Jay fifth in ACAC

CELINA, Ohio — There were some challenges.

For Caleb DeRome, it was a mistaken Patriot swap.

For Gage Sims, it was drifting drives on the back nine.

The result was another middle-of-the-pack finish.

DeRome and Sims posted the two lowest scores for the Jay County High School boys golf team Saturday during the Allen County Athletic Conference Championships at Celina Lynx Golf Club en route to a fifth-place team finish.

The Patriots, who were fourth last season, tied with Adams Central at 356 but lost the fifth-player tiebreaker — Owen Johnson of the Jets had a 97 compared to Luke Fugiett’s 98 for JCHS — to drop into fifth place. Bluffton scored 326 to win the tournament by seven strokes over Heritage. South Adams was third with 351.

“We ended up about 10 strokes over our average,” said JCHS coach Dave Haines. “But all in all we had four pretty decent scores.

“It was kind of a cold day for May and a little bit windy. But that’s the game of golf. You take the good with the bad and learn from it.

“We had a couple situations that I think were learning experiences for the boys. Hopefully we’ll finish the rest of the season strong and be ready for sectional.”

DeRome, a junior, was in contention for the individual ACAC title at the turn, sitting at 4-over-par and two strokes back of leaders Keegan Schwartz and Ephraim Frauhiger of Bluffton. He parred No. 10 before taking a double bogey — his drive went into a small creek on the right side of the fairway — on No. 11 and bogeying the 161-yard, par-3 12th. Then, disaster struck.

There was confusion on the second shot on the 515-yard, par-5 13th hole as Eli Niemeyer of the Heritage Patriots mistakenly hit DeRome’s ball, which was in the fairway. DeRome subsequently hit Niemeyer’s ball, which was in the rough. The mistake was not caught until the foursome that also included Jayden Sharpe of Adams Central and Schwartz reached the green.

The result was that both players had to return to the location of their previous shots and play again from the correct position. They both also took a two-stroke penalty. DeRome ended up with a triple bogey that bumped him off his stride for a bit. He took a double bogey on the 406-yard, par-4 14th hole before closing with four consecutive pars to finish at 84.

“That threw me off … for a couple holes,” said DeRome, “but I did eventually move past it.

“I hit my irons well. I did fairly good off the tee. I just didn’t putt well for the first half.”

The late par push after playing holes 11 through 14 at 8-over-par was good enough for DeRome to hold on to seventh place and the final spot on the All-ACAC first team.

Schwartz took the individual conference title with a 2-over-par 74, followed by Frauhiger at 78.

Sims recorded pars on five of his first six holes, including a run of three in a row on the 175-yard, par-3 third, the 377-yard, par-4 fourth and the 392-yard, par-4 fifth. He was just one stroke behind DeRome on the front nine.

It was on the back nine that Sims lost control of his driver, hitting second shots out of the tall grass on several occasions. He played holes 10 through 14 at 9-over-par before bouncing back to record pars on No. 15 and 16 en route to an 88.

“Front nine was pretty good. It started out great … I was hitting driver straight and long. Everything was just good,” said Sims, who finished 14th to earn the last spot on the All-ACAC second team. “I think I probably got a little tired, started getting … a little bit all over the place. … I was out of play off the tee on almost every hole … I was in the heather four or five times.”

Cody DeHoff finished his round with five pars as he posted the No. 3 score for the Patriots with a 91. Liam Garringer, who was bumped down to the No. 5 spot in the lineup for the conference tournament, had two pars as he rounded out the JCHS team total with a 93.