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NWI golf teams one and done at state
FRANKLIN — On the scoreboard, it wasn’t a good day for any of the three Northwest Indiana teams in the 75th annual boys golf state finals at The Legends of Indiana Golf Course.
But one of them was still OK with the effort on the par-72 course.
“Everyone played solid,” said Boone Grove coach Gary King, whose squad shot 307 for 14th place in its first appearance in the state finals as a team. “I’m real proud of the way we played.”
At the time, he thought the Wolves were “on the bubble,” but that was before several teams starting going real low, including the leader after Day 1, Columbus North, which shot a 5-under-par 283.
Valparaiso looked like it was in good shape headed down the stretch of the back nine. But having its top four golfers post 14-over par over the final three holes doomed the Vikings to a 310 score and 16th place in their 24th state finals appearance (and second straight).
“We were playing well on the back nine and I don’t know what happened,” Valparaiso coach Wayne Lichtenberger said. “The last three holes killed us.”
The Vikings’ No. 1, Bobby Jacobs, and No. 2, Kyle Meihofer, had the toughest finishes. Meihofer posted the best round on the team with 73 — four birdies, two bogeys — but that was after a triple-bogey seven on the 18th hole. Jacobs was also in decent shape before the last three — 14 pars and one bogey. He finished with a triple, double and bogey to finish with 79 (7-over).
“I had a couple of poor swings,” Jacobs said. “I think my teammates held me in there. Overall I felt like I played well.”
The theme for the Vikings on the back nine was grinding.
“I scrambled on a couple of holes and had a couple breaks,” said Valparaiso’s No. 3, Logan Bertalan, who finished with 78. “I was 3-over on the par-5s. That kind of hurts on this course.”
LaPorte, which teed off in the afternoon, was still in the running for a Day 2 spot after nine holes, but five double bogeys dropped the Slicers to 17th place with a score of 313.
Boone Grove’s Drake Devereux made an early run at trying to advance individually while helping his team stay in the hunt. The junior had four birdies in the first 10 holes. But a triple-bogey seven on No. 11, followed by a par and three straight bogeys stalled his round and left him with 75.
“You try to forget about it, but it always stays in the back of your mind,” Devereux said about the dreaded 11th hole. “But Coach told me the team was still in it and I knew I was playing solid.”
A big reason the Wolves were still in it was their No. 4 golfer, Tony Spalla. The junior struggled on the front nine, thanks in large part to a quadruple-bogey eight on No. 5. He posted 42 on the front, but rebounded for 1-over-par 37 on the back nine.
“I was on the 10th tee and I told myself to swing easy,” Spalla said. “As I built up my confidence I started going for pins and swinging a little harder.”
That resulted in a birdie two on the 173-yard 16th hole.
“He turned it around really well for us,” King said.
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