espite the weather’s continuous insistence on giving wet, wind and cold, there is golf to play this spring. Mt. Vernon is the eight-time defending county champion, but after losing its top two scorers from last season combined with the other county schools bringing back the core of their 2017 editions, look for a competitive season on the links this year in Hancock County.
Mt. Vernon
Home course: Arrowhead
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“Only losing sectionals by one stroke hurt a little bit,” Marauders coach Tyler Wilson said as he reminisced about last season.
Last year, the Marauders missed out on a sectional championship by one stroke against conference rival New Castle, and their top two golfers from 2017 have graduated. But that doesn’t mean Wilson thinks his team can’t get over that hump.
“Our strength this year will be in our depth,” Wilson said. “I think by the end of the year we should have five guys that can shoot 80 or under, which should put us in contention.”
The leading returning player for the Marauders is senior Xavier Dunham, with fellow senior Max Heitman nipping at his heels.
“Xavier is the stud that will carry this team, but Max is right there next to him. Both have worked really hard on their game.”
Looking to break into the lineup and post good scores for the Marauders is freshman Sam McWilliams.
“Sam is a sneaky good player,” Wilson said. “We haven’t been able to practice much, but he’s been our second or third best scorer in practice rounds so far.”
Junior Blake Johnson and sophomore John Husar look to round out the Marauders top five.
New Palestine
Home course: Hawk’s Tail
For the New Palestine Dragons, 2018 is looking to be a year of improved scores and pushing county rival Mt. Vernon. Despite losing two seniors, they return three solid players and have numerous players ready to step up into the varsity lineup to propel the Dragons forward this season.
The key returner for the Dragons is sophomore Quinn Dobbins, the team’s number one player last season.
“Quinn plays golf every day and is always working on his game,” New Palestine coach Gregg Greene said. “This year it’s just a matter of realizing his potential out on the course during matches.”
Also returning for the Dragons are senior Elijah Demogola and junior Matt Kelley.
“I was really impressed with Matt last year as he played himself into the top five as just a sophomore which is hard for people to do,” Greene said. “And Elijah went through a swing change last year which caused his scores to go up a bit, but now that he’s fully worked through that he will play more to his potential.”
Greene said he believes he has four other players that are varsity-quality that can contend for the final two spots: junior Cameron Rooks, and sophomores Chris Guhl, Josh Shinkle and Peyton Miller.
The key for Greene is his team’s youth.
“We’re still a very young team, but I think that puts us in a position to be much improved as the year progresses and for years to come,” Greene said. “All of these guys have been working really hard on their game, and our expectations are high because of it.”
Greenfield-Central
Home Course: Hawk’s Tail
The Greenfield-Central Cougars are returning all five top scorers from last year’s sectional and are looking to continue its growth toward contention.
The Cougars expect juniors Kyle Arrowood and Noah Mohler to provide the same 1-2 punch as they did last year.
“Kyle and Noah have spent the offseason going to camps and doing lessons,” Greenfield-Central coach Jeremy Spencer said. “Those two are so close in skill level they push each other every day.”
Also returning for the Cougars are junior Jordan Wray and sophomores Nolan Hemminger-Jones and Isaac Baker.
The Cougars will not be solely reliant on last year’s top-five, however. Junior Zach Archer returns to the team after taking his sophomore year off, and Spencer expects big things from him.
“It’s obviously early, but from what I’ve seen so far, Archer could challenge for the top spot on the team. He’s going to battle for it,” said Spencer.
Spencer also expects contributions from juniors Bradley Stein, Canyon Palmer and Matt Atchley.
“We still have no seniors,” Spencer said. “But the difference between last year and this year is that now everyone has one or two years of experience and offseason training; all of these guys are pretty much solely focused on golf and I think that shows.”
Eastern Hancock
Home Course: Royal Hylands
Eastern Hancock is the only county school that lost a significant number of players from their 2017 squad. The Royals graduated four players from last year’s team, but with a large freshman group expected to contribute, they expect to use the year to improve the program for years to come.
KC Smoak and Clayton Cochard are the team’s lone returners who posted a score at last year’s sectional, and they will be joined by fellow seniors Jacob Eischen, Tyler Castle and Nick Pelger. Peyton Gray is the team’s lone junior.
“We’re definitely transforming the team from last year,” Royals coach Mauri Metzger said. “We’re in a new conference so we are playing a lot of teams we haven’t played before, so this season will be a new experience all around.”
Metzger expects contributions from five underclassmen — sophomores Lorne Madlock and Matt Carter and freshmen Gage Deiser, Cody Lanning and Sam Blocker.
“With these freshmen and sophomores we can’t really be so focused on winning,” Metzger said. “We need to instead focus on improving our overall team score. Last year we were above 400 pretty consistently, but from what I’ve seen so far from these guys I think we can get under that this year.”
