Northridge Golf Sectional: Panthers Emerge As Champs
MIDDLEBURY – The rolling meadows and skies over Middlebury couldn’t have been kinder Friday to the field at the Northridge Golf Sectional at Meadow Valley Golf Club. For the NorthWood golf team, the glorious start to the day just got better and better.
A sparkling round of 79 from No. 5 Nick Sherk and a marked consistency from its remainder afforded the Panthers a 320 to run away with the sectional title, Northridge 12 shots back at 332 and Fairfield at 338. The distance between one and two really surprised Panthers head coach Trevor Shields, who felt coming in his team would be fighting just for an advancing spot.
“(Coming in) we had yet to play to our potential, and I still think…and believe it or not, it’s the coach in me, we left some shots out there,” Shields said. “That was just a good team effort for us and I’m super happy for Nick Sherk. What a graduation present as a senior. For him to come out and shoot 79, that’s great. For the rest of our guys to follow up and just have really solid scores. That says something about our guys and a testament to our team.”
Sherk’s 79 was good for third place overall in the tournament. His birdie on two to start the day was a wake-up call for the senior, who felt his first four holes of the day really set the tone. Another birdie on 11, needing just a drive and putt on the elevated par-three, continued his surge.
“It definitely took a lot of practice and mental prep to get ready for sectional,” Sherk said, grasping the sectional trophy just hours from graduation commencement this evening. “I’ve had days where I wasn’t swinging well and the mental prep needed some adjustment. But today I felt good, and it made things a lot easier. On hole two where I birdied, I saved off the fringe and really felt like OK, let’s go and do this.”
NorthWood’s Seth Hogan and Taylor Weigand each were one back of Sherk at 80 and Caleb Lung was at 81, which the 80s tied for fourth in the tournament with Trent Robison of Fairfield and Lung next on the list, which would be seventh overall.
“We really tried to make an emphasis on getting rid of the penalty strokes off the tee,” Shields said. “This is a course that if you don’t respect it, it can come up and bite you pretty quickly.”
Northridge, the team many picked coming in – including Shields – as the favorite given Meadow Valley is its home, seemed to uncharacteristically struggle at home in managing the nooks. Luke Morrison shot a 76, which was second-best in the tournament, but didn’t land a birdie in his entire round. Northridge then didn’t have another score below 83, and no front or back nine scores under 40 among the remainder of its scores. Cam Bergman finished at 83, Cody Loucks at 86 and Alec Dose at 87.
Fairfield, taking the third advancing team spot but in disappointing fashion per coach Rand Schrock, had Robison there with the 80 and a surprising 83 from No. 5 Wynton Edwards, but went 87-88 from Michael Shetler and Anson Mullet, and had No. 1 Isaiah Brown fall well off the pace at 95.
Concord was fourth at 345 but had the medalist in Brendin Green, who shot an even 36 on the front nine and 38 on the back for the low round of 74. Three birdies on the front nine were a big help, two of which on his first two holes.
“With a big tournament like this you are always nervous to see how its going to turn out,” Green said. “My putting was pretty good, I had quite a few birdies and that helped.”
NorthWood, Northridge and Fairfield, along with Green, Bremen’s Bryce Sterling (84) and Bethany Christian’s Jacob Snyder (86) all move onto the Warsaw Regional next Thursday at Stonehenge, Sterling and Snyder qualifying as individuals as the top-three on a non-advancing team.
“This is an excellent primer for Stonehenge,” Shield said of next week. “I really think this is a really good preparation. Stonehenge maybe isn’t as undulating in spots but the green speeds will be up and it’s a great track. This is a really good prep that we are fortunate to play at. Really grateful for Northridge to host, because it’s a really good prep for Stonehenge. I think especially in terms of the region and what feeds into Stonehenge, it serves us well to play here.”
Final Team Scores (top three teams advance to the Warsaw Regional):
* NorthWood 320
* Northridge 332
* Fairfield 338
Concord 345
Lakeland 361
Westview 379
Bremen 401
Bethany Christian 402
Goshen 415
Jimtown 417
West Noble 472