Crowe becomes McGuffey’s first WPIAL golf champion
By Joe Tuscano
for the Observer-Reporter,
newsroom@observer-reporter.com
SEWICKLEY – Logan Crowe can’t kick about his golf game. And his soccer skills are pretty good, too.
One of five seniors on McGuffey’s golf team, Crowe also contributes on the pitch, where he leads the Highlanders with 35 points.
Crowe put the finishing touches on a great two rounds of golf with a 3-over-par 75 to claim a two-shot victory in the WPIAL Class 2A Championship Wednesday at Sewickley Heights Golf Club. Crowe was 4-over for the two-day event and entered Wednesday’s second round with a one-shot lead.
“I’m still kind of in disbelief,” said Crowe. “There are a lot of really good golfers here so I’m happy.”
Crowe is not the first athlete to pull double duty in sports, just one of the most successful. McGuffey has not had a WPIAL golf champion and the soccer team is battling for a playoff spot in the rugged Section 3. It takes a little balancing act for McGuffey soccer coach Brian Gillespie and golf coach Marc Scott but it has been a smooth transition.
“There have been conflicts,” Crowe said. “Last year, golf ran late and I got to soccer late. We just communicate well. I let my coaches know if I’m going to be late.”
Crowe had two shadows follow him along the course, Aaron Didjunis of Elizabeth Forward and Severin Harmon of Sewickley Academy.
Crowe’s only birdie on the back 9, on the par-5 No. 14, gave the McGuffey golfer the space needed to win the championship.
Obviously, when you’re winning at something, you don’t want to lose it,” Crowe said. “I went out there today and played my game. I didn’t worry about the other kids. The other kids played pretty well and they made it tough for me.”
The turnaround for Crowe in this event was dramatic. He didn’t qualify for states last year and that gave him motivation for this event.
“He is a very highly motivated young man,” said Scott. “He said he improved his mental game and he’s also added about 30 yards to his drives from last year to this year. It’s all from his dedication and hard work.”
Charleroi’s Levi Large, who avoided big numbers, also qualified for the PIAA Championships that will be held at Penn State Oct. 21-23 by only putting two double bogeys on the scorecard. Large had 11 pars and five bogeys to finish in 17th, one above the number of state qualifiers from this event.
A 9 on the par-5 sixth hole dealt a severe blow to Jefferson-Morgan’s Urijah Teasdale’s chance of finishing in the top 18 and moving on in the tournament. Teasdale, a sophomore, shanked his drive and bounced his second shot off the cart path and into the woods. He came into the scoring table ranked 21st and finished 20th.