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Sports |
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| Class 2A-1A District 1 Golf: Carroll’s big day at Black Rock |
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| By Bob Blubaugh, Times Staff Writer |
Tuesday, September 26, 2006 |
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HAGERSTOWN — Winters Mill’s Lewis Schnauble had the best round of his high school career and won the golf tournament. South Carroll’s Jordan Phillips had his best round and finished second. Liberty’s Tyler Bush had his best round and led his team into the state tournament.
But none of them made a more pressure-packed putt than Century’s Mike Hill, whose downhill, 12-footer for birdie allowed his team to stave off elimination on the first playoff hole and set up teammate Luke Shaffer’s 25-footer for par on the second hole that lifted the Knights into the state tourney.
“Mike is the man,” Shaffer said. “He is the man!”
Tuesday was quite a day for Carroll teams and individuals at the Class 2A-1A District I championship, held at Black Rock Golf Course.
The medalist Schnauble made five birdies to shoot even-par 72, beating Phillips by two strokes.
“It was my senior year and I knew I had to do something big,” said Schnauble, who knew he was in for a special round after a great warm-up session that led to his hitting 15 greens in regulation.
Although he three-putted four times, Schnauble sank more than his share, including a 30-footer for birdie at the sixth and a 10-footer on the 13th, the most difficult hole on the course. All this after taking his $150 Odyssey putter out of his bag and replacing it with a much cheaper model.
Phillips, whose 74 beat everyone but Schnauble, credited some swing changes and a smooth tempo for his fine round. He and Schnauble, as well as WM’s Kayla Thrushman (89) all qualified for states as individuals.
Bush would have too, except his 77, combined with Justin Catlin’s 81 and 82s from John Rosecrans and Mike Moon gave Liberty a 322 total, just three shots behind district champion Walkersville.
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Did he expect all that?
“No, not really,” Bush said. “I mean, we had our hopes, but we just played solid.”
Liberty coach Paul Bangle called qualifying for states “a great, great accomplishment.”
“We’re starting to click,” he said. “Maybe it did take a couple of weeks … I like what I see now. I like consistency.”
Century and Winters Mill tied for third at 324, but only the top three teams could advance to the state tournament, necessitating a sudden-death playoff. The teams were sent to the eighth tee, with two players from each school playing in successive foursomes.
The outlook for Century looked bleak when Andrew Stenger — low man for the Knights with a 78 — incurred a two-stroke penalty for inadvertently knocking off part of a tree limb with a practice swing, leaving Century two strokes behind after the first foursome.
But then Hill stiffed a 7-iron from 145 yards out, leaving himself a tricky putt that he was pretty certain had to go in if his team was to have any chance at moving on. He tapped it softly and watched it trickle down the hill, breaking slightly from right to left until he dropped into the cup.
“Nervous the whole time,” Hill admitted.
So were his teammates.
Stenger was certain his penalty had killed their chances. But given the reprieve by Hill, Century took advantage. The teams were still deadlocked after the first two twosomes played the ninth hole.
But Shaffer’s big-breaking, 25-foot par putt, along with a bogey by Hill, meant WM’s Tom Martz and Brian Anderson each had to make four-footers to extend the playoff. Martz punctuated his par saver with a fist pump, but Anderson’s bogey attempt rolled over the left side of the cup, somehow not falling in.
Shaffer said he had a similar putt earlier in his round and that the pressure of the playoff made him focus more. Mostly, though, he just credited Hill. Stenger praised them both.
“Mikey and Luke bailed us out,” he said.
Century coach Jeff Papcun and WM coach Kyle Walker walked together throughout the playoff, praising their kids for performing under the most pressurized conditions.
“That’s more nervous than I’ve ever been at a match, and you could definitely see the nerves in the kids,” Papcun said. “That was a huge shot [by Hill] and Luke’s hole-out was huge, too. … We could’ve gone a little lower [than 324], but under the circumstances I think we did all right.”
TEAM SCORES
1. Walkersville 319, 2. Liberty 322, 3. Century, Winters Mill 324, 5. Middletown 333, 6. Beall 336, 7. Williamsport 334, 8. Boonsoboro 344, 9. North Hagerstown 345, 10. Brunswick 353, 11. Francis Scott Key 354, 12. Smithsburg 358, 13. Southern Garrett 361, 14. Northern Garrett 364, 15. South Carroll 368, 16. Catoctin 373, 17. South Hagerstown 374, 18. Frederick 387, 19. Fort Hill 391, 20. Clear Spring 400.
CARROLL INDIVIDUALS
Liberty (322): Tyler Bush 77, Justin Catlin 81, John Rosecrans 82, Mike Moon 82.
Century (324): Andrew Stenger 78, Luke Shaffer 80, Kyle Nicholson 83, Mike Hill 83.
Winters Mill (324): Lewis Schnauble 72, Brian Anderson 81, Devon Lesniak 82, Tom Martz 89.
Francis Scott Key (354): Ryan Miller 87, Chris Myers 87, Devin Cross 89, Kevin Wantz 91.
South Carroll (368): Jordan Phillips 74, Zach Slifer 88, Pat Seymour 96, Adam Shimoda 110.
Reach staff writer Bob Blubaugh at 410-857-7895 or bblubaugh@lcniofmd.com.
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