Hurricanes Keep Rolling: Berger and Schumacher Deliver Seventh Sebonack Challenge Win Since 2017

For the seventh time in the past eight years, a Westhampton Beach pair won the Sebonack Challenge.

On Friday, it was senior Zach Berger and freshman Danny Schumacher shooting a 2-under 70 to claim the latest win for the Hurricanes, four shots ahead of Southampton seniors Ethan Heuer and Colin DeLalio. Pierson freshman Theo Venkatesh and senior Spencer Cavaniola finished third among the Southampton Town varsity golf team pairings with an 84, while Hampton Bays seniors John Tedesco and Sean Donahue rounded out the group with a 97.

Westhampton Beach head coach Fred Musumeci was adamant that while his pair may have been favored coming into the best-ball formatted tournament, they were taking absolutely nothing for granted. It was just two years ago that Heuer, then with senior Liam Blackmore, had disrupted the ’Canes run by winning it all.

“Those two are very good players,” Musumeci said of Heuer and DeLalio. “They played amazing. We don’t care who we’re against. We take everyone seriously. [Berger and Schumacher] had to come out and play, that’s all.

“We view this as our trophy and our tournament and they wanted to knock us off our perch again,” he continued. “They got away with it two years ago and we weren’t going to let it happen this year. So we talked about how we’ve got to earn it. Nobody is going to be like, ‘Oh my god, you’re Westhampton,’ and just roll over. We needed to come out and play well and they did. Two-under at this golf course is good golf.”

After their victory, both Berger and Schumacher talked about how it’s a privilege to play on such a prestigious course such as Sebonack, and that the format is a little bit different than their typical high school golf matches which use total score. In the best-ball format, players can pick each other up on occasion since the lowest scores are taken.

And Sebonack is slightly more laid back than most matches in that a pair of their teammates are selected to be their caddies. Nico Arena and Caden Padavan caddied for Berger and Schumacher; Kyle Warner and Jack D’Italia caddied for Heuer and DeLalio; Dom Mazzeo and Jack Fuer caddied for Venkatesh and Cavaniola; and Tom Malone and Helen Schnibbe caddied for Tedesco and Donahue.

This was the fourth time in his six-year varsity career that Berger, who became a two-time county champion earlier in the week, won Sebonack, and he’s done so with three different partners now in Schumacher, Owen Jessop twice and Harry Maloney in 2021.

“That’s why this tournament is so special,” Berger said. “This whole season we’re playing as a team, but we’re playing individually and on our own ball. When things start to go bad for you, you have to pick yourself up. This format you have a teammate who is there to always pick yourself up. That happened a lot today.

“We didn’t play our best today,” he added. “It felt as though we left a lot of shots out there, but we definitely stuck with it and played good toward the end. We were never really out of it and had the lead the whole day so it’s just great to win.”

Musumeci gave credit to the young Schumacher for holding his own on the course and playing a part in the win.

“Danny carried us through the middle part of that back nine [when] Zach was struggling a little bit,” he said. “Zach came out playing well. Danny bogied two of the first three holes and then Danny made the eagle on nine which got us going. He just carried us the next four holes until Zach kicked in and that’s great team golf. You’ve got to pick each other up and they ham and egged it amazing out there and that’s why they won.”

Schumacher said being able to play with someone like Berger allowed him to play a little looser than he typically would and that Berger has been a bit of a mentor to him all season long, so to play together in a competitive format like Sebonack it was a lot of fun.

“Playing with Berger, there’s not much pressure. I felt like I was swinging freely and I could kind of get aggressive at times, but it’s the same for him,” Schumacher said. “I had to free him up and he kind of caught fire toward the end. We kind of played good together.

“He’s taught me a lot throughout the past two seasons I’ve played with him,” he continued. “He’s literally helped me with everything. When I’m down in my match, he picks me up, gives me great advice throughout every shot. Any time I need help with a read right, he’s right there next to me to help me out.”

“We’ve played every match together this season,” Berger said. “You can definitely see the progression for both of us, having gotten better throughout the season and got more comfortable in what we’re doing and it’s just been a full circle moment.”

Musumeci made it official last week that this will be his final season as head coach of the golf program. As long as everything goes according to plan, he’ll be turning things over to assistant coach Connor Davis, who has been with him the past few years and was there Friday at Sebonack.

Musumeci took over the golf program in 2009 and, as he admitted, had some lean years the first five or so seasons going 20-30 in that span. But the team won for the first time in quite some time its first league and conference championships in 2015 and have been on a torrid run ever since.

“I’ll be turning the reins over. I have a young assistant coach who is a great coach and I don’t want to hold him back,” he said. “I retire in June and I promised the Bergers I was going to see [Zach] through. I was planning on it all along, making Zach’s last year my last year.

“For everything that we’ve earned this year, it’s a credit to the strength of our program because I knew we were going to be okay, I knew we were going to be good,” Musumeci continued. “I had no idea how good we were going to be, and we’re right back in the mix where we were last year: league championship, conference championship, Sebonack championship.

“Last year, we were the top seed in the county tournament — this year we’re the second seed. I would love nothing more in my last year to go out and win it all, that’s been our goal all along. Beyond that, I have two boys going to the states in Danny and Zach. I would love to see in June, Zach win states. He was knocking on the door last year. That would be a great way to go out, but we take it one day at a time, one match at a time.”

Set to retire this June after 32 years of teaching mostly fifth grade, Musumeci said he’s going to miss coaching, but that the program is in good hands.

“You teach for a long time and hope to move the needle for kids. And I think I have, but that’s for others to decide. There’s nothing I’m more proud of in my career than building this program back up to where it’s at. And it’s strong, we’re young, our JV is good. This is something I’m very proud of.”