Jay wins golf title

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CELINA, Ohio – The Patriots had an empty feeling after the conference tournament a year ago.

They had blazed through the regular season in winning the round robin championship.

But they lost to the Bluffton Tigers by three strokes in the conference tourney.

After repeating as regular season champions on Thursday, they didn’t want the same feeling from the previous year.

The Jay County High School boys golf team left little doubt it was the best team in the Allen County Athletic Conference, totaling 346 to win the tournament it hosted at Celina Lynx Golf Club.

“This is big,” said JCHS senior Jay Houck, who claimed the individual championship with an 81. “This and sectional is what we look forward to every year.

“We won the season round robin and we got beat by Bluffton last year so we knew we had to come in here and play well because they would give us some competition.

“We were able to win, so that was good for us.”

Bluffton scored 357 to finish second, and Heritage totaled 394 for third.

South Adams finished sixth out of seven teams with a score of 422.

“Very happy,” Jay County coach Butch Gray said. “This group, they have won a lot of hardware in the last couple of years.”

And after that sick feeling of coming up short in the tournament a year ago, the Patriots made certain to not experience it again.

Jay County had three of the top four individual players, as the top seven players were given all conference honors. Those who placed eighth through 15th were awarded honorable mention, and the Patriots had one earn that recognition.

Houck, a senior, began his round with an eagle on the par-5 18th hole. He then struggled through the front nine, posting his only pars on the sixth and seventh holes.

He shot 8-over par 44 on the front nine holes, but as he hit the 10th tee box he started to get into the groove. Houck made par on 10 before a pair of bogeys. He made par on 13 and birdied the par-4 13th hole.

“For some reason I just didn’t play well on the front,” he said. “I just didn’t have it going. My iron shots, I wasn’t hitting them solidly. Then I just picked up where I left off on 18 on the back.”

He said he was able to putt better and got up and down more often to help salvage his 9-over-par 81, even after the tournament was delayed for nearly 90 minutes because of a thunderstorm that rolled through Celina.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Houck said of the down time. “When we came back out I had a putt instead of having to hit an actual shot, so that was helpful in easing back into the round. It wasn’t too much of a factor.”

Collin Haines, who was second overall, had almost an exact opposite round fromHouck. He made par on three of his first five holes and birdied the par-5 sixth. He went par, bogey, birdie to make the turn at 1-over-par. Haines made par once on the back nine and had to take a pair of double bogeys, as he returned to the clubhouse with 47 on the back for an 83.

Senior Kyler Hudson stayed out of trouble for most of his round as he only had one double bogey. He made par three times, and had a birdie on the 18th hole to finish with 86. It was good enough to finish fourth overall.

Nick Hayden, a senior who will play in college for IU-East, completed the Patriots’ team score with a 96.

Hayden made par four times, including three of his last four holes, and also converted birdie on the par-5 second hole.

Matt Franks also competed for Jay County, and he finished with a career-best 100.

“It is a nice win,” Gray said. “A nice win for the kids and the program. Those three have been pretty darn important to this program.”

Jared Rife led the Starfires, earning all-conference honors in placing sixth with a score of 90. David Muselman shot 97 for 15th to be named honorable mention. Nick Wurster was third on the team with 117, edging teammate Eli Hamrick by one stroke.

J.D. Groh was also in contention for South Adams, and he finished with 126.