EDWARDSVILLE - Edwardsville senior Hayden Moore and freshman Carter Crow advanced as individuals to next week's sectional as Quincy, behind a four-over-par 75 from Cole Nichols, edged out O'Fallon by a stroke to win the Illinois High School Association Class 3A boys golf regional tournament played Tuesday at Oak Brook Golf Club in Edwardsville.
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The Blue Devils won the regional crown with a team score of 316, with the Panthers coming in second with a 317, but both teams advance to the sectional tournament in Pekin, while the Tigers came in third with a 322. Belleville East came in fourth with a 346, Granite City was fifth at 351, Belleville West came in sixth with a score of 353, Collinsville was seventh at 355, and Alton came in eighth with a 358.
Nichols won the individual title by a shot over Moore and O'Fallon's Gavin White, who both fired 78s to tie for second, while the Panthers' Luke Jackson and Caden Cannon, along with Quincy's Brady Walker, all tied for fourth with scores of 79, Crow came in seventh with an 80, and a five-way tie for eighth saw O'Fallon's Hunter Ficken, the Lancers' Ryan Phillips and Thai Praket, and the Blue Devils' Gabriel Gold and Luke Mettemeyer all shoot 81. Phillips and Praket also advanced as individuals.
Although the Tigers missed out advancing as a team, the third-place finish and score showed big improvement throughout the season, and head coach Adam Tyler was very happy with his team's showing on the day.
"We did OK," Tyler said. "We played well. I think that we didn't have that one guy who shoots low, like Hayden sometimes goes 73, like what he did at conference, and things like that. But I really liked that we had a lot of younger kids mixed in with older kids, shooting low. So having Hayden what Hayden should do, and Tyler Janson. You know, Tyler had a really rough start, and battled back. I think he was eight over after three holes, and finished at 11 over. That kind of shows how much of a grind he had today, and he did a really good job.
"Carter Crow, same thing," Tyler continued. "He started off not playing great; I think he was four over after the first two holes, and then came back and grinded out a nine-over 80. We played well, I overall am really happy with the way we played. Having four scores under 83 is a testament to where we've come over the course of the year. I think at the beginning of the year, if we would have shot 322, I would have been disappointed about it, I wouldn't have believed it. But 322, and kind of being a little bit disappointed with the 322, I think that's a testament to how far we've come over the year. And I think the kids would be disappointed with a 322, knowing that we didn't make it out as well. But again, it shows kind of how far we've come over this year, and how far we've come, and how fun we've grown over the past two months."
Tyler is happy that both Moore and Crow qualified for the sectional.
"Yeah, I am, and I'm happy for them for different reasons," Tyler said. "I'm happy for Hayden, because this is his last year for us, and it's nice to see him make it back. And then, I'm happy for Carter, because this is his first tour for us, so he gets to kind of dive into the deep end here next week, and see what he can do as a freshman."
Besides Moore and Crow's qualifying scores, the Tigers got an 82 from both Kolton Wright and Janson, an 87 from Drew Suhre, and a 101 from Bennett Babington. Leading the way for the Warriors was Simon Maxfield, who had an 85, followed by Cameron Kromway with an 88. Brady Charbonnier and Chase Reeves both fired an 89, Noah Poiter had a 94, and Bennett Smallie carded a 96 for Granite.
Ryker Cain was the Kahoks' leading golfer with an 82, followed by Jack Geison, who shot an 88, London Fluss had a 92, Connor Zika fired a 93, Leighton Morris had a 102, and Nate Weil carded a 103. Aiden Keshner and Alex Siatos both led the Redbirds with an 84. Charlie Coy shot a 94, Alex Schneider fired a 96, Cooper Hagan shot a 108, and Austin Pierce had an 114.
Edwardsville had a very young team that improved as the 2020 season went along, and the Tigers' future looks very strong indeed.
"It does, it really does," Tyler said, "and like I said, we're freshmen, and this is a rebuilding year, and it is. So, when you look at the overall course of the year, and us winning conference, and us finishing in a close third for regionals with four freshmen in the lineup, and a senior that was pretty much our sixth guy last year really shows how far we have come over this past year."
As far as the 2021 season, Tyler is very optimistic for the team's success.
"Obviously, getting all these kids back, getting the four freshmen back, plus a couple of newcomers, then yeah, I'm looking forward to it," Tyler said. "Looking forward to seeing where we go from here. It's exciting, it's exciting to have four freshmen line up, and having four freshmen be a staple of our lineup this year. Having four freshmen that have kind of been a staple for us this year has been really neat, and now, it's going to be on their part for the next 10 months to kind of grow and take that next step, so we can kind of compete for a regional, and take a team to a sectional next year."
