Results of the 2025 RIIL Golf Championships at Cranston Country Club

CRANSTON – After watching his opponents dump their approach shots into the front bunker on the first playoff hole, La Salle’s Drew MacLeod’s pitch shot suddenly looked a lot easier.

But the sophomore wasn’t thinking about it that way.

Some 45 minutes earlier, a playoff for the boys title seemed like the unlikeliest way the 2025 RIIL Golf Championships would end. Chaos struck, the playoff became a reality and MacLeod was suddenly facing the new biggest shot of his high school career. He nipped it perfect, stuck it close and two-putted to beat East Greenwich’s Garrett Carney and St. Raphael’s Zach Taraian in the one-hole playoff to win his first career RIIL Boys Golf Championship.

“I didn’t have my best stuff [Tuesday in Round 1] but battled through and persevered and just did what I had to do to win,” MacLeod said. “I’m really proud.”

The individual title wasn’t the only championship MacLeod won on Wednesday. Powered by his play, an incredible state tourney debut from Brent Rollo and a terrific two days from Sam Perry and Olivia Williams, La Salle went 303-310-613 to beat Moses Brown by 14 shots for its fourth straight team crown.

“It goes to show a lot about the team,” said Rollo, an ex-lacrosse player who swapped the stick for sticks this spring and finished tied for fourth overall as an individual. “We got harder and faster than everybody else on a daily basis.

“It means a lot for me to come out here and help them out and win the state championship.”

The day at Cranston Country Club started with one of the most intensely packed leaderboards the tournament’s ever had. With about four holes left, La Salle had the team crown all but locked up and it seemed fairly safe where the individual title was going as Prout’s Rocco Capalbo – the defending state champ – had a three-shot lead with four holes to play.

Carney wasn’t thinking about a playoff. He teed off 81 minutes before the final group and while at one point he was within a shot of the lead, a bogey-double finish sent him to the parking lot to toss his clubs in his trunk and swap out his golf shoes for a pair of Nike Blazers so he could watch the finish in comfort.

Taraian was hanging around to watch as well. He teed off two groups after Carney, shot four over on the front and hit the back convinced he had thrown away a chance at winning a state title in his senior year. He closed by shooting one-under on the back, but felt he was far enough out of it that he made his way back out on the course as a spectator. Asked by a reporter if him if he should be getting loose at the range, Taraian laughed at the idea.

Minutes later, madness happened.

Capalbo was the defending state champ for a reason, but struggled to find his swing on the back. He made bogeys on Nos. 13 and 14 and threw in a double on No. 15 before making a par on No. 16 with his once four-shot lead down to one.

On No. 17, Capalbo missed the green and couldn’t get up-and-down for par, then missed a short bogey putt that would have kept him tied for the lead.

“I was just trying to get out of a hole during the round,” said Capalbo, who bogeyed 18 and finished tied with Rollo for fourth. “I just wasn’t hitting the best shots. It’s just a mental game and obviously I didn’t have it today, but we’ll be back.”

As this was going on, MacLeod was on 18 trying to fight his way into the playoff. He scrambled for a par on 17 to keep hopes alive, but blasted his drive left and his escape shot hit some lumber and left a difficult shot to the green he needed to get up and down.

With Carney and Taraian getting loose on the range for their playoff, the sophomore knocked the shot stiff, then rolled the putt and let out an emphatic yell to make it a three-man affair.

“Over my second shot on 13, I was six back of Rocco and I knew I needed to make something happen,” MacLeod said. “Obviously I just played some good golf down the stretch.”

The playoff started and ended on No. 1 at Cranston Country Club. Carney and Taraian both hit drives straight while MacLeod – worried about going OB left – blasted his right, closer to parallel ninth fairway than the first.

Carney and Taraian laid their shots to a good wedge distance. MacLeod hammered a five-wood over the trees and it ended up on the small patch of fairway cut in front of the green, giving him a perfect angle to the flag. He was in position to, at worst, earn himself a spot on the second playoff hole.

It never got that far.

Both Carney and Taraian went pin-hunting, but came up just short of the tucked pin and ended up short-sided in the front bunker. With both facing difficult shots to get up-and-down, MacLeod could have gone the conservative route – but that’s really not in his nature.

The sophomore stepped up and nipped a wedge perfectly. The ball landed soft, skidded and nestled home about four feet from the hole.

“Once they both put it in the bunker, I told my coach ‘nothing changes right here,’” MacLeod said. “I was going to hit the same shot that I wanted to and executed it really well.”

Carney and Taraian both made double-bogey, giving MacLeod three putts to win the tourney. Lagging from that close isn’t something players practice and MacLeod’s first putt power-lipped out, giving him a longer putt for par. After a drama-filled day, he made sure there was no more and rolled it smooth for the win.

“You really don’t think of lag putting from three feet,” MacLeod said. “Just being able to get it done, I was really happy.”

Carney and Taraian both wanted to win, but both left Cranston Country Club pleased with their resolve and ability to stick around and earn the chance to be in a playoff, even if it didn’t go their way.

“My motto this week was just go out here and have fun and play casual-type of golf,” Carney said. “… I am happy. On Monday I played a practice round with some of my buddies, played awful and said if I make the cut, I’ll be happy.”

“Today the goal was to win,” Taraian said. “I was tied for the lead [coming in] and knew I had to shoot a decent number, but I didn’t think it was going to be plus-7 for a playoff.

“…It feels good, but I left a lot of shots out there between [Round 1 and Round 2]. I could have easily won this tournament, but it still feels good. It’s not a bad way to go out at all.”

