Revere/Malden Co-Op golf team hopes to build for postseason

By Dom Nicastro

The Revere/Malden golf team is looking to build some momentum this season. The program – hosted by Malden – plays in the Greater Boston League and is looking to make some noise. If the team plays .500 golf as a team, it will qualify for the postseason.

This is the third year as a cooperative program. The split between Revere and Malden golfers is right down the middle with a nice balance of players from each GBL school.

Brandon Pezzuto, a middle school teacher in the Revere school system, has been in a coaching capacity with the program since around 2015. Revere was able to carry the program for a few years until numbers began to dwindle. Pezzuto had a strong relationship with the Malden coach, and they combined programs. Paul DiPlatzi of Revere is another coach in the program. He is also in the Revere school system.

“We were kind of talking about numbers and thinking about the future and we decided to combine three years ago,” Pezzuto said. “It’s worked great, and we’re competitive. We try to make it so that we’re like one entity as much as we can. So, we’ve been working on getting new uniforms with a graphic designer to get a new logo and trying to make it as universal as possible.”

Meanwhile, things look great on the actual greens. Revere/Malden won the opener against Lynn Classical, 44-28, at Gannon Municipal Golf Course in Lynn. Revere’s Matt Lacroix (6.5-2.5), Frankie Annunziata (7.5-1.5), Jacob Simonelli (5-4) and Jonathan Wells (4.5-4.5) had victories for the cooperative team.

Revere/Malden is coming off a 4-8 season, including a 4-5 mark in the Greater Boston League.

“We definitely get a lot of kids who are just picking up golf for the first time,” Pezzuto said. “And it’s really rewarding because by the time they’re seniors, and they stick with the program, they’re able to go to any golf course they want with confidence that they can get around the golf course and play the game the right way. So that’s kind of like the goal of the program – to give the kids the skills that they can have in the game for life.”

This year Pezzuto said the team has more experienced players, and he sees that as a way to be competitive. Case in point – the opening day win against Lynn Classical, a program that has been solid recently.

“It’s pretty exciting to see their growth over the last couple years,” he said. “Our goal this year is to try and qualify the team for states. It’s a little bit too early to say which individuals can qualify. We definitely have expectations for a few of our guys but we have some incoming students, and there will definitely be some competition for playing spots this year, which is really exciting.”

Revere will be playing golf all over the area for home games depending on availability: Cedar Glen in Saugus, Kelley Greens in Nahant, Mount Hood in Melrose. “It’s definitely a good way to develop them to play different golf courses,” Pezzuto said, “because it requires different shots to hit and different skill sets.”