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St. Paul wins FC tournament; Plymouth earns co-title

don hohler reflector sports writer, norwalk reflector, ohio
·4 min read

Sep. 23—NORWALK — St. Paul won the battle, but Plymouth and Crestview won the war.

That's how things shook out after golfers from the Firelands Conference spent better than five hours on the windy Eagle Creek course Thursday for the FC championship tournament.

Coach Jake Springer's St. Paul team took advantage of knowing how to play the course in a howling wind to finish first with a 348 score, which easily topping the eventual league co-champions, Crestview (357) and Plymouth (377).

The problem for the Flyers, however, was they were 4-6 in dual conference play this season, while Plymouth was 8-2 and Crestview went 6-4.

The format for conference wins are added to how many teams are beaten in the conference tournament. When all that was figured, Plymouth (8-2) and Crestview (6-4) finished with 11 points and St. Paul (4-6) finished with 10.

After that, it was New London (7-3) and Mapleton (5-5) with nine points. Western Reserve (0-10) finished with no points.

The drastic change in the weather over an 18-hour period was the great equalizer, as no less than nine players finished between the 84s carded by St. Paul's Sam Scavuzzo (42-42—84) and Mapleton's Dalton Beattie (40-44—84), who were the co-medalists of the tournament.

Nine players were voted to the all-conference team.

That listed included St. Paul's Owen Rommell, (46-40—86), Crestview's Aaron Spencer (44-42—86) and Dylan Bruner (45-42—87), St. Paul's Dan Schwan (44-43—87), New London's Brady Sword (44-44—88), and Mapleton's Brock Durbin (40-49—89) and Brennan Fulk (44-45—89).

The coaches also picked one player from their team for honorable mention medals. They included Gavin Thurston (St. Paul), Carter Eibel (New London), Nolan Ryan (Western Reserve), Sarah Hoak (Plymouth), Matthew Volz (Crestview) and Nolan Dennison (Mapleton)

"Our win here today will give us a head-start on next year," said Springer, in his second year as head coach. "The players handled the wind well, a wind that probably added as many as eight strokes.

In staying within themselves, my kids showed true potential," he added. "We lost a great senior leader from last year's team, so we had to rebuild with underclassmen. Everyone is back next fall."

In the end, just St. Paul's No. 6 player, junior Aiden Stang, did not get a call to the podium. But even he can take heart as his 51-44—95 had him beating 19 other players in the field.

It ended up another co-title for veteran Plymouth coach Jeff Calame. He has no idea how many team titles over his 43 years of coaching he has won. As he put it, "one season strings into another."

Like St. Paul, Crestview coach Rick Belcher had three players score in the 80, all of them juniors. It apparently was enough for fellow coaches as they voted him the FC Coach of the Year.

First-year Mapleton Coach Adam Harding had no idea that his school was a two-time defending champion. What he was certain of was he was glad his No. 1 player, junior Brock Durbin, was back on the course. Durbin played in the state tournament as an individual last year, but then had to rehab from a broken leg later in the year.

New London coach Zack Parr, in his 14th year of coaching, fielded a team that rolled up seven regular-season FC wins — but did not play well Thursday. Freshman Brady Sword shot a team best 44-44—88 for team medalist honors. The only other player to score in double digits was junior Jacob Myers 49-50—89.

Also in his first year of coaching was Western Reserve mentor Steve Pausch. His young team struggled all season, and did as well Thursday with just one player, their No. 2, sophomore Nolan Ryan 49-45—94, managing double digits.

The following are the scores of the area teams:

ST. PAUL: Owen Rommell 46-40—86; Sam Scavuzzo 42-42—84; Dan Schwan 44-43—87; Nolan McCall 49-44—93; Gavin Thurston 42-49—91; Aiden Stang 51-44—95.

PLYMOUTH: Canaan Slone 44-48—92; Sarah Hoak 47-44—91; Jensen Potts 45-54—99; Elliott Hall 46-49—95; Drake Stanfield 54-55—109; Cole Back 67-66—133.

NEW LONDON: Carter Eibel 47-53—100; Brady Sword 44-44—88; Grady Heileman 51-48—99; Tate Landis 49-55—104; Jacob Myers 49-50—99; Kendyl Moffet 57-51—108.

WESTERN RESERVE: Corbin Studd 61-81—122; Nolan Ryan 49-45—94; Kaden Altomare 68-72—140; Tyler Alliman 56-59—115; Sydney Walters 68-59—127; Mitchel Cooley 78-87—165.