Shortly after moving into his new home in East Lampeter Township 10 years ago, Deryl Denlinger looked out the back window and saw something comforting.

There in the back yard was his son, David, playing with the new neighbor kid. Some kid named Matt Burkhart.

Perhaps even more rewarding for Denlinger — an accomplished player on the Lanco golf circuit — was that the two seven-year-olds were entertaining themselves by chipping golf balls around the yard.

Who knew back then it would turn out to be one of the first bricks in a foundation of success, much less a tradition between the two kids?

"We still do that every once in a while," Burkhart, now a 17-year-old senior on the golf team at Lancaster Mennonite, said. "We'll just get a wedge out and start hitting. We've got a bunch of targets in the back yard.

"It's a lot of fun," he added. "It certainly gave us something to do rather than sit inside and watch TV or play video games. We'd go outside and actually do something with our lives."

They have continued along that path, especially when it comes to golf.

Easily the most accomplished — and daunting — No. 1-2 punch in the Lancaster-Lebanon Golf League, Lancaster Mennonite's senior tandem of Burkhart and Denlinger officially began their quest to go out in style Tuesday, when league play began in all three sections.

Actually, for Denlinger, that quest apparently began Monday, when he shot 4-under 66 to take medalist honors at The Shootout at "The Big O," a season-opening, non-league event at Overlook.

"I'm excited (for the season) after that," Denlinger, 17, said with a laugh.

Even before that, there were plenty of reasons for Burkhart and Denlinger — both of whom have started for the Blazers since they were freshmen, and who have finished first and second, respectively, in the Section Three scoring race the last two years — to be juiced.

After all, Burkhart, who won the L-L individual title as a sophomore, is coming off a 2007 season in which he finished 11th at the L-L meet, third in the District Three Championships, eighth in the PIAA East Regional, and seventh in the PIAA Championships.

More good news came this summer, when Burkhart won three of the four Lancaster County Junior Golf Tour events he entered, including the LCJGT Championship, which vaulted him to the top of the tour's season-ending points list.

He also finished a county-best, tied-for-seventh at the Pennsylvania Golf Association Junior Championship in July and in the top-34 in each of the American Junior Golf Association events he played nationally, including a tie for ninth at the SAP Junior Open in Ohio in June.

Meanwhile, coming off a 2007 season in which he finished tied for second at the L-L meet, fifth at districts, tied for first at the PIAA East Regional and tied for 35th at states, Denlinger broke through this summer when he won the Lanco Junior at Meadia Heights.

He also finished 16th in the PA Junior, had a win and a runner-up in two of the three LCJGT events he played this summer, and took 11th in a national AJGA event.

Sounds like a pretty good 1-2 punch, no?

Just ask the guy looking out the window a decade ago, who these days happens to be the Blazers' coach.

"I feel fortunate," Deryl Denlinger said. "It's probably going to be a long time until I get two kids like that again."

Question is, will Burkhart's and Denlinger's consistency be enough to bring Mennonite its second L-L team golf title in school history and its first since 2005? Especially with Luke Weirebach, who qualified for districts last year as a freshman, and talented sophomore Jason Souder backing them up?

Judging by the results of Monday's "Shootout" at Overlook, it might be an uphill climb for the Blazers.

Getting all five of its scores in the 70s for a team total of 379, two-time defending L-L team champion Manheim Township won Monday's event by 14 shots over Mennonite.

The general of the depth-blessed Blue Streaks' is reigning District Three champion Austin Wolf, who tied for second at last year's L-L Championships, tied for 14th at the PIAA East Regional and tied for 24th at states. He also finished fifth on the LCJGT's points list this summer, including a runner-up at the tour championship.

He's backed by 2007 District Three and PIAA East Regional qualifiers Devin O'Grady (winner of this summer's George Crudden Memorial Junior Tournament) and Brandon Hartranft, and 2007 district qualifier Alex Palmer, along with Reid Phillips and Brian Rentz.

"I think I've got the makings of a pretty good team," Township golf coach Skip Walters said. "And if you consider all four years … and yes, I had Jim Furyk … Wolf has got to be one of, if not the, best golfer I've ever had."

Warwick's Casey Osborne, Hempfield's Andrew Arnold and Penn Manor's Frank Dano and Mike Cotich — all district qualifiers from last year —are others to watch in Section One; while district qualifier Chris Markle of Lancaster Catholic could make some noise in Section Three, where Mennonite has to be seen as the overwhelming favorite.

Meanwhile, with the return of Josh Burg and Dan McCrudden, Lampeter-Strasburg would appear to be the team to beat in Section Two. Burg, the 2007 LCJGT champion, finished tied for sixth at the L-L meet last year and tied for 11th at districts; while McCrudden, also a 2007 district qualifier, notched five top-four finishes in seven events (including two wins) to place second on the LCJGT's points list this summer.

E-mail: jfulginiti@lnpnews.com