Youth, inexperience to give Althoff a different look on the links

In the past eight years, no boys high school golf team in southern Illinois has been as successful as the Althoff Crusaders

Guided by PGA teaching professional and head coach Dan Polites, Althoff won back-to-back Class 2A state titles in 2011 and 2012 while also capturing numerous South Seven Conference as well as IHSA regional and sectional championships.

But it has been said that all good things come to an end. And with four freshmen in its starting lineup, the Crusaders dominance on the links, at least for now, has ended.

“High school sports goes in waves. We’ve been very fortunate in the past eight years to have some great players in this program who have carried on the Crusaders tradition very well,’’ Polites said. “The other day when I handed out the Althoff (golf) hats to these kids on this team. They were so excited. They are anxious for their chance to show what they can do.

“How young are we this year? Well, looking at our roster, there is only one player — senior Brian Gagen — whom I’m sure has his drivers license. We’re an extremely young golf team.’’

And one which is going through some growing pains.

Early struggles

The Crusaders opened their season on Tuesday with a 16th place finish in the Alton Tee-Off Classic which was held at Spencer T. Olin Golf Course. While Althoff is young, its lone returning starter, junior Dylan Davidson, shot a respectable score of 81. But for a team which started its four freshmen, Althoff finished with a team score of 373.

“I don’t think we have ever shot 373 before. But that’s alright. After got done, we went to KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) to eat and you would have thought we won the golf tournament. The team members were so happy to be playing a team sport at Althoff. I asked them all if they gave 100 percent on that day and they all said yes,’’ Polites said. “As long as they do that and never cheat, that’s all I can ask.

“Our motto this year is that we’re going to get better quickly. It’s my job to make sure we do that.’’

Davidson will be the Crusaders captain and is clearly one of the top players in the St. Louis area. A junior, Davidson had a spectacular summer in which he qualified for the Junior PGA National Championship and was the Gateway Junior PGA Player of the Year.

Davidson’s leadership will be needed. A group of athletic but very inexperienced freshmen which include Jack Bruening, Connor Wilson, Payton Whitehead and Josh Krneta, could form a top nucleus in a couple of years. But not yet.

“The good thing is that we’ve got an excellent player and leader in Dylan (Davidson) to kind of show these younger players the ropes. Plus, all four of our freshmen are very good athletes who play other sports. They just don’t have any experience,’’ Polites said.”As long as we continue to work hard and progress, we’re going to be fine.

Gagen, junior Daniel Stovey and sophomores David Osthoff and Tanner Morford could also break into the top eight players, while filling out the Crusaders roster are juniors Luke Schreder and Nicholas Petty,sophomore Erick Gosebrink and freshmen Ben Michael, Logan Keeney, Carlo Amorado, Robby Borik and Matthew Spiroff.

This story was originally published August 19, 2016 at 11:25 AM with the headline "Youth, inexperience to give Althoff a different look on the links."