Last week, the Bishop McNamara boys golf team officially announced it was back from a long slumber when the Fightin’ Irish won their first All-City title in seven years.

At the IHSA Class 1A Regional they hosted at the Kankakee Elks on Wednesday, the Fightin’ Irish made another, larger step back to looking like the program that once made 17 trips to state in a 19-year span.

Led by matching 82s from Preston Payne and Nolan Andrews, who tied for third overall, Bishop McNamara won its first boys golf regional since 2010, finishing with a team score of 336 that bested Beecher (343), whose seven-year streak of regional championships came to an end. The Bobcats’ Peyton Serafin was medalist with a 4-over par 76.

“It’s been a pleasure, just a successful year,” Payne said. “We came close in some invites and winning All-City last week was huge for us. Coming out and winning regionals just gives us confidence and makes us feel better as a team to keep pushing ourselves into sectionals and hopefully to state, both as individuals and as a team.”

The Irish also carded an 85 from Braylon Ricketts (sixth overall) and an 87 from Trevor Torres (eighth), the latter of whom is the team’s lone senior, to snap their lengthy regional drought. Nolan Andrews, now a sophomore, and Ricketts and Payne, juniors, all factored into the tally of last year’s regional, where they fell short to the Bobcats, and with so much young talent back this fall, Nolan Andrews said the Irish knew this could be their year to hoist the regional plaque.

“We know we had it coming,” Nolan Andrews said. “Last year we were all young – freshmen and sophomores – and now we’re a little older. Achieving goals is always nice, but we knew we had it coming. It feels good.”

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Bishop McNamara's Braylon Ricketts celebrates making a putt during the IHSA Class 1A Kankakee (McNamara) Regional at the Kankakee Elks Country Club on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. Payne would finish sixth overall with a score of 85 to help the Fightin' Irish team claim the regional title for the first time since 2010. (Tiffany Blanchette)

For McNamara head coach Wes Andrews, not only snapping that regional skid, but doing it by topping a powerhouse program like Beecher, is a mark of the progress his young bunch of golfers have quickly made.

“Huge credit to Beecher and what they’ve been able to accomplish over the last several years,” Wes Andrews said. “Very talented golfers, obviously today out here with Peyton Serafin, a very talented kid, so it feels good to beat a team of that caliber. We’ve been chasing them for a few years now, so we’re happy to get over the hump, so to speak, and get a victory.”

Serafin, who finished third at last year’s Class 1A State Finals, held a healthy lead for most of the day, allowing him a four-stroke solo win over Hoopeston’s Cy Tuggle despite a double bogey on the 18th hole.

While the individual win was nice, the team’s runner-up finish left Serafin with a bittersweet feeling after he finished his round.

“I think we all wanted to do better,” Serafin said. “We all wanted to scratch out a win today, obviously, and move on to the better teams at sectionals, but I think today was just a good measure to see we still need to work on stuff.”

Serafin has long had the experience of playing on the postseason stage, as has fellow senior Ben Anaclerio, whose 83 was good for fifth individually. The Bobcats as a team have played at three of the last four Class 1A State Finals, but with some youth further down the scorecard, several Beecher golfers got their first exposure to postseason golf Wednesday. Their card was completed by a 91 from Charlie Nowak (tied for 13th) and a 93 from Jacob Benck (tied for 18th).

“A lot of these players haven’t been in this position before, only a couple,” Beecher coach David Serafin said. “Pressure in golf does weird things to your body and brain, so it was kind of nice for them to get some of that knocked off, or at least exposed, so we built a little callus today. We’re disappointed with the fact that we didn’t execute, so hopefully that will get our attention and light a fire under us before next week.”

Hoopeston took the third team spot, scoring a 351 to join McNamara and Beecher at the Timothy Christian Sectional at Oak Park Golf Club Monday. St. Anne/Clifton Central (375) was fourth, followed by Armstrong (386) to round out the top five.

Peotone (399) was sixth, followed by a seventh-place tie between Milford and Watseka (403), Lisle (409), Chicago Christian (418), Illinois Lutheran (442), Grant Park (448), Cissna Park (468) and Donovan (469). Momence also competed but did not field a complete team.

In addition to the Irish and Bobcats, another seven local golfers advanced to sectionals individually. St. Anne/Clifton Central’s Carson Meister shot an 86 to finish seventh overall. Watseka’s Jack Hutchinson shot an 89 to finish 10th.

Austin Kaeb (Cissna Park, 91), Noah Vining (St. Anne/Clifton Central, 91), Joey Bushnell (Milford, 92), Andrew Snowden (Watseka, 93) and Gavin Costanzo (Peotone, 96) all advanced to sectionals.