Fort Frye’s Dawson Layton looks at his shot during Thursday’s OVAC 3A golf championship at Oglebay Park’s Crispin Course in Wheeling, W.Va. (Photo by Seth Staskey)
WHEELING — Combining perfect conditions, a course that’s obtainable and extremely high stakes usually results in entertaining golf.
Those ingredients resulted in the perfect recipe for just that during Thursday’s OVAC Class 3A Golf Championship at a sun-splashed Crispin Course inside Oglebay Park.
Linsly, which has been posting seemingly low score after low score this season, turned in the lowest score it’s had all season in it’s most important tournament of the season en route to claiming the school’s 19th conference golf title and first since 2020.
The Cadets — fueled by three players on the All-OVAC squad — signed for a highly impressive 274, which was 10-under par. Fort Frye, which was the defending champion, finished second with a more than solid score of 294.
“I am really proud of the guys,” first-year Linsly head coach Joey Seabright said. “Fort Frye played really well and made us earn it and that’s what we expected coming in. We were focused, practiced hard the last few days and the kids knew what was at stake.”
Considering Linsly’s fifth player, who didn’t count in the team score signed for a round of 77, would have been the best score on all other teams in the field except for Fort Frye and Union Local demonstrates just how impressive the Cadets were.
“(The OVAC) is what we play for,” Seabright continued. “This is like our Super Bowl since we don’t play in our state’s (post-season) tournament. This means a lot more to us than maybe most of the other teams, so there was extra motivation. It was an awesome performance.”
Although Seabright — a former West Liberty golfer and two-time prep state champion at Wheeling Central — admitted to being nervous during the round, sophomore dandy Adam Gill did his part in serving as a calming force for his head coach.
Gill birdied the first two holes of the round and went on to shoot a ridiculous 30 on the front side of the course, which included seven birdies, a bogey and a pair.
“What an absolutely fantastic round,” Seabright said of Gill’s effort. “Every year, we’ve talked about getting off to good starts and he went out and started birdie, birdie and gave himself good looks. He put the gas pedal down and kept going. To shoot 30 on the front is just really special.”
He came back home in 34, including an eagle on the par 5, 12th, to sign for a career-low round of 7-under, 64.
“Winning this is very exciting for me, especially after coming up short last year,” Gill said. “My putting and wedges were really on (Thursday). Honestly, I expected to play well, but never thought I would go that low, and I actually missed a lot of birdie putts on the back, but I am still happy with the result.”
In most years, Gill’s score would have made him the run-away winner. However, his teammate Jamie Romeral kept the pressure on. Playing one group behind Gill, Romeral went out at 34 and came home in 32 to finish a couple of shots back.
“My teammates really played well and came through and helped us out for our team score, which made it really fun.” Gill said.
Matteo Guzzo — playing in the third position for the Cadets — finished with a 2-under, 69, which tied for third overall. Jose Pedro Combra rounded out the scorers for Linsly with a 75.
Fort Frye, which put forth an impressive showing of its own, certainly headed home with its head held high after the round it put forth.
“I am very proud of our kids, and I couldn’t have asked for more,” first-year Fort Frye head coach Tony O’Linn said. “We wanted to break 300 and we did. We achieved our goal. We played extremely well, but no one was going to be able to compete with (Linsly). Crispin is their home course, which gives a little bit of an advantage, but not 20 shots. They just played really well.”
The Cadets were led by Dawson Layton, who shot a 1-under on each side of the course for a round of 69. Kelson McCurdy was level par for the tournament and garnered All-OVAC acclaim as well. Chatum Courson was third for the Cadets at 3-over, 74.
Union Local’s Beezer Porter finished with a solid round of 76 to lead the Jets.
Buckeye Trail and Barnesville finished third and fourth, respectively, in the team scores. Union Local was fifth at 360.
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