St. Charles unites to claim McChesney Cup
It is known as a "friendly" in the world of soccer.
Monday morning and afternoon at the Geneva Golf Club, the four high school boys golf teams from Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles came together in the spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie for the annual McChesney Cup.
The event, in which archrivals Batavia and Geneva put aside their metaphorical boxing gloves to don battle with the two St. Charles high schools, produced their fair share of awkward moments, though.
"It's tough to get along at first," admitted St. Charles East junior Jordan Wetsch.
But community and conference rivalries were placed on the back-burner during the late-summer 27-hole exhibition golf tournament that the two St. Charles schools ran away with in Geneva.
St. Charles East senior Wes Apple and St. Charles North junior Nate Clark were unstoppable in their three matches against Batavia and Geneva, propelling the one-day Saints' and North Stars' collaborative teams to a 121.5-94.5 victory over their Tri-Cities brethren.
St. Charles' 6-point advantage after the first-round alternate shot format - 30.5-23.5 - in the match-play event had their combined fingerprints left at the scene.
Each hole was worth a point, and the duo doubled up their Geneva and Batavia counterparts, 6-3, to account for half the first-round plurality.
"We just kind of helped each other out when the other person hit a bad shot," said Clark. "I just tried to do what I could and stuck to my game."
Batavia and Geneva narrowed St. Charles' lead after the middle portion of the three-event exhibition by collecting 27.5 points in the two-man scramble.
As is often the case in team golf, however, the singles matches provide the greatest opportunity for separation - or dramatic comebacks depending on your viewpoint - and the final nine-hole competition proved the decisive element of the competition.
Apple and Thomas combined for a 13-5 advantage in their respective one-on-one showdowns, and the Batavia-Geneva squads were never able to counter.
In the end, St. Charles scored victories in all six of the combined dozen twosomes to run away with the symbolic title.
"(An enjoyable day of golf) - that's what I was looking at - just having fun," said Wetsch, who is a player to watch this fall after winning twice on the IJGA summer circuit.
"My drives and irons were horrific," said Apple. "I was able to grind it out and help the team out."
Wetsch and Tim Schofield, the No. 1 man for Batavia, closed out the individual matches as the latter held off the Bulldogs' ace with a par at the last.
It will be an entirely different setting a week from today when the schools meet in Upstate Eight and Western Sun Conference play.
"Both Geneva and I have been up and down," said Batavia coach Tim DeBruycker. "We backed up from 303 (in winning at Geneva last Thursday) to 335 in two days (at Bartonville-Limestone)."
St. Charles East won the downstate tournament behind four solid scores, headed by a 73 from Nick Maze.
"He has really been coming on," said Saints coach John Stock.