Highland boys golf team finishes 2nd at sectionals to conclude outstanding season
There was the vibe of satisfaction — followed by the vibe of “what now?” — felt by the Highland boys golf team Oct. 13 in Centralia.
The satisfaction came from a hard earned second place finish in the team standings behind Benton in the IHSA Class 2A Centralia Sectional at Greenview Golf Club.
That finish would have been normally good enough to qualify the Bulldogs for a spot at the state tournament, but, due to COVID-19, the sectional tournament was deemed the final event of the IHSA 2020 boys golf season.
“All things considered, I’m very happy since we haven’t had a team qualify for the state tournament since the early 80’s so we’re talking 35+ years since we’ve had a team qualify so the boys are state qualifiers,” Highland coach Brent James said. “They don’t have a tournament to actually play but they met the typical requirement to be a state qualifier. “
Senior Evan Sutton had another strong round. for Highland. After struggling with a few bogeys on his first seven holes, Sutton ended the day with a 77. He finished second tied with Hayden Burns of Marion and behind Benton’s Cy Norman, who shot a 68 to win the individual championship.
“Evan was playing really good and he was right there,” James said. “He was in the lead group playing with the No. 1 from the four top teams in the sectional, so he was right there with Cy Norman. I think, really, the big difference between Evan and Cy today was putting. I think he would have liked a little lower number but they weren’t quite falling for him today. His ball striking was fine.”
Dominick Emig finished behind Sutton with an 83, good for 10th place followed by Jake Brauns with an 87 (25th place), Jaxton Black with an 89 (33rd place), Bryce Knackstedt with a 90 (40th place), and Reid Koishor with a 93 (45th place).
“Dominick had a great day and he’s been solid for us most of the season,” James said. He’s not a super long guy with the driver but he was hitting a lot of fairways and greens.”
Added James, “Numbers across the board were kind of higher than I expected but that course kind of showed its teeth today. The back nine is tree-lined and it’s firm so if you miss your line a little bit you’re potentially buried in the trees.”
Benton shot a 318 to win the sectional followed by the Bulldogs’ second-place score of 318. Behind Highland was third place Mattoon (342), fourth place Jacksonville (346), fifth place Paris (355), sixth place Carbondale (356) seventh place Mascoutah (362), and eighth place Chatham Glenwood (367).
James pleased with Highland’s season
Given all of the variables that played into this season from COVID-19 — from almost not having a season to not having a state tournament — James said he felt his team adjusted, persevered, and ultimately excelled through the fall for a top tier campaign.
“Knowing they had the state tournament taken away, you kind of lose that incentive and that motivation where you might think that might happen — I didn’t feel like that happened,” James said.
“They continued to work toward competing and they continued to grind even after they had peaked four or five weeks ago, but they continued to grind and were able to compete at a high level even when they struggled a little bit, so I was really proud of the way they handled themselves on the course.”