Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015, 10:18 p.m.
By the time the heaviest rain of the morning began to fall, Fox Chapel’s Anthony Cordaro had done his damage and was into red numbers.
And after posting a 3-under-par 69, the defending WPIAL champion is on to the finals.
The amiable junior from Fox Chapel shared medalist honors with Indiana junior C.J. Hughes at the Class AAA semifinal tournament on a drippy Tuesday at The Links at Spring Church near Apollo.
In all, five of the nine Alle-Kiski Valley players in the field advanced, finishing among the top 18.
“It was a fun day, actually,” said Cordaro, the Section 4-AAA co-champion. “I tried to treat it like another tournament round. I just tried to play well and not think about (the finals).”
Cordaro, who shot 33 on the front nine with birdies on Nos. 2, 4, 7 and 8, had it to 4-under early into his back nine when worsening conditions forced WPIAL officials to squeegee some greens.
Steady rain puddled up around the course, but the 46-player field played on and took advantage of the lift, clean and place rules in rather impressive fashion.
Four players shot par or better and 22 broke 80.
“You wouldn’t expect to see that kind of scoring on a day like today,” Fox Chapel coach Bryan Deal said.
Cordaro did not use an umbrella, but a rain jacket and rain gloves helped him stay methodical.
“Once the rain started, it was steady,” Cordaro said. “You just try to focus on each shot. I thought the greens were great here.”
Three teammates will join Cordaro at the district championship Oct. 8 at Southpointe Golf Club in Canonsburg: freshman Grant Thiele, who finished third with a 71, junior Alex Lawson shot 73 to tie for fifth and senior Matt Friday, who matched a fifth Alle-Kiski area qualifier, Kiski Area junior Drake Neumann, with a 77.