now and he had a great fall season. Brady would have been a nice help, but he is playing hockey. I don’t know if there is a favorite. We would be one of the favorites, I guess.”

Bobby and Freddy Thomas have been varsity contributors since they joined the team as seventh graders. Bobby finished tied for 42nd place in the state tournament in 2009 and 51st last season. Freddy was tied for 53rd place last year.

Sabetti said that he has enjoyed watching the two develop on and off the course the past three seasons.

“It is fun,” said Sabetti. “You get to see the kids change from when you looked at them as seventh grader and they were 13 and now they are almost driving a car. Their personalities change over time. It was hard to tell them apart at first. Now, I shouldn’t say it is easy, but it is a lot easier. Their golf games have changed. They’ve gotten a lot longer. They hit the ball a lot farther than they used to. They really love golf and they are very dedicated to it. They do play other sports. I know that they play basketball, so it is not just golf. It has been fun having them and they can shoot some low scores when they are on. Usually, they can hold it together if they are not playing well, which is a nice trait, like Adam. All three of these guys were All-Conference in the Lake and their scoring average was 76 or better.”

Adam Petterson, who led Panthers’ basketball team in scoring this season, finished tied for 17th in the state tournament as a sophomore and 28th last year. His play and leadership is key for a young squad, according to Sabetti. 

“He played as a ninth grader and he has been our number one or two guy the last two or three years,” said Sabetti. “He has gotten money to go to Concordia St. Paul next year. I’ll be honest with you, Adam is a phenomenal kid in the sense, that not only is he a great golfer and I know that he had a great season in basketball, but he is a really good kid in school and a great role model. He really understands as the only senior on the team that he has a different role to play this year. He is very good with getting everyone involved and doing things the right way, the way that we expected things to be done. He exemplifies that. He is a great leader and a great kid to have on our team.”

Sabetti feels that playing tough competition will get the Panthers ready for the postseason. 

“I think the biggest thing is that you always want to have these kids play competitive round of golf,” said Sabetti. “The more competitive rounds they get, the better they are able to deal with the mental strain. We try to play against the best competition that we can. We set up our schedule, so that hopefully, we do well at the end of the year and peak, but it doesn’t always work that way.”

Sabetti is hoping that if the Panthers make it back to the state tournament that they can improve to their consecutive sixth place finishes. He knows that the team is capable of a good showing.

“Last year, we were really close,” said Sabetti. “We need one more scorer and we just didn’t get it. The big difference that we had was that our top guys played OK. They were shooting high 70’s. The difference is that you had Wayzata, who had a couple of kids shooting 71, 72. Rogers had the Bueges’ brothers. One (Colton) went onto the Gophers this year. I think the biggest difference is that you need that first day, you want to try to get into the top four groups. That way you are playing with all the leaders and you know where they are at and if they are ahead of you. Your big name players have to shoot some scores under 75. If you do the simple math in the state tournament and shoot under 300 the first day, you are going to be in really good shape because the second day, the scores go down. We have been just one score away from being really close to being right there, within a couple of shots. Instead, you end up eight, nine or ten shots back, it is hard to make up in one day.”

The Lakeville North golf team is hoping that the fourth time is a charm at the state tournament.

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