Jay, Fort golfers at their finest

Fort Recovery and Jay County brought out the best in each other.
The evenly-matched state-line rivals entered Tuesday’s match with twin top scores of 205.
The Indians surpassed that mark by two. The home team did them two better.
Four seniors teamed up to post a season-best 201 for the Jay County High School girls golf team on Senior Night, giving the Patriots a double victory over Fort Recovery (203) and the Winchester Golden Falcons (233) at Portland Golf Club.
“I was really happy tonight. I thought the girls relaxed. I thought they played well,” said JCHS coach Butch Gray. “It was a nice night for Senior Night to end with our best nine-hole round of the year. And it took that to beat Fort Recovery.”
Senior Brooke Sanders led the Patriots to the victory with a career-best 46 to earn medalist honors, and her classmates Abby Saxman (48), Sydney Robbins (53) and Rachel Antrim (54) rounded out the team score.
Fort Recovery had a pair of career-best scores in matching 48s from Tori Vaughn and Emily Bruns, who recorded her first career birdie. Although the Indians came up short of victory against Jay County, coach Joe Bruns felt the effort was a big step in the right direction.
“I thought (we played) pretty solid — 203 is our best nine-hole match. Unfortunately, Jay County hit their best match. So it was very competitive,” he said. “Obviously we wanted to win the match, but we’re really pleased our scores are getting a little better as tournament comes closer.”
Keslyn Harris led Winchester with a 54.
Bruns’ score matched Saxman, Cori Stone played even with her cousin Antrim and Trisha Thien tied Robbins, so the team competition came down to the No. 1s. It was Sanders’ effort on the par-3s that provided the winning margin for Jay County (6-4).
After opening with a bogey on the par-5 12th hole, Sanders took advantage of the 101-yard, par-3 13th for her first par. And following a bogey on No. 14, she tallied her second par of the evening on the 125-yard, par-3 15th.
Back-to-back bogeys on the next two holes had her at 4-over-par through six en-route to her career-best total, which surpassed the mark of 47 she set Aug. 24 against Monroe Central and Bluffton.
“It was a nice round,” said Gray. “Her last two she’s struggled, but she came back nice tonight.”
Tori Vaughn was the picture of consistency for the Indians (6-2), playing bogey golf on eight holes. It was the one in the middle — the 290-yard, par-4 16, on which she had a shot go out of bounds — that kept her from surpassing the career-best score of 48 she set Aug. 24 against Tri-Village.
“That’s the game of golf. One bad shot can really throw you off. But she persevered because she went five, four, five, five (to finish her round),” said Joe Bruns. “That’s what she’s been doing for us all year. She’s been our best player and most consistent player all year.”
Emily Bruns opened her round with the first birdie of her career on the 260-yard, par-4 11th hole and kept that momentum rolling. She later tallied three bogeys on the way to shattering her career-best score of 53.
Saxman got off to a slow start before matching Sanders with a par on the 15th hole and turning in her second of the night on the 268-yard, par-4 17th hole. Her first shot on No. 18 skipped short and to the left, but she recovered to put her second on the fringe and two-putted for one of her three bogeys.
Robbins had three bogeys in her round of 53, and Antrim posted a par on No. 17 on the way to her 54.
“Abby, she was saying her driver wasn’t working but her irons were working. And then she said her putter wasn’t working, and then she got it working,” said Gray. “They just hung in there and really stayed away from the real big number.”
Thien and Stone each had three bogeys in their rounds for Fort Recovery.
Elli Keller also competed for the Indians, shooting a 59, while Kendra Dodd posted a 62 for JCHS.
The Patriots won the junior varsity match 250-303, with Carli Wickey posting a team-best score of 59.