Naperville North's Knoll enjoys playoff win
Raymond Knoll loves playoffs. He really enjoyed Thursday's.
The Naperville North sophomore won the DuPage Valley Conference boys golf championship on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff against Wheaton Warrenville South's Jason Plepel after both finished with a 1-over-par 72 at Bartlett Hills Golf Club.
"It was so exciting," said Knoll, who admitted to some nervousness. "I had a blast. I messed up a 1-footer on the second playoff hole, but my coach (Ryan Hantak), he told me walking to the last playoff hole, just keep your head down while you're putting. That's exactly what I did, and it worked out nicely."
It didn't look like it would work out so nicely for him after the second playoff hole because of that missed putt.
"I was really angry stepping up to my drive because of that putt I missed," Knoll said. "I just swung as hard as I could and I hit about a 350-yard drive."
Knoll birdied that third playoff hole to claim the championship, wrapping up a nice comeback from a broken wrist suffered in the beginning of the summer while playing basketball.
"I'm kind of in the middle of my season right now," Knoll said through a big smile. "I'm loving golf right now. I just love it, it's so much fun."
Having the team championship plaque tucked under his right arm added to the excitement for Knoll. Naperville North shot a 305, with all of the Huskies' counting scores placing in the top 10. Dan Considine was fifth at 76, Nick Buege shot a 77, and Spencer Tanaka came in with an 80.
"I love our team, especially my teammates. They're all amazing guys. They're great guys," Knoll said. "I just love our team, especially our coach. He's just a laid-back guy, just loves golf, loves being around all of us. He's a great guy."
Wheaton Warrenville South placed second in the tournament with a 308 to earn a tie for second place in the overall season standings with Naperville Central, behind only the Huskies.
"We had a lot of positives today to our tournament, which was great," Tigers coach Jimmie Selleck said. "Our goal was to win the tournament, so we did fall short of our goal. We'll continue to work to get better so that we can perform better under stress. At this time of year it's show up or go home, so you've got to be ready to go. I've got full confidence and trust in my guys that we'll get there."
Plepel, a senior, led the way for the Tigers.
"That's Jason Plepel," Selleck said. "He's been golfing at that level all year long, so definitely not a surprise. He thinks big and he expects to play well."
Naperville Central had a tough day despite a third-place 75 from Jaskaran Sangha.
"We didn't play real well," Redhawks coach Barry Baldwin said. "The nice part about the kids is they grind it out. They keep battling. I'm really proud of Jaskaran, the way he shot today.
"He's been playing real well as of late. He's a kid that works real hard in practice and it paid off today, which is really nice."
Likewise, things didn't go West Aurora's way. The Blackhawks came in fifth at 344 behind West Chicago's 338, mainly because individual scores came in about 10 strokes higher than normal.
"I don't know if it was the wind or the course setup or the greens or what," Blackhawks coach Jay Bauer said.
Nick Pavlik led West Aurora with an 85. Adam Bauman and Kyle Taylor each shot an 86, and Brian Wilkinson had an 87.
Wheaton North took sixth at 357, Glenbard North followed with a 358, and Glenbard East was next at 385.