Bill Flood Takes Over With Golf Team

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s boys’ golf team has a new leader as Bill Flood, general manager and head golf professional at Rock Ridge Country Club, takes over with the Nighthawks this spring.

“What we’re looking to do is build a program,” said Flood who inherits a team that lost five regulars, and nine golfers overall, to graduation.

The Nighthawks were runners-up in the South-West Conference Championships and placed 14th in the Division I State Tournament last spring. The goals are to be competitive right away, with an eye on the future.

“Newtown’s done very well. I think we can do better,” said Flood, adding that this year he is striving for an above-.500 campaign and would be very happy with a winning record and berth in both the South-West Conference and state tournaments given the amount of youth and inexperience in the lineup. “We’ve got a lot of young kids on this team,” the coach said.

Newtown’s senior captains are Christian Gregoire, Nick Wright, and Abbey Doski. Although Doski competes with the boys, since there is no girls’ squad at NHS, she participates in the girls’ championship, and is the two-time defending South-West Conference champion. Doski is the team’s top golfer as the season gets underway, Flood said.

Despite the fact Newtown is an overall young team, Flood sees plenty of potential. He points to freshmen Brian LeBlanc, Vivek Tedla, and Joe Calbo; sophomores Chris Erikson, Ryan Palmer, and Stephen Rahr; juniors Mike LoBosco, Rob Marona (a transfer from Fairfield Prep), and Mike Mossbarger; along with senior Sean Maher as players who stand to emerge and help the team succeed.

“This team could be sneaky good,” said Flood, alluding the fact most of the lineup is unproven but showing lots of potential.

Flood expects tough competition from conference rivals Weston, Joel Barlow of Redding, and Pomperaug of Southbury as the team aims to get some wins get back to the postseason. Newtown’s season was slated to get underway with a stiff early test, at Weston on Thursday (after The Bee went to press). The team is scheduled to have home matches both at Rock Ridge and Newtown Country Club.