Highland Bulldogs boys golf team looking for another big season on the links
Up until about three weeks, ago Highland boys golf coach Thomas James was just hoping his team would have a fall season due to COVID-19 concerns.
Now, thanks to the IHSA fall sports adjustment made and announced July 29, James and his Bulldogs golfers are thankful for and looking forward to the chance to improve on last year’s Mississippi Valley Conference championship and regional championship success.
“I thought that they (IHSA) were going to shut us down and about three weeks or two weeks ago, we got the go-ahead and it was definitely a pleasant surprise,” James said.
Five golfers return from the Bulldogs 2019 club that won the IHSA Class 3A regional title at Greenview Golf Course in Centralia. Evan Sutton, Jake Brauns, Jaxton Black, Reid Koishor, and Connor Reinarman will give the Bulldogs an experienced core to compete on the links. Jack Massa, who played on the regional team last year, may also return but might focus on baseball instead.
“I only graduated one senior from last year and everybody else is back ... we should be experienced for sure,” James said. “The entire six that played in the sectional last year are all back.”
James is also high on his underclassmen.
“A couple of our underclassmen have really put in some work over the summer, and they’re coming on strong as well, so we should have some depth,” James said.
One underclassman who should bear watching for the Bulldog is sophomore DJ Emig.
“DJ Emig was a freshman last year and he played a lot of PGA junior golf this summer,” James said. “He put in a lot of work and we’ll see if It pays dividends — I’d like to think it will.”
Junior Bryce Knackstedt should also step in and play some solid golf as well.
Pandemic presents challenges
James admitted competing this fall with the challenges COVID-19 presents means scheduling will definitely be less set in stone than previous seasons.
“As of now, it hasn’t changed a lot, but I know some of the schools we have on the schedule have gone to remote learning and the IHSA has allowed them to play matches still. But will their district (allow them to), that is still a big question mark,” James said. “So we’ll see and I already anticipate the schedule being fairly fluid.”
James said he expects Mascoutah and Triad to be the Bulldogs’ main competition in the race for the MVC championship this fall.
Team ready for the season
As the season gets rolling next week, James likes the makeup of this group and their expectations are to go as far as the postseason will take them.
“I really like where we’re at,” James said. “We’ll make the best of the situation.”
Highland is set to open the season Tuesday, Aug. 18, at Spencer T. Olin golf course in Alton in the Alton Tip-Off Classic and then will play in the Madison County Tournament at Belk Park Golf Course in Wood River on Thursday, Aug. 20.
“We start off with a pretty big week right out of the gate next week,” James said.