The Liberty High School golf team once again brought home the hardware, capturing the District 11 team title after also winning the East Penn Conference title two weeks ago.

The Hurricanes lost to teams like Emmaus and Parkland during the regular season, but leading up to the EPC tournament, felt they had an advantage with their top-five golfers and that certainly proved to be the case.

“I’m really happy,” said Liberty’s Jordan Barker. “Our team played really well throughout the season. We all kept calm and played well. My teammates are good players and can hold their own.”

“We started off the season really good,” said Liberty’s Evan Cartwright. “Once we got in dual matches, we had a tough match against Emmaus and a heartbreaker against Parkland. After those two losses we really stepped it up a notch knowing we had to step up in the playoffs, and we did.”

Liberty finished with a 324, well ahead of Northampton’s 346. Blue Mountain shot 350 and Emmaus shot 356.

For Barker, he lead the way for Liberty with a 76, just two strokes off Collin Seip of Nazareth who won with a round of 74. Cartwright was just two shots back of Barker and shot a 78. Both golfers moved on to this week’s regional round, hoping to survive and move on to states.

“Really happy,” Barker said. “I think I really just put myself in good position throughout the round and didn’t really make any big mistakes. Only one double bogey today. Kept everything steady.”

Barker said he hit seven fairways and 12 greens in regulation. Just a freshman, Barker is used to the pressure as the team’s number-one golfer.

“There is [pressure],” said Barker, who averaged around 73 or 74 this season. “I play my own game and don’t focus on anyone else and it usually comes out well. I just had to battle it out. I was four over through 14 holes and knew I had to make pars whole way after that. Just positive all day. I knew my miss and knew where the ball was going to go. Just set myself up for the cut and go from there.”

For Cartwright, performing well individually was just as important to him after last season’s struggle.

“I really wanted to stay under 80,” said Cartwright. “Today, this tournament was big for myself. I had a bad score last year and I just wanted revenge and redemption. I want to do the best I can. Play my golf and not worry about what anyone else shoots. Me against the course at that point.”

Joey Altemose and Austin Stella shot 85 at districts while Nolan Beagell shot 86, helping Liberty to the team title. However they won’t move on to regionals. Becahi’s Chad Sodl shot an 86 and tied for 14th while the Hawks Ian Masenheimer tied for 17th with an 88. Freedom’s Justin Kintner was tied for 21st with an 89.