Crestview wins sectional title on tiebreak, Wynford's Rogers medalist

GALION - Crestview coach Rick Belcher anxiously waited for his final three golfers to come up to No. 18 at Valley View Golf Course in Thursday afternoon's Division III sectional tournament.

His Cougars were in first place almost the entirety of the day and held a slim advantage over Calvert who had the clubhouse lead at 323 having teed off in the first wave of groups.

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Cole and Carter Bowman had already wrapped up their rounds of 73 and 78 respectively as Zander Washburn followed with an 80. Crestview needed a strong finish from Kayn Patton and Carter Blum to egde out the Senecas and after Patton parred the final hole for a 92, Blum needed no worse than a bogey to secure the win outright.

Unfortunately the 18th went awry and he ended up taking a quadruple bogey to finish at 95 which meant Patton's was the final team scorer and put Crestview at a 323 as well — but Blum's 95 was two strokes better than Calvert's Weston Burns as the tiebreaker giving the Cougars their second sectional championship in the last three seasons.

"Two years ago we ended up going to districts as a team because we ended up winning sectionals ... last year we did not have a good round as a team, (just had) one go last year," Belcher said. "Coming into this year, these guys were so adamant about practices, working hard, doing the things we needed to do ... we had some leaders that took control over different groups this year while thye were out playing and practicing.

"They put in the time, no doubt, we worked on our short game a little more and that was great, today it saved us on a lot of shots."

To put into perspective how much stronger this sectional — without a doubt the strongest in the Northwest District — has gotten in just two years, the Cougars won in 2024 with a 339 and 345 was able to get out. Tuesday that would've seen Crestview miss out on advancing.

"I told them this morning to try not to look at the app ... go through your routine, step back, take a deep breath, and don't rush," Belcher said about advice he gave his golfers before the round and during play in crunch time. "Just hit the shot in front of you, that's all you can do. Don't worry about the ones you hit in the past, just move forward."

And Carter Bowman's 75 as a sophomore earned him co-medalist honors then, this year it was a 2-under 70 from Wynford's Clay Rogers — he shot a 4-under 32 on the front nine — that secured top honors.

"On hole two I had a really great tee shot, put it to about two feet and made the birdie putt," Rogers said. "Third hole I hit it left of the fairway, flubbed my second shot, and was able to two-putt for bogey ... then I went eagle, birdie on the next two. From there I bogeyed then went birdie, birdie, par to finish.

"It always could be better, but I was pretty happy with it."

Rogers and his teammates were also anxiously waiting at the 18th green as the final groupings came in. But they weren't concerned much about how Crestview would finish, instead it was rival Colonel Crawford who held a slim lead for the final team qualifying spot after the Cougars and Senecas locked up the first two.

When the final grouping finished and the scores were tallied, it was the Royals edging out the Eagles for the final spot with a 332 to 333; Levi McLaughlin carded an 84, Owen Prenger an 87, Jaron Vance 91, Reed Johnson 100.

"This is always one of the harder ones to compete in and do well, especially with the conditions today," Rogers said of the sectional.

All was not lost for the Eagles, though, as juniors Bryant Berry (77) and Evan Keller (83) placed third and 10th to see them advance as individual qualifiers along with Mohawk freshman TJ Martin (81).

"We played Colonel Crawford earlier this year and they whooped on us," Belcher said. "We didn't have our best round, but no excuses ... we know we can compete with any team right now that we're playing against. They're a good team and I know they didn't play their best today, so we got lucky there. But it's always good playing with them and playing with good competition."

It marked the final round for Colonel Crawford seniors Bryce Durham (84), Evan Metzger (89), and Colton Hopkins (91) who were instrumental in turning the program around helping the Eagles win their first league title on the links since 2002.

Plymouth finished sixth as a team with a 371 led by a trio of 92s from juniors Carson Lewis and Gus Sutton along with freshman Damian Schwaderer, junior Trevor Putt had a 95 and classmate Parker Miller 100.

Buckeye Central was seventh at 372 led by senior Liam Kantzer's 88, freshmen Kellen Pope and Gaige Siesel carded 94s, freshman Evan Fishpaw a 96, junior Aiden Beamer 100.

New London eighth at 374; senior Kade Detterman 87, sophomore Logan Sword 91, sophomore Easton Ball 97, sophomore Tate Mitchell 99, sophomore Nathan Willis 106.

St. Peter's was 10th with a 425; junior David Crundwell 98, senior Jaydon Fultz 102, freshman Changjoon Kim 108, junior Daniel Craft 117, junior Quinn Chamberlain 125. Crestline freshman Weston Vogt shot a 119.

Shelby's Schroeder, Galion's Hart advance out of Woussickett

If Valley View is the toughest Division III sectional in the Northwest District, Woussickett might be the toughest in Division II.

The Shelby Whippets missed out on the final team qualifying spot by two strokes and Galion was eight strokes behind in fifth with MOAC foe Ontario in sixth. But senior Grady Schroeder's 79 and junior Cullen Hart's 80 were enough to see them nab the first and second individual qualifying spots to give the Whippets and Tigers one representative next week at Maumee Bay State Park in the district tournament.

Rounding out Shelby's team score of 329 was a pair of 81s from junior Thomas Lenahan and senior Braden Palm, an 88 from senior Gavin Lamb, and 89 from senior Kayne Cooke. Galions' 337 was comprised of scoring rounds of 83 from senior Parker Tinch, 86 from junior Christian Hart, 88 from senior Jackson Henry, and 90 from sophomore Phoenix Hunter.

Ontario's 350 was led by junior Kolbe Ramion's 81 — he missed the final individual qualifying spot by one stroke — junior Owen Drexel (84) and Michael Brown (92), senior Mike McClenathan shot 93, senior Dane Kearns 100.

Clear Fork shot a 370; sophomore Beckett Slaughter 88, senior Aaron Swendal 91, sophomore Jakob Schmidt 93, sophomore Elijah Jones 98, senior Kade Beachy 102. Bucyrus had a 398; senior Quin Ross 92, senior London Wade 97, freshman Trenton Kitzmiller 100, freshman Carter Mills 109, senior Will Kuhn 113.

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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Crestview wins sectional title on tiebreak, Wynford's Rogers medalist

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