The Emmaus High School golf team saw a lot of success in 2019, winning the team Eastern Pennsylvania Conference regular season and tournament title last year, while also claiming the team District Class 3A championship, qualifying for regionals along the way. It was their second straight EPC title.

The Green Hornets went undefeated in league play at 12-0, and finished 16-1 overall in their matches last fall.

Emmaus will look to continue its winning this season, bringing back most of the lineup after graduating just one senior from last year, Nick Thoma.

At the top of the lineup is defending league and district champion Michelle Cox (70 average in 2019). The senior is committed to Penn State for golf. Junior Matt Zerfass (73) qualified for states last year and according to Emmaus head coach Mo Bryan he is playing with even more confident this year. Sophomore John Keba (75) and junior Evelyn Wong (newcomer) round out the top-four in the Green Hornets’ lineup.

Seniors Colin Wong (79) and Nate Seidel are five and six, while junior Patrick Bova is penciled in at seventh in the lineup. The eighth and final spot is still up for grabs with senior Jack Minahan the lead candidate, not far behind is Quin Scott and freshmen Noah Schurman and Zach Yenawine.

“I know we have a really strong and deep team again this year,” said Bryan. “Michelle is very confident and has gained so much playing experience in the tournaments she has traveled to, so I believe she will be just as good and hopefully better than last year. I don’t know anything about the postseason at this time. The only thing I have received is that there will be no EPC tournament.”

District and state competitions are unlikely to be held this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the Hornets still would like to prove their the best team in the EPC during the regular season.

Outside of Emmaus, there are a couple of other teams near the top of the EPC that will challenge them.

“Liberty will be a strong team this season and I know my kids are looking forward to those matches,” Bryan said. “Nazareth is usually strong and I don’t think they graduated anyone from last year so that will be a good match. We don’t play Northampton this year, and in the past they were good. I have heard that Central is very strong this season too. We also have Parkland and Whitehall on the schedule, and they are normally strong. We will find out this week what we have.”

It will be a different type of season for not only golf, but every fall sports season this year. But with the 10 matches scheduled, Emmaus will still look to come out on top in whatever it does.

“We definitely have winning as our goal again this season,” said Bryan. “But I do feel like there will always be an asterisk next to this season. I asked each of the kids on the team to set their own goals. I wrote them down because then it makes it real. I won’t share them, but I always think it is better to have something to work toward.”

Emmaus begins its 2020 campaign this week with matches against Nazareth (Tuesday) and Central Catholic Thursday.