Double victory

The season got off to a bit of a rocky start, but the Patriots were strong at the finish.
With a pair of victories Tuesday, the Jay County High School boys golf team extended its winning streak to five straight matches. It posted a 176 to cruise past the visiting Muncie Southside Rebels (193) and Daleville Broncos (208) at Portland Golf Club.
The Patriots, who will compete at the Monroe Central sectional at 9 a.m. Monday at Hickory Hills Golf Club, finished the season with a 10-7 record in dual matches.
“You’d always like to be down lower in the scores, but I thought they did well,” said JCHS coach Butch Gray, whose team’s best score of the year is a 166 at Winchester Golf Club. “They’re a good group of kids. … It’s the mental part of the game that they’re growing into.”
Adam Alfont paced a balanced effort for the Patriots, whose top four players all finished within three strokes of each other.
Alfont opened his round with a par on the 344-yard, par-4 17th hole at PGC and added pars on the 370-yard, par-4 11th and the 520-yard, par-5 14th. He became the first JCHS player other than Justen Keller and Evan Mathias to earn medalist honors this season, finishing a stroke ahead of Muncie Southside’s Jacob Gibbs with a 42.
Austin Cramer had the top score for Daleville with a 47.
“I hit my tee shots pretty well today, except for the one on 18,” said Alfont. “I was hitting my driver straight for once. I had some bad shots, but I just kept going.”
His only penalty stroke of the day came as he double-bogeyed the 178-yard, par-3 18th hole.
“Time on the range before (the match), I think helped him,” said Gray. “And he did something that a lot of people don’t do — do it on the range and then take it to the course. He was hitting it real well on the range. It wasn’t anything major that we changed, we just got him to slow down.
“He had two double bogeys on the par threes, but other than that he didn’t have that huge, huge number.”
Richie Carducci overcame some struggles on one hole to finish with the No. 2 score for Jay County.
After taking a triple bogey on the 498-yard, par-5 12th hole, he came back to play the final five holes of his round at 2-over-par. That stretch included three of his team-best four pars as he finished with a 44.
Keller and Mathias each totaled three pars as they carded matching scores of 45 to round out the team total. Mitchel Rigby finished with a 49.
Only two golfers each from Southside and Daleville scored in the 40s.
All three teams will see each other again Monday at Hickory Hills. JCHS will tee off at 9 a.m. in a group with Muncie Central and the host Golden Bears.
The top three teams and top three individuals not on advancing teams will move on to the regional tournament.
“I always think over there we should be shooting in the 340s,” said Gray. “I think if we were in the 340s we could have an outside shot (at advancing to regional).”[[In-content Ad]]