After getting knocked off by Franklin in last week’s Johnson County tournament, the Center Grove boys golf team didn’t panic about the prospect of a sectional rematch on the Grizzly Cubs’ home course four days later.
And the Trojans didn’t freak out after a collectively disappointing front nine put their quest for an eighth consecutive sectional championship in jeopardy.
Led by an even-par 72 from Sam Hord, Center Grove closed strong to finish with a team total of 304 at The Legends on Monday, good enough to beat Franklin by 11 strokes.
“To be honest, we saw Thursday as an abnormality,” Hord said. We didn’t play the way we should have on Thursday, but we came out and proved ourselves today.”
The Trojans actually finished eight shots worse on Monday than they had at county, but scores were up across the board with winds and temperatures both up a bit. Luke Beetz shot a 75 for Center Grove, the fourth-lowest individual score in the field, while Sam Slaughter and Brandon Heffner contributed rounds of 78 and 79, respectively.
Center Grove coach Matt Rodman said that his team’s youth — only No. 5 player Drew Rowen (81) had any previous postseason experience in Indiana — showed during the first half of the round, but he was proud of how they collectively pulled it together.
“We definitely calmed down and put up a really solid back nine today,” Rodman said. “I don’t know what Franklin or what GCA was at at the time, so I didn’t really know where we stood. I just knew we had to kick it into gear a little bit so we could play the golf that we’re used to playing.”
Franklin’s Damon Dickey was the individual medalist, dropping a long birdie putt on the final hole to finish with a 1-under-par 71, one shot better than Hord. Rounding out the scoring for the Grizzly Cubs were Nate Blackwell (79), Quin Edwards (81) and Will McGuinness (84).
Greenwood Christian was third at 332, edging Roncalli by two shots to secure the first regional berth in school history. Sutton Piercefield paced the Cougars with a 78, dropping birdie putts on the 16th and 17th holes to help put the team over the top. Ian Reed carded a 79 in the No. 2 spot, while Evan Stinnett, the team’s lone senior, contributed a key birdie on the 18th.
“Nerves really played a big part,” GCA coach Gary Hamilton said, “but I’ll tell you what … when the chips were down against us, we stepped up. It’s a great day for Greenwood Christian.”
Jackson Watkins of Greenwood is moving on to the regional as an individual after shooting a 73, good for third individually. He’ll be joined by Roncalli’s Conner Wray (77) and Indian Creek’s Clark Haywood (78).
“For the conditions today, it was pretty good,” Watkins said of his round. “To be honest, ball striking wasn’t there; I think I hit four fairways and nine greens total. But I just scrambled really well … I birdied 1 and 18 and just made minimal mistakes.”
Greenwood was fifth as a team with a total of 342, getting an 80 from Conner Chase to complement Watkins’ round. Indian Creek, which also got an 83 from Braxton Christie, was seventh, while Whiteland (377) was ninth behind a 79 from Will Davis.
Max Blandford shot a solid round of 81 for Edinburgh, which was 12th with a 438.
The focus for the advancing teams and players now shifts to Champions Pointe in Henryville, where Center Grove has won the last five regional titles.
Rodman is hopeful that his team will contend for a sixth.
“The good news is we played a competitive round there a couple of weeks ago, and the kids played really well there,” he said. “We’ll add about 400 yards, probably, when we go back on Thursday. … With how we played on the back nine, I think we’re going to hit the ground running really hard on Thursday and play really well.”
