Warsaw’s Tim Rata gives a subtle fist pump after sinking his putt on No. 9 at McCormick Creek at Saturday’s NLC Tournament. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

NAPPANEE — After a tight finish in the regular season standings that left three teams tied for second, a nail-biter of a finish to the Northern Lakes Conference golf tournament seemed quite appropriate.

Northridge defended its regular season title by shooting a 320 to edge out Warsaw (321) and NorthWood (322) at McCormick Creek. Plymouth (327), Concord (337), Wawasee (339), Memorial (374) and Goshen (382) rounded out the tournament team scores.

The Raiders finished the regular season at 7-0 in conference duals with Plymouth, Wawasee and Warsaw tied in second, all with 5-2 marks. Northridge and Warsaw battled in their regular season dual that ended on a tiebreaker, the Raiders made sure to have at least a little more separation from the Tigers the second time around.

Luke Morrison led Northridge, and all golfers, as the match medalist with a 70. Jared Birr helped the cause with a 79 while Austin Schmidt (84), Kyle Pippenger (87) and Cam Bergman (92) finished out the scores for the champions. Morrison’s sub-par (72) score made the biggest difference in the Raiders claiming the outright title.

Warsaw seemed as if it would snag the tournament title up until Morrison’s score was posted, but that didn’t change the fact that the Tigers still had one of their best showings of the season.

Tim Rata was the low man for Warsaw as he shot a 75, placing him third overall and earning him All-NLC honors. Michael Jensen shot an 80 to make the cut for the top 10. Luke Delp and Tommy Meier each shot an 83. Delp and Meier each placed inside the top 15. Meier insisted that his round was a success thanks to the sweater vest he was wearing that he picked up at a yard sale for just three dollars.

Sam Yeager was a touch off his game but still signed for an 84 and was honored by NLC coaches by receiving an Honorable Mention nod.

“321 ties our season-low, in terms of over par,” recalled Warsaw head coach Ben Barkey. “When you’re in your conference tournament you want to either beat or tie your PR and we did that. So, we’re pretty pleased with that, especially with a young team, we have three sophomores and two juniors. It’s exciting for them to have this level of success.

“It was nice to avenge the loss to Plymouth, also. Northridge is a good program, they beat us here, outright, so they’re definitely deserving champions. Rumor has it that this also secures the Boys All-Sports Trophy for Warsaw.”

On the conference’s website, Northridge and Warsaw are currently tied for first in boys all-sports standings at 100 points each. Those standings have all sports taken into account except for baseball. Warsaw clinched a share of the conference baseball title earlier this week. Final standings should be up in the coming week.

Wawasee was not able to find the success it had during the regular season in Saturday’s tournament.

“We just got off to a bad start on the front nine,” began Wawasee head coach Steve Coverstone. “Jeffrey (Moore) and Cal (Heinisch) were able to rebound on the back and turn in good scores but the rest of our guys just never quite got it going today, for whatever reason.

“I’d like to tell you exactly how we’ll turn it around but I don’t have that answer. That’s kind of the million dollar question. We just need to focus on getting better and be better prepared mentally.”

Wawasee was led by Cal Heinisch who shot a 77, good enough for sixth overall. Heinisch would be given an Honorable Mention nod. Jeffrey Moore was voted onto the All-NLC squad following his eighth-best score of 78. Both Moore and Heinisch shot an even 36 on the back nine.

Cameron Adams (90), Kyle Weideman (94) and Dillon Drake (97) rounded out the scores for Wawasee.

Both Warsaw and Wawasee will meet Monday in the Bob Turner Classic at Tippecanoe Lake Country Club.