Jay places fourth in sectional (06/08/04)

By RAY COONEY

The Commercial Review

HUNTINGTON — Three fewer was still three too many.

The Jay County golf team finished three strokes better at Monday’s sectional than it had at the Olympic Athletic Conference meet earlier in the season at the same course. But, their 325 at LaFontaine Golf Club in Huntington still left them three strokes short of qualifying for the regional meet for the second straight season.

With the top three teams advancing, Jay County finished fourth behind the host Huntington North Vikings (322). The eighth-ranked Norwell Knights ran away with the title with a 307, and the Marion Giants surged on the back nine for a second-place 319.

South Adams was a distant fifth at 339.

“(It’s the) little things,” said Patriot coach Butch Gray. “I know that every one of the players are disappointed and they’re sitting there saying ‘how could I have made up three shots, four shots.’ That’s just the nature of this game.

“The thing that’s so disheartening is you hate to have a kid like Jesse Shawver who’s been a four-year letterman and done a great job for us have to end his high school career the way he’s ending it.”

A pair of Jay County golfers were able to extend their seasons Monday. Juniors Tyler Johnston and Alex Hunt will each continue plaing, as the top three individuals not on a qualifying team also earned regional berths. Johnston finished with a 78, with Hunt shooting 80, and they will play at Edgewood Golf Club in Anderson Friday at 8 a.m.

Johnston was three back of Norwell’s Andrew Imel, Huntington North’s Brandon Pike and Marion’s Erik Barnes, who finished with the best scores of the day at 75.

Shawver shot an 83, Adam Foster finished with an 84 and Ben Freeman shot 92.

“We lost by three and I could’ve played better,” said Johnston. “We should’ve been out as a team. That’s what matters to me, not getting out individually.”

Jay County looked to be in good shape at the turn as they played in the opening group with Norwell and Huntington North. They were 12 behind the Knights, but just two behind the Vikings and two strokes ahead of Marion after the first nine holes.

However, pars starting turning into bogeys on the back nine for the Patriots.

They had five birdies as a team on the front and five on the back, but after an 18-par front nine they managed just 12 on the back side to shoot 166. Marion was 10 strokes better on the back nine as the defending champions matched their 2003 score to leap into second place.

Jay County struggled mightily on holes 11 and 15, both par 4s.

Hunt was the only Patriot player to display any success on the holes as he parred the 359-yard 11th and birdied the 386-yard 15th. Everyone else on the team shot bogey or worse on the two holes, and they were especially damaging to Johnston.

He said his irons were not good and he three-putted on No. 11 for a triple bogey, and he posted a double-bogey on No. 15. His only other bad hole was No. 7 as he hit a shot in the water on the 410-yard par-4 for a double bogey.

Johnston also had nearly half of his team’s birdies on the day. He played holes six, nine, 12 and 18 at 1-under.

“I hit the ball well, I just had three bad holes,” said Johnston. “There were no complaints other than that. I was 7-over on those three and 1-under on 15 holes.”

Hunt put himself in position to advance to the regional after back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes dropped him to just 4-over par. He finished his round with a double bogey and back-to-back bogeys to slip to 80, but still earned the final qualifying spot behind Johnston and Mississinewa's Alex Corbin (78).

Shawver knocked three birdies, the first coming after he whacked his drive over the green on the 294-yard, par-4 fifth. He got up and down from behind the green, and added birdies on No. 9 and No. 12.

But, Shawver had a string of three bogeys and a double bogey in five holes on the back nine. Foster, who did not post a birdie, had a similarly tough stretch of four bogeys and a triple bogey on holes 11 through 15 as he faded out of contention.

“When you get to this point it becomes getting the ball up and down when you’re around the green, staying away from the penalty strokes and making sure that you’re using course management,” said Gray. “The people that shoot in the 40s and then the ones that shoot in the 30s — there’s some luck in it, but there’s also the situations that they get the ball up and down. They don’t get in trouble that they can’t get out of.”

But, Gray still praised his team for its excellent season. The Patriots finished with a perfect dual record at 13-0.

They also set a school record with a 148 in their final meet of the regular season at Portland Country Club Thursday against Muncie Southside and Southern Wells. Shawver, the team’s lone senior, had the best score of the season with a 34 against Muncie Burris.

“It’s been a great year,” said Gray. “You can’t take anything away. This is the first time a group has gone undefeated in a dual season. Now we lose Jesse, but we have a lot of expectations for next year.”[[In-content Ad]]