<p>Wednesday’s Johnson County girls golf tournament was just one of what will be at least half a dozen head-to-head meetings between the area’s two best teams, Center Grove and Franklin.</p>
<p>As if Cale Hoover and Chris Kacarab hadn’t already been seeing enough of one another this year.</p>
<p>Both members at Dye’s Walk Country Club, Trojan coach Hoover and Grizzly Cub mentor Kacarab struck up a friendship on the links over the summer, playing about 25 rounds together. The two bumped into each other one day and got to talking, and they soon became regular playing partners.</p>
<p>"The beauty of a teacher’s schedule," Hoover said.</p>
<p>When I sent a text message to Kacarab last month attempting to touch base for our season preview, he was on the course with Hoover. When the two exchanged pleasantries after Wednesday’s tournament, they discussed the possibility of playing together this weekend.</p>
<p>Though the rivalry between the Franklin and Center Grove girls has heated up over the past couple of seasons, the coaches have managed to keep it civil. Any talk this summer about their teams was, according to Kacarab, "a frank assessment of, ‘How do you think you’ll do?’"</p>
<p>Both agreed that the two teams would again be neck and neck all season, and so far it’s played out that way. Each had gotten the better of the other in a tournament this month before Wednesday’s showdown, and their upcoming battles — including the sectional, regional and perhaps state finals next month, will likely all come down to who’s playing better on that particular day.</p>
<p>So there wasn’t much trash talk between the two this summer — and the few jabs that there were had nothing to do with the Grizzly Cubs and Trojans.</p>
<p>"He makes fun of me for wearing pants all the time," Kacarab said. "That’s about it."</p>
<p>Though their teams are very closely matched on the course, Hoover concedes that Kacarab is unquestionably a better golfer than he is.</p>
<p>"He’s got some game," he said. "I have spectacular moments followed by burning flames, typically."</p>
<p>The friendship between the two coaches ensures that while the Center Grove-Franklin rivalry figures to be a competitive one for the foreseeable future, that competitiveness won’t ever boil over and become overly contentious.</p>
<p>"The one thing about golf is, I don’t think as competitors that you’re ever rooting against anybody," Hoover said. "So you want to see their kids do well; you just hope yours play as well as they can and you win."</p>
<p>"It’s a friendly rivalry," Kacarab said with a smile. "Hopefully it’ll stay that way."</p>
<p><em>Ryan O’Leary is the sports editor for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>.</em></p>
