Naperville Central slips to 2nd place

Kurtis Luedtke put the entire West Aurora boys golf team on his back, and the Blackhawks put on a clinic at their home course.

Riding the near-flawless 2-under-par 70 performance by medalist Luedtke, West Aurora cruised to victory at the DuPage Valley Conference tournament Thursday afternoon with a 307 score.

With its 11-stroke margin over runner-up Wheaton North at Orchard Valley in Aurora, the golf team became the first male program at the school other than the basketball team to win a conference championship since joining the DVC in 1997.

It was the first league championship in golf for West Aurora since 1979.

"West Aurora is known for basketball, not golf," coach Jay Bauer said. "First (place) is kind of inconceivable. This has been an unbelievable season."

West Aurora came into the tournament in a third-place tie with Naperville North with league front-runners Naperville Central and Wheaton Warrenville South were deadlocked.

But after a blistering front-nine 33 that included birdies at the first, second and eighth holes, Luedtke and his three contributing teammates --Brandon Vicory, Mark Torres and Kyle McCradic -- took command of the tournament on the inward nine.

Naperville Central finished second overall in the final teams standings; the Redhawks' Ryan Whittingham, Dan Funkhouser and Matt Adamski bucked the inward-nine blowups that derailed Naperville North and WW South.

"We actually played better on the back nine," said Naperville Central coach Barry Baldwin. "They played mentally tough."

Whittingham fashioned a 1-under 35 to earn second overall with a 74, while Funkhouser and Adamski had matching 38s to finish at 78 and 81, respectively.

"It just wasn't our day as a team," Whittingham said.

"The front was a little tough. You had to keep grinding out there."

Wheaton North was the surprise team of the day, edging the Redhawks' 319 total by a stroke behind Travis Otto and Matt Ward.

Otto duplicated his front-nine 38 with another 2-over back side for fourth place, and his junior teammate was fifth with a 77.

"The surprise was Travis Otto with a 77," said Wheaton North coach Jeff McDonald. "He had only played one time all year. It was really a lift for us."

League aspirants Naperville North and WW South were both derailed on the closing nine.

The Huskies had four outward scores under 40, but Matt Lohmeyer and Chris Collander were the only players to break 80 in the end.

WW South held the lead at the turn behind Shawn Plepel and Steve Skurla, but the Tigers were 21 strokes higher coming in.

"It's about how you finish the 18th hole, not the ninth hole," said WW South coach Jimmy Selleck.

"We're disappointed," said Naperville North coach Ryan Hantak. "We were in good position to win it (after nine)."

Naperville North bettered WW South by a pair of strokes to avenge its regular-season loss, which left the two teams tied for third overall.

Glenbard North received an inward-nine 36 from Tommy Stacey, and the Panthers' No. 2 had to settle for third overall after dropping a scorecard playoff to Whittingham.

Blair Scarin was the low man for West Chicago, and Dan Soehren was 10th for Glenbard East with a 79.