The Brownstown Central and Seymour boys golf teams wrapped up their regular seasons on their home courses Tuesday while also celebrating their seniors. Both schools will compete in the Bloomington North sectional Friday at Indiana University.
Owls best Panthers, eye regional berth
Seymour edged Jennings County 170-172 to conclude its 2016 regular-season campaign.Owls sophomore Keaton Simpson claimed medalist honors by carding a 38.
Brady Marshall got second with a 40, Tyler Bullard shot 44, Noah Beaty 48, Jake Silence 50 and Dusty Wetzel 55.
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“I saw some determination tonight,” Owls coach Jim Hoffman said. “We got off to a rough start and came back. The scores went in the right direction towards the end. We’re seeded third in the sectional, and I think we have a good shot of getting out.”
Marshall and Wetzel were honored on the senior night at Shadowood.
“Brady has been a tremendous role model and leader,” Hoffman said. “He kind of kept everyone together. He has been valuable to the program over the past four years. Dusty has been with us for two years after switching over from baseball. He has done a really good job in improving; he has been really easy to coach.”
At last year’s sectional, Simpson and Marshall advanced individually to the regional.
The Owls finished fourth as a team, just three strokes behind Bloomington North.
On Friday, the Owls come in as the No. 3 seed in the tournament.
The top 3 teams advance to the regional at Champions Pointe Golf Club in Henryville on June 9.
“Right now we need our No. 1 and No. 2 are averaging around 74 or 75,” Hoffman said. “We need our No. 2 around 82 and the fourth and fifth scores in the 90s.”
Changing up the lineup, Wetzel will play in the No. 5 spot for the Owls.
“Dusty is hitting the ball pretty well,” Hoffman said. “He has a little more distance off the tees, which will help. That’s what we’re looking at right now, the opportunity to score on the IU course.”
Braves fall in match play event
Brownstown Central and Bedford North Lawrence played a rare match play format Tuesday at Hickory Hills Golf Course.
The Stars claimed the bottom three victories in the lineup to win, while the Braves won at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots.
At No. 1, Brownstown sophomore Hunter Browning edged the Stars’ Zak Cummings with a 1-up win.
Braves senior Seth Berry posted the other victory, finishing 2-up at No. 2 against Ethan Stanley.
“Seth played really well on the back nine,” Braves coach Brandon Allman said. “Even on the front, he had an eagle on hole No. 5. He followed with a birdie and he had a couple more on the back. Hunter was consistent all the way through. That’s the way he has been most the year.”
The Stars, ranked No. 15 in the state, won two of the matches after 12 of 18 holes.
Daylen Tidd defeated Brownstown Central’s Jackson Wagner 8-and-6 at No. 3, Blake Martin bested Lute Lahrman 6-and-4 and Koby Robb topped Brayton Hattabaugh 7-and-6.
Berry, Lahrman and Wagner were honored after the match with the Stars.
“They’re really good kids; I’ve never had trouble with them,” Allman said. “I nominated two of them for academic all-state. These guys have been around on the course a lot. It’s so important for a coach to have good kids on and off the course.”
In 2015, the Braves didn’t advance anyone past the sectional.
“Our three, four and five have to play better — there isn’t really a way to sugarcoat it if we want to get out as a team,” Allman said.
Allman said that IU’s course will challenge his players’ short game.
“The course has really big greens, which is a lot different than most of the courses we play,” he said. “You will see kids hit more greens but struggle more putting-wise. It’s also really tight, if you don’t drive the ball well you have some tough shots.”
Seymour will tee off at 8 a.m. and the Braves will go with the second wave at 8:50 a.m.