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Midd-West off to a great start

Sentinel photo by JEFF FISHBEIN
East Juniata’s Chase Kepner putts while Midd-West’s Dylan Loss looks on at the Lost Creek Golf Club, Thursday, in Oakland Mills.

OAKLAND MILLS — The East Juniata and Midd-West golf teams opened up the 2017-18 high school sports season, bringing the Tri-Valley League with them at Lost Creek Golf Club Thursday afternoon.

The Mustangs shot a 374 to outdistance their TVL counterparts, followed by Millersburg (379), East Juniata (398) and Lancaster Country Day (406). Newport had only three golfers participate and didn’t score in the team race. The top four on each squad count towards the overall team score.

“We did alright. We were a little nervous in the beginning. Our scores at the start weren’t real pretty. The kids are taking on new roles they weren’t in last year. We had Quinn Hackenberg who led the league last year in scoring,and we always counted on him in the No. 1 spot,” Midd-West coach Brian Beward said. “Now everybody got bumped up a spot in the lineup, and it’s a different atmosphere. They put a lot of pressure on themselves, but after the rocky start, they calmed down and played better golf to finish it off. Overall, that’s not a bad score considering the start we had today.”

Dylan Loss led the way for Midd-West (4-0) with an 87, followed by Chris Elliott and Ethan Spots — who each shot a 92. Austin Norman finished with a 103 to account for the Mustang scoring contingent. Hunter Beward (103) and Cade Cossgrove(104) also contributed strong play for Midd-West.

“The course played well. The course is in great shape. The kids weren’t ready for the fast greens and struggled a little bit. The greens were immaculate, but really fast.” Beward said. “Our kids showed some growth after getting off to bad starts. They kept their heads up, kept going and finished strong. That tells me hopefully; the nerves disappearthe next match we play. We need to play a little better in the beginning, work on our putting and finish strong like we did today.”

East Juniata (2-2, TVL 2-1) was led by Will Orwig, who shot an 82. It was his first varsity match on the Lost Creek course, the Tigers’ home links. No. 1 Chase Kepner followed with a 100, while Jake Kinzer and Zach Fogle rounded out the official scoring for the Tigers with a 107 and 109 respectively. Ethan Jamison (113) and Luke Fogelman (121) competed for East Juniata as well.

“I’m pleased with the way we played, but there is room for improvement. I think that’s obviouswith the scores we had today. Most of my players played only a handful of 18-hole rounds where they walked the course this summer. They are going to improve,” East Juniata coach Mike Zendt said. “There weresome nerves for sure. My No. 1 (Kepner) got off to a rough start. He had a bogey, double-bogey, double-bogey, a bogey and then he settled down and played much better.

“I’m extremely pleased with Will’s score. That’s his career round. He did very well the first time playing in a match like this. He did a great job. The course played pretty tough today. It’s still wet, and that played into some of the scores being what they were.”

While pleased with certain aspects of his team’s performance, Zendt knows there is plenty to work on as the season moves forward.

“We talked about our issues in between holes and each one has a different problem to work out. One said he had trouble hitting his driver today. Another one said he three-putted several holes, so I think it’s a whole myriad of issues we have to work on,” Zendt said.

Matt Berkenstockof Lancaster Country Day was the medalist with a low score of 80, followed by Millersburg’s Garrett Fox (81) and Orwig (82).

East Juniata takes on the Tri-Valley League again on Aug. 24 at Lykens Valley. Midd-West opens its Heartland Conference season Sept. 5, hosting Division II at Shade Mountain.

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