Cavs edge Tribe

Some matches just aren’t meant to be won.

That sums up the Indians’ last two matches in the Midwest Athletic Conference, as they were able to put up solid scores but just couldn’t find the win.

The Fort Recovery High School boys golf team suffered a painful loss to the Coldwater Cavaliers by only three strokes Thursday at Portland Golf Club, 165-168.

“They’re really difficult to beat,” FRHS coach Dean Sanders said. “Our goal has been all year to stay in the 160s. But when you come up against a good quality team, maybe you’ve got to dig a little bit deeper, and unfortunately, we came up just a little bit short, but I am still proud of the guys.”

Despite the loss, the Indians (3-4, 2-2 MAC) got strong performances out of Keegan Muhlenkamp, Eli Lennartz and Matthew Romer.

A hot start and improved putting helped Muhlenkamp to a three-way tie for match medalist with Ben Giere and Tyler Overman of Coldwater at 39 strokes in the round.

“What honestly kept me going was the guys I was competing against,” Muhlenkamp said. “Because they were playing well, I was able to play well myself. I was able to compare myself (to them).”

Muhlenkamp, Lennartz, Giere and Overman were all a part of a foursome as the No. 1 and 2 golfers for their teams.

Muhlenkamp started his round off on the right foot on the 520-yard, par-5 14th hole. He didn’t fully get ahold of the ball on his drive, sending it about halfway to the hole just off of the fairway on the left. Using his five iron, he was able to put his ball 25 yards away from the green.

The ball flew further than expected on his chip, overshooting the hole but still on the green. His putt for birdie came up just one inch short before he tapped it in for par.

He rattled off three more pars on holes No. 15, 16 and 17 to start off his round on a high note.

Muhlenkamp has had some struggles putting in the past, but that wasn’t much of a problem for him on Thursday, as he was chipping well to give him some short putts that he could sink with only one or two tries.

“It feels relieving,” Muhlenkamp said. “If I can putt like I did today, I’ll be right up there.”

Muhlenkamp added two more pars on the 10th and 11th in the round as well.

Lennartz was able to turn in five pars himself on the 10th, 12th, 14th, 15th and 17th en route to a 41. He helped himself out by converting on some longer putts when he left the ball short.

On hole No. 14, Lennartz’s chip died on the green leaving him about 8 feet short of the cup but he still converted the putt for par.

Again, on hole 17, he chunked the ball, sending it only 3 feet forward on the green. He didn’t let the mistake phase him, pulling off a 15-foot putt for par.

Just like Muhlenkamp’s start, Matthew Romer was able to start the round with four straight pars out of the No. 6 position.

“Matthew has come through for us several times this year,” Sanders said. “We have quite the depth on our team. We never really know who will turn in an amazing night. It’s great to know that our sixth man can shoot nearly as good as our first man or even beat those guys.”

Not all of Romer’s pars came easily to him. On the 14th, he popped up his tee shot, so the ball only traveled 180 of the 520 yards to the hole. Hitting his hybrid 200 yards and finding the green on his third shot helped him save the hole.

“My tee shots have been better and I was playing the slice even though I’m not supposed to do that,” Romer said. “It was working so I stuck with that. My putts were going in and everything was going well.”

He also finished his round with a par on the 12th. He bounced around the fairway on his first two shots before his third landed in the fringe right in front of the green. He chose to putt instead of chip, leaving the ball just inches short before tapping in for par to earn a 42.

Rounding out the score were Nate Jutte and Alex Dues, both with 46s in the match.

Reece LeFevre’s 52 did not count towards the Indians’ team score.

The JV team took down the Cavs 183-194.

Riley Grieshop, Caleb Smith and Coldwater’s Briggs Howell tied for match medalist with 44 strokes. Grieshop shot a par on hole No. 13 while Smith pared 13 and 15.

Colson Post and Sage Wendel made up the rest of the Indans’ score with 47 and 48 respectively. Reece Evers and Mason Diller’s 52 did not count toward the final.

Playing as an exhibition, FRHS senior Evan Keller shot a 40.