Sunday Sports: Match play kicks off in Watertown City Golf Championship

WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) - Match play kicked off Sunday in the 2022 Watertown Men’s City Golf Championship at the Watertown Golf Club with 32 of the top golfers in the area looking to begin their quest to advance to the 36 hole match play final in one week.

Top seed and defending champ Brandon Mothersell met 32nd seed Brett Warner. It was Mothersell with a birdie putt on the 5th hole that slides by. He settles for par.

Then it was Warner with a birdie putt to win the hole but he misses. Warner would upset Mothersell 3 and 2 to advance, making Billy Caprara a happy man.

2nd seed John Bufalini squared off against 31st seed Chris Denesha. On the 4th hole, Bufalini’s birdie putt is short and to the right. He pars the hole.

Denesha misses his birdie putt as well. Bufalini beats Denesha 5 and 4.

3rd seed Bob Hughes takes on 30th seed Scott Taylor. On the 4th hole, it’s Taylor from off the green draining the birdie putt.

Then it was Hughes with a birdie chance to halve the hole and he drains it. Hughes beats Taylor 3 and 2.

4th seed Matthew Barton took on 29th seed Nick Felice. On the 5th hole, Barton sticks home the par putt.

Felice sinks the birdie putt to win the hole but Barton defeats Felice 7 and 6.

5th seed Andrew Marks met Brian Sheley. Sheley’s tee shot on the par 3 5th hole lands a few feet from the cup. He would birdie the hole.

Marks misses his birdie try and loses the hole, but Marks beats Sheley 4 and 3.

The Watertown Rapids closed out their brief 2 game homestand Sunday afternoon, hosting the Utica Blue Sox in a PGCBL crossover game.

AT the top of the 2nd, Utica gets on the board when Chris Fernandez goes the other way and doubles off the wall in left field. Carson Applegate scores: 1-0 Blue Sox.

Utica adds to it’s lead when Avery Lee hits a blooper to center that falls for a base hit and Fernandez crosses: 2-0 Blue Sox..

At the bottom of the 2nd, the Rapids get on the board when Brett Myers legs out an infield single and Owen Parliment scores: 2-1 Blue Sox.

The Rapids go on to fall to Utica by a final score of 8-7.

The Watertown Red and Black opened their 2022 Empire Football season on a high note Saturday night in Glens Falls.

The Red and Black beat the Greenjackets 19-14 in a rematch of last years Empire Football League title game.

Rarday Burrell, Jason Williams and Kalon Jeter would find the end zone in the win and the Red and Black defense had a strong showing.

A good season opening road win in the eyes of Red and Black head coach George Ashcraft.

“Yeah, you know whenever you go on the road and you can win the ballgame it seems great. I think we had 2 touchdowns called back off the board, which makes the score a lot closer that what the game actually was, but it is what it is. Glens Falls took a step better than what they were last year, but it was our first game out of the gate and if what we can do what we did a year ago and get better every week, I think this group of men is going to be something to remember by September and October,” said Ashcraft.

On day 2 of the 1812 Shootout taking place on the fields of Madison Barracks in Sackets Harbor, the boys played their final day of the event with school teams taking center stage.

Teams from kindergarten all the way up to the varsity level competed with 14 varsity squads in action. Some quality teams from around the state took part in the tournament.

”A lot of great schools. Some of the top teams in the state are bringing teams. Orchard Park out of Buffalo, Baldwinsville is bringing some school teams up, and Fayetteville Manlius was in the Section 3 finals this year for Class A. A lot of great competition along with Watertown. always has a strong presence here, they’re a strong A school also, so a lot of great competition,” said tournament organizer Chad Green.

”Yeah, so we actually, looking at the brackets it was tough for the original matchups. We kind of wanted some good competition, but then down the line, too, we wanted to see some good play in playoff time, too. So there was a ton of work that went into it matching these teams up because there’s a lot of skill and a lot of talent out there today,” said tournament organizer Jared Wilson.

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