Four in the 40s

The Indians crossed the 200-stroke mark in their third dual match of the season.

They followed it up with an even better score as they flirted with the 180s to beat a Midwest Athletic Conference opponent.

The top four players shot scores in the 40s to lead the Fort Recovery High School girls golf team to a 191-257 victory over the Parkway Panthers at Portland Golf Club on Thursday morning.

This was the Tribe’s best score this season as it came in eight strokes lower than the 199 it shot on Tuesday. It was also only six strokes short of the Indians’ best team score from last season.

“I think this morning they just seemed comfortable,” said FRHS coach Jeff Vaughn. “They were playing in threesomes and it went quick. I don’t know, I prefer morning play and I think maybe that’s part of it but they had it clicking today and all six of them had decent scores.”

Olivia Knapke and Evvie Briner led the way for the Tribe as they both carded 47s to share match medalist honors.

Knapke started her round a little slow as she double-bogeyed the first and third holes. She split them with a par on the 113-yard, par-3 second hole. Her tee shot bounced just off the green but stayed close enough for her to chip to within two feet of the hole and putt for par.

She followed with a pair of bogeys on No. 4 and 5 before hitting the highlight of her day on the 401-yard, par-5 sixth hole.

“I was kind of struggling with my drives today, but I hit a good drive so I was excited about that,” Knapke said.”I hit it left and was behind a tree kind of, so I punched it out but got pretty close (to the green). Jeff told me before, ‘You can’t go over the pin.’ So I chipped it nice and light. It almost went in, but it was a little too hard and bounced off the flag. Then I two putted it from there.”

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Fort Recovery girls golf vs. Parkway (8/14/2025)

Briner’s strong stretch came in the beginning of her round. She also started off with a double-bogey on No. 1 before ripping off a pair of bogeys.

Her sole par of the match came on the 290-yard, par-4 fourth. After hitting her tee shot she said she had a “perfect draw” to get it to travel with the dog leg only 105 yards from the green. She hit her wedge and put the ball seven feet beyond the pin, but her birdie putt broke early before falling in. She finished off with a 5-foot putt for par.

Briner’s score of 47 was one stroke off her career best and the lowest she’s posted of the season so far.

Georgia Wenning also posted her best score of the season and broke 50 for the first time this year as well.

The senior had only one major blip on her scorecard as he suffered through a triple-bogey on the third hole. Beyond that, she had a trio of double-bogeys on hole No. 1, 5 and 9 to split up five bogeys.

“It felt really good,” said Wenning, who also was one stroke off from her career-best. “My driver was actually going straight today, so that really helped.”

Mallory Evers provided the other score for Fort Recovery (4-0, 2-0 MAC) with a 48. She started her round hot, shooting four of her five bogeyes on the first four holes.

All four of the Indians’ scores beat Parkway’s top golfer, Morgan Louch, who shot a 50.

While their scores didn’t impact the final, Cora Pearson and Macy Kaffenberger had career days out of the No. 5 and 6 positions.

Kaffenberger shot three bogeys en route to a varsity-career-best 54 strokes. Pearson had two bogeys and a par on the fourth hole for a career-best 56 strokes.

“I’ll take that,” Vaughn said. “Say one of those four (seniors) blew up, we’re taking a 54. Usually it’s like a 57 or something like that.

“That’s our key. We talked about it early in the year, finding that five, six. And it keeps being a different girl each match it seems like.”