Despite falling short in qualifying as a team, there was still plenty of drama surrounding the Macomb High boys golf team Wednesday afternoon in Class 2A Regional competition at The Links in Jacksonville.
At the end of the day, a trio of Bombers battled their way to Monday’s Class 2A Sectional at Spring Lake Country Club in Quincy.
The Bombers finished sixth out of eight teams with a score of 331.
Quincy Notre Dame won the team title with a score of 313. Sacred Heart-Griffin (318) and Jacksonville High (321), also qualified for sectional play.
Springfield High was fourth (323), followed by Lincoln (329), Macomb, Limestone (350) and Canton (372).
“Although we fell short of our goal of getting out of regionals as a team, I am super proud of the improvements that the boys made throughout the year and their scores showed it,” said MHS coach Greg Duncan. “We were playing our best golf of the year the last two weeks.”
That started at the top where sophomore Eli Griffith topped Jacksonville High senior Maddux Moore on the first playoff hole to capture medalist honors.
Griffith finished with a final score of three over-par 75 on the 6,495-yard par 72 layout.
Griffith becomes the latest Bomber golfer to win an individual Regional Championship.
But the drama for the Bombers was only just beginning.
“We did a lot of scoreboard watching the last 15 minutes of the day hoping we could get a couple more players into the playoff for the last two individual spots,” said Duncan.
It ended up that Sam Helling, Brady DeWeese and Cohen Anderson found their way into the five player playoff for the final two individual spots.
The Bomber trio was joined by Limestone’s Sullivan Hopper and Canton’s Brody Ketcham.
All five carded 84s. “It was great to see Brady get the chance to be in the playoff,” said Duncan. “He had only been traveling with the varsity since last week and made some good contributions in his short time.”
Unfortunately for DeWeese however, he was eliminated on the first hole.
Meanwhile, Helling made par to punch his ticket to sectional play.
That left Anderson left to battle the other two players for the final spot. It took four more holes before Anderson earned his spot.
“He hit some great shots during the playoff and didn’t seem to be bothered by the pressure of the moment,” said Duncan.
Rounding out the scores for the Bombers were Kollin Knupp and Ryker Allensworth, who both finished shooting 88s.
“I am looking forward to another trip to Spring Lake Country Club to see if we can get any of those three guys to state,” said Duncan.
The top three teams and top 10 individuals from non-qualifying teams will join those from regionals played at Galesburg, Alton (Marquette) and Belleville (Althoff) in sectional play.
