CRANBERRY TWP — What a difference a year makes.

Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School brought back its varsity golf team last season after North Catholic had dropped the program 30 years ago. The Trojans finished 4-8.

This year, the team is 10-1 and takes on Deer Lakes in a match today at Pheasant Ridge. The winner will claim the section championship.

“Organization has been the difference,” sophomore golfer Trey Bartony said. “Last year, we'd stop for something at Sheetz after a match and we only had a couple of team practices all year.

“This year, the parents take turns providing a meal for us after every match and we practice a couple of times a week.”

The numbers have shot up as well. The Trojans had 10 golfers last season. This year, they have 18.

First-year coach John Haggerty said the biggest differences in the team are Butler resident Bartony and freshman Madie Smithco of Cranberry Township.

Both are headed to the WPIAL Class AA Individual Championships. The boys play Thursday at Allegheny Country Club in Sewickley, the girls play Oct. 5 at Treesdale.

“Golf is a game of failure,” Haggerty said. “I've called upon the two of them to be leaders, to help the other golfers on the team get better.

“That's a lot to put on underclassmen, but they've responded to it.”

Smithco averages 40 for nine holes and hits the ball 220 yards off the tee. Her older brother, Jake Smithco, is a senior at Central Catholic and one of the top golfers there.

Smithco is only in her third year as a golfer. She used to play basketball and softball.

“I was in a sledding accident when I was 10 and got a concussion,” she said. “The symptoms lingered for about a year and a half, so I couldn't do the other sports anymore.

“My family golfs, so I took it up, too. Now it's my main sport.”

Smithco is one of two girls on the CWNC golf team. Emily Crilley is the other.

Bartony is averaging 36 per nine holes this season and hits the ball 310 to 320 feet off the tee. He has been playing golf since age 3.

Bartony's family bought Lake Arthur Golf Club in 1974. He won the U.S. Kids Tour championship for his age group four of the five years he participated in that program.

“My dad (Henry Bartony) and I golf together a couple of times a week during the summer,” Bartony said. “During the fall, the schedule gets a little more hectic and we don't play as much.”

Bartony said his overall game “needs consistency” and he's hoping to use golf as a means of conducting business once he's into his post-college career.

“My goal isn't to play golf in college as much as it is to use golf in business,” he said.

Smithco's long-range goal is to play Division I or II college golf.

“I'm hoping to use the (WPIAL) tournament for experience this year,” she said. “When I'm a junior and senior, I hope to be playing to try to win the WPIAL and get to the PIAA Tournament.”

In the meantime, CWNC golf may develop into a still stronger program.

“Our top six players are three juniors, a sophomore and two freshmen,” Bartony said. “The future looks pretty good.”