Patriots drop to Eagles

The Patriots got their first head-to-head match in, but they just didn’t have enough to pull out the win.

Caleb DeRome earned the match medalist title, but it wasn’t enough to lead the Jay County High School boys golf team to the win on Monday as the Delta Eagles came away with the 159-167 victory at Portland Golf Club.

“We had three pretty solid scores,” JCHS coach Dave Haines said. “In golf, just one hole better for our No. 4 and 5 may not have won the match, but we only lost by eight strokes.

“Delta is always tough. I’m glad to be that close with them, so not bad.”

DeRome led the way for Jay County (0-1) by shooting a 36, beating out Delta’s Jacob Bilby by just one stroke to earn match medalist honors.

The JCHS senior never shot worse than a bogey on any hole, finishing with three pars and a pair of birdies on the 414-yard, par-5 fifth hole and the 435-yard, par-4 ninth hole.

He started the match with a pair of bogeys before he started to get going on the third hole. His tee shot on the 385-yard hole came up just short of halfway to the green, but sat dead center of the fairway. His second shot got him to the green in regulation.

His first putt rolled just to the right of the cup to set up a tap in for par.

“He was just solid and consistent like he always is,” Haines said.

Golfing alongside DeRome, Gage Sims put up the second-best score for Jay County at 41 strokes.

Sims also had a slow start, shooting bogeys on the first two holes and double bogeys on No. 3 and 4.

He turned his match around on the fifth hole, where he also shot a birdie. He followed it up with pars on three straight holes before closing out with another bogey.

Liam Garringer and Cody DeHoff rounded out the scoring with scores of 44 and 46, respectively.

DeHoff was the third Patriot to have the highlight of their match come on the fifth hole. He drove his first shot just more than 210 yards in the middle of the fairway. His second shot put him just 3 feet off the green, making for an easy chip near the cup. He sank a two-foot putt to secure a birdie.

Garringer never broke par, but hit the mark three times en route to his score.

Luke Fugiett, who made his return to golf after missing nearly three weeks due to illness, finished just one stroke higher than DeHoff.

One of Jay County’s main problems throughout the match was coming up short on putts, often not having a chance to reach the hole to potentially miss left or right.

“A lot of them, I think, were hitting the ball fat,” Haines said. “So they weren’t making good contact, which means they were coming up short. …

“I’m just glad to have the first one in the books and we’re going up to Bluffton (Tuesday) and hopefully we can do well there.”