Only a sophomore, Capalbo handled his finish like a seasoned pro. Wednesday was a learning experience and Capalbo understood as much.

“Golf’s a crazy game. There’s ups and downs and it happens,” Capalbo said. “I have a lot of tournaments left and a lot of high school golf left.”

MacLeod does as well.

Last spring he was chasing Capalbo for the title but fell short. Lessons from that tournament certainly stuck and left him with a championship nobody will soon forget.

“Just putting yourself in the same position over and over again, eventually something is going to happen,” MacLeod said. “Eventually I’m going to be able to close something out and I’m happy I got it done today.”

2025 RIIL Golf Championship Team Results

1, La Salle (LSA), 303-310-613; 2, Moses Brown (MB) 306-321-627; 3, East Greenwich (EG) 309-319-628; 4, Prout (PR) 306-323-629; t-5, Barrington (B), 308-312-630; t-5, Hendricken (H), 312-318-630; 7, Cranston West (CW), 322-319-641; 8, Pilgrim (P), 323-319-642; 9, Smithfield (S), 315-334-649.

Did not qualify

Chariho (CH), 332; South Kingstown (SK), 345; North Kingstown (NK), 346.

2025 RIIL Boys Golf Championship Results*

1, Drew MacLeod, LSA, 76-73-149 (won in playoff); t-2, Garrett Carney, EG, 75-74-149; t-2, Zach Taraian, St. Raphael, 74-75-149; t-4, Rocco Capalbo, PR, 74-77-151; t-4, Brent Rollo, LSA, 74-77-151; t-6, Thomas Hanson, H, 75-78-153; t-6, Parker Kroll, MB, 74-79-153; 8, Sam Perry, LSA, 77-77-154; t-9, Nate Jackson, LSA, 77-78-155; t-9, Mitch McTaggart, B, 75-80-155; t-9, Avery Picchione, H, 75-80-155; t-9, Christian Snowman, S, 78-77-155; t-13, Brody Corcoran, P, 79-77-156; t-13, Rocco DiMatteo, B, 78-78-156; 15, Michael Bessette, P, 79-78-157; 16, Alec Morrone, PR, 79-79-158; t-17, Dawson DiPaolo, 81-79-160; t-17, Jack Kiernan, EG, 78-82-160; t-17, Dylan Marcantonio, 79-81-160; t-17, John Rinaldi, S, 78-82-160; t-17, Michael Spooner, P, 82-78-160; t-22, Joey Andreozzi, EG, 77-84-161; t-22, Griffin Cooper, H, 81-80-161; t-22, Lucas Leroux, PR, 75-86-161; t-22, Jake Nocon, Portsmouth, 81-80-161; t-26, Michael Farina, CW, 83-79-162; t-26, Jack Marques, CW, 86-76-162; t-26, Eric Whitlock, CW, 80-82-162; t-29, Nico Capalbo, PR, 80-83-163; t-29, Charlie Horne, PR, 78-84-163; t-29, Colin Murray, H, 81-82-163; t-29, Josh Smith, CW, 78-84-163; 33, Kyle Bielawa, Portsmouth, 77-87-164; t-34, Jagger Dion, CW, 80-85-165; t-34, Harrison Krupp, PR, 83-82-165; t-34, Grayson Moore, EG, 83-82-165; t-34, Ben Peters, MH, 82-83-165; t-38, Kyle Brodeur, CH, 82-84-166; t-38, Will Cary 84-82-166; t-38, Gregrory Fitta, B, 83-83-166; t-38, Jackson Hopkins, SK, 83-83-166; t-42, Luke Cavanaugh, Lincoln, 83-84-167; t-42, Anthony Mazzeo, EG, 84-83-167; t-42, Zach Smith, CW, 85-82-167; 45, Thomas DeJordy, LSA, 81-87-168; t-46, Morgan Allen, CH, 83-86-169; t-46, Nate Crossman, Coventry, 83-86-169; t-48, Noah Araujo, East Providence, 80-90-170; t-48, Caleb Burnett, PR, 85-85-170; t-48, J.D. Plante, LSA, 87-83-170; 51, Same Ellis, CH, 81-90-171; t-52, Anthony Lentini, S, 84-88-172; t-52, Devin Stevens, P, 86-86-172; t-52, Troy Stockwell, S, 85-87-172; t-55, Michael Shih, MB, 85-88-173; t-55, Ben Tamul, H, 93-80-173; t-57, Andrew Mullaney, P, 83-92-175; t-57, Zachary O’Bell, MB, 85-90-175; 59, Kevin Arruda, B, 87-90-177; 60, Andrew Hatch, P, 87-93-160; 61, Matthew Bradley, S, 86-96-182; 62, Aidan Burchard, 84-99-183. DQ – Jack Hannigan, S.

Missed cut

Jake Calhoun, Westerly, 85; Jonah Reynolds, NK, 85; Jesse DeSarro, CH, 86’ Tim Menard, SK, 87; Noah O’Hagan, SK, 87; Sam Medici, Cumberland, 88; Ben Brown, SK, 88; Jake Perry, NK, 88; Colby Bennett, CH, 88; Adam Alfieri, Lincoln, 88; Tyler Cross, NK, 89; Dustin Wiitala, CH, 91; Will Rosenblum, SK, 93; Brady Pongvongkeo, North Providence, 93; Pierce Potter, NK, 94; Logan Jarbeau, West Warwick, 96; Cameron Morissette, Exeter-West Greenwich, 98; Zach Krueger, South Kingstown, 101.

*Includes individuals who missed cut but qualified for Day 2 as part of team play