EHS Takes Fourth, St. A Fifth at Centennial Golf Invitational, Bulldogs Second at Macomb

CHAMPAIGN -- Effingham High School finished fourth while Effingham St. Anthony took fifth at the Champaign Centennial Boys Golf Invitational at the Orange Course in Savoy Monday.

Mattoon won with a 298 followed by Centennial 308, Normal West 308, Effingham 314, St. Anthony 322, Bloomington 324, Champaign St. Thomas More 334, Bismarck-Henning 339, Monticello 350, Champaign Central 352, Centennial Central 355, Danville 361, Judah Christian 365, Taylorville 366 and Urbana 367.

"This was our highest finish in this tournament, the course was in great shape and Mattoon came ready to play," said EHS Coach Jeff Schafer. "We are going to have to try to find a way to make up those 16 shots by the time conference rolls around.

"Today we did a very good job of getting good scores out of our rounds without playing our best, Jackson, Jake, and Callaway all got off to tough starts and all played just a stroke or two over par over the last 12 to 13 holes.  Both Reed and Ryan had their low scores in an 18 hole match, so that is a lot for us to build on.

"I thought we showed a ton of maturity in this match compared to last year. Last year, the 314 today would have turned in to 320 something, I'm excited where we are headed.  Congrats to Garrett Hixenbaugh of St. Anthony who shot a great round of 72 today.  Coach Zaccari's team is going to keep getting better as the year goes on."

Scoring for the Hearts were Jackson Wendling 38-38 -- 76, Jake Linders 37-39 -- 76, Callaway Smith 42-38 -- 80 and Reed Schafer 42-40 -- 82. Non-counting scores were Ryan Sandifer 45-40 -- 85 and Sean Sandifer 40-51 -- 91.

"We had some good individual performances today," said St. Anthony Coach Phil Zaccari. "Garrett really bounced back from Saturday's performance to shoot even, placing second overall. Jared Hutchison continued where he led off Saturday to place seventh.

"We have a little time now to get some things fixed. We made some adjustments during the round today which led to some solid play, but it was too late for us to make a run. There was definitely a good upside to the end of our round. We are looking forward to the weekend."

Garrett Hixenbaugh captured second place overall with a 35-37 -- 72. Also scoring for the Bulldogs were Jared Hutchison 38-38 -- 76, who finished seventh overall, Connor Greene 43-39 -- 82 and Jeff Niebrugge 49-43 -- 92. Non-counting scorers were Nate Schmidt 45-48 -- 93 and Sam Wortman 48-45 -- 93.

The Bulldogs took second place at the Gary Saunders Invitational in Macomb Saturday. Bloomington won with 324 closely followed by the Bulldogs with 326. Macomb was third with 327 followed by Assumption-Davenport 329, Pleasant Plains 334, Petersburg Porta 348,  Alleman 353, Monmouth-Roseville 363, Pittsfield 366, Olympia 384 and Canton 394.

Hutchison captured third place with a 41-37 -- 