Boys golf: It's a 3-peat for Geneva
Nurtured on some tasty home cooking Tuesday, Tyler Isenhart and Jack McDonald were a lethal one-two punch at the Class 3A Geneva boys golf regional.
"I really know this course well," said McDonald, who was level-par on each side at par-71 Mill Creek in Geneva to match Isenhart. "It's nice to know the ins and outs of it. You still have to play golf. You still have to hit shots."
The Geneva juniors faced off in a playoff, with Isenhart - tied for third at the state finals last fall - edging McDonald with a par on the first sudden-death hole.
But the twin anchor scores enabled Geneva to capture its third straight regional championship with a 14-shot victory, 307-321, over St. Charles East.
"It was different playing against a teammate, but I felt a little more relaxed," Isenhart said. "It was a goal of ours to win the team title. We're really looking forward to Monday."
Geneva, St. Charles East and Batavia (324), which turned back Upstate Eight Conference River rival St. Charles North by a stroke for third place, will travel to the Glenbard East sectional on Columbus Day for a berth in the state finals.
Ten individuals - headlined by four St. Charles North players - advanced to Glendale Lakes as at-large qualifiers.
Nick Geen (81) and the matching 84s by Jake Mills and Teegen Ebel helped vault the Vikings regional championship.
St. Charles East returning state qualifier Connor King had a 77, with fellow senior Mason Meadows adding an 80, for the Saints' top performances.
But underclassmen Chris Petri (81) and David Griggs (83) were the difference for St. Charles East.
"We're moving on," St. Charles East coach John Stock said. "We're still alive. My freshman (Petri) and sophomore (Griggs) picked up the seniors today."
Batavia senior Justin Schutt had a 77 to make the difference in the Bulldogs' 324-325 edging of St. Charles North.
It was a season-best team score for Batavia.
"Part of it was definitely my fault," Schutt said of the Bulldogs' regular-season tournament struggles. "I wasn't playing that great. We knew it was going to be close going into it."
"We knew (third place) was probably five teams for one spot," Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker said.
Cole DePaul fired a 78 to lead three teammates - Tanay Abichandani, Lucas Heflen and Ethan Ring - to Glenbard East as individuals.
"Missing by one shot - ahh, yeah - that's tough," DePaul said. "It's pretty hard to stomach."
Sixth-place South Elgin (336) had three sectional qualifiers in Jack Watkins, Nate Poblocki and Luke Reeser.
Pitted against West Chicago juniors Dennis Hoffmann and Nathan Rutledge for the last berth, Reeser finalized the individual cut at 85 with a par on the first playoff hole.
West Chicago, which won the Upstate Eight Valley tournament last week at St. Andrews, was fifth with a 330.
"I wouldn't say we're disappointed," West Chicago coach Nick Kempski said. "It's tough to coach when (Hoffmann and Rutledge) are competing against each other. Congrats to Reeser, he played well."
But the Wildcats did not leave Mill Creek empty-handed as Jason Gimre and Tighe Walsh advanced with respective rounds of 78 and 82.
"I started off pretty poorly," Gimre said. "I had birdie putts but just couldn't knock them down. The fact that I had a birdie-less 78 is kind of disappointing, but at the same time it shows that I stayed with it. At the end of the day, par is not a bad score."