Short of Playoffs, Ellwood City Golf Next Eyes Section Qualifiers

With its eyes on collecting a playoff berth, the Ellwood City Golf team suffered two section defeats this week and next will eye section qualifiers on Monday at Del Mar Golf Course.

After defeating rival Riverside on Monday, the Wolverines fell 213-220 to Shenango at Sylvan Heights Golf Course on Wednesday and were knocked out of the playoff contention Thursday after suffering a 199-212 home course defeat at the hands of undefeated section leader Neshannock.

The team now sits at 6-5 in section play and needed to finish among the top two teams in the section to advance to playoffs.

“In golf, unlike other high school sports, they only take the top two teams in the section, not 4 or 5 out of 6,” says head coach Sam Barry.

Despite the setbacks, the Wolverines earned a 6th place team finish among 24 teams at the MAC Golf Championships on Tuesday at Fox Run Golf Course.

The team has featured two steady performers in Jordan Keller and Mitchell Covert who both are averaging sub-40 rounds this season in match play.

Both shined at the MAC Championships.

Keller finished top ten on Tuesday in the MAC Championships with a round of 77 at the Par 72 Fox Run Golf Course. Covert finished one stroke back at 78.

With three remaining dates on the Wolverines schedule, Coach Barry has been pleasantly surprised by the underclassmen to continue to excel for the Wolverines.

Sophomore Nate Kennedy has moved into the starting lineup and along with fellow sophomores Jaxon Rozanski, Nate Kennedy, Braden Roberts and Andy Lin, have provided some spark.

Kennedy has done well learning how to handle high school golf match pressure according to Barry.

“The most pleasant surprise has been the improvement of sophomores Rozanski, Kennedy, Roberts and Lin,” says Barry. “All four have started matches and are working hard for next year.”

To play well at section qualifiers Barry points to two areas of improvement.

“Overall we need to improve on course management and our confidence in ourselves,” concluded Barry.

On Tuesday, Ellwood City fell 213-220 to Shenango on the par-36 back nine at Sylvan Heights. Mitch Covert led the charge with a round of 39 in defeat. On Monday, Ellwood City completed a season sweep of Riverside with a 203-227 victory at Del Mar Golf Course.  The Wolverines were led by Keller who finished with a par round of 36 on Monday. Covert finished with a 38 while Panthers Ashton Schlosser posted a team low round of 38 in defeat for the Panthers.

REMAINING SCHEDULE:
09/18 9:00 AM @ Section Qualifiers (@ Del Mar)
09/21 3:30 PM @ Laurel
09/26 9:00 AM @ Tam O’Shanter Tournament