High school golf: Wadsworth boys advance to districts

AKRON — When Wadsworth's boys golf team last qualified for the district tournament in 2004, that was truly a lifetime ago for seniors Andrew Weyand, Jason Moore, Brian Myers and Austin Miller. The quartet, along with sophomore Landon Blizzard, put an end to the drought with a second-place finish at the J.E. Good Park Division I Sectional on Tuesday afternoon. The Grizzlies shot 310, just 13 strokes behind reigning state runner-up Archbishop Hoban. "It hasn't sunk in and hearing how long it's been since the school (reached districts) is going to take a minute for it to sink in, but that's awesome," Blizzard said. "We knew we could do it and all had faith today under coach (Steve) Ferris. We've worked our butts off for this, and it's been an honor to do that." The Grizzlies will play in the Pine Hills District on Monday. Joining Wadsworth will be Medina, which shot a 329 to finish fourth. Along with the Grizzlies and the Bees, Brunswick senior Max Heilbrun will make his fourth trip — second straight as an individual — after tying North Royalton's David Swab and Hoban's Jack Vojtko for medalist honors with a 2-over-par 73 at J.E. Good Park Golf Course. Cloverleaf senior Branson Harding also advanced after shooting an 80. "I'm happy that I have more rounds left, but at the same time I'm disappointed we didn't get a chance to go as a team," Heilbrun said. I would have much rather done that." Along with Heilbrun and Harding, Revere's Jack Kinder advanced as an individual with a 76, while Barberton sophomore Marco Silva won a four-way playoff for the final individual spot. After shooting an 11-over 82, Silva outlasted Highland junior Drew Mamer on the second playoff hole with a par on the 222-yard, par-3 ninth. Mamer and Silva advanced to the second playoff hole after Brunswick junior Eric Carbone was eliminated the first time the trio played No. 9. Buckeye sophomore Scott DiMarco also shot an 82 but was eliminated from the tiebreaker after the team left the course after its morning round and could not make it back in time for the playoff. The final team that advanced was North Royalton, which finished third with 327. Finishing just on the wrong side of the ledger were Brunswick (5th, 335), Highland (6th, 337) and Cloverleaf (7th, 354). The Bucks finished 11th with a 359. Wadsworth knows how it feels to come up just short of making districts after missing out by five strokes to the Colts last year. Weyand, Myers and Moore returned to rewrite the story in what is their final chapter. "(Making it to the district tournament) was the goal from the start of the year, so hearing that is a dream come true," Weyand said. "I don't have many words to describe this." Weyand led the Grizzlies with a 75 thanks to what he called a "scrappy" front nine with numerous quality punch shots that started him 1 over. His round peaked with an eagle on the 292-yard, par-4 12th, where he drove the green with a 3-wood to set up a 12-foot downhill putt. He also birdied the 202-yard, par-3 sixth with a 6-iron off the tee to set up a 15-foot putt. "On the back nine, I started with two pars and started to find my swing," Weyand said. "I didn't finish my round the way I wanted to, but did enough to post a solid round." Behind Weyand, Moore started with a 38 on the front nine on his way to a 78. Blizzard matched that score but shot 38 on the back, while Myers rounded out the scoring with a 79. Blizzard kicked off his round with a double bogey on the 413-yard first but turned it around with a strong short game and putting on his way to a solid round that included a birdie on No. 12. "Leading up to this point, I knew we were all feeling pretty solid," Blizzard said. "Being the only sophomore on the team is quite the honor, because there's a lot of guys fighting for my spot. To help these guys out as much as I can, no matter what, because I love being with these guys." Senior Preston Trumpler led Medina with a 78 that included a chip-in birdie on the 441-yard eighth. He was not taking a fourth straight trip to the districts for granted after finishing his round with a par on the 441-yard 18th. "It's tough knowing that at any moment, I could be done," Trumpler said. "Walking up this last fairway was kind of emotional with my coach (Mike Mozingo) right next to me, because we didn't know at the time if we were going to make it or not. I was just trying to do everything I could to give my teammates the best chance I could." Eli Zimmerman and Coen Miller each shot 83 to back Trumpler and Cam Stafford carded an 85 to round out the scoring. Starting on the back nine, Heilbrun birdied No. 17, a 345-yard par 4, for his only birdie when he hit a laser-straight 7-wood off of the tee before dropping a gap wedge shot eight feet from the pin. "Coming off of this round, I feel pretty confident going into the district tournament," Heilbrun said. "I feel like I have a pretty good chance of getting to state." Harding bounced back after a tough front nine to close with a 2-over 38 thanks to a strong short game that bailed him out of some tee trouble. He managed to save par from 60 yards with a five-foot breaking putt from right to left that helped him avoid the playoff. "I feel like I put together a pretty solid round," Harding said. "On the front, my tee shots weren't going where I wanted to go. I just need to figure out where I wanted each shot to go and not letting myself get too far ahead in my mind." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Results at par-71 J.E. Good Park G.C. Team standings (top 4 qualify for Pine Hills District): 1. Archbishop Hoban 297, 2. Wadsworth 310, 3. North Royalton 327, 4. Medina 329, 5. Brunswick 335, 6. Highland 337, 7. Cloverleaf 354, 8. Revere 356, 9. Wooster 357, 10. Copley 358, 11. Buckeye 359, 12. Barberton 363, 13. Parma 364, 14. Norton 384, 15. Valley Forge 393. Individual qualifiers: 1. Max Heilbrun (Bru) 73, 2. Jack Kinder (R) 76, 3. Branson Harding (C) 80, 4. Marco Silva (Bar) 82. Wadsworth (310): Andrew Weyand 75, Jason Moore 78, Landon Blizzard 78, Brian Myers 79, Austin Miller 87. Medina (329): Preston Trumpler 78, Eli Zimmerman 83, Coen Miller 83, Cam Stafford 85, Ethan Cole 91. Brunswick (335): Max Heilbrun 73, Eric Carbone 82, Zach Barber 90, Dayten Bobula 90, Jayce Dye 93. Highland (337): Drew Mamer 82, Ryan Przybysz 84, Zach Butcher 85, Joey Kohmann 86, Nathan Sprutte 89. Cloverleaf (354): Branson Harding 80, Mark Stewart 89, Caleb Slota 92, Robby Wells 93, Carter Whitehair 101. Buckeye (359): Scott DiMarco 82, Jack Eisenhardt 83, Luda Violi 90, Colin Shrader 104, Michael Koeth 105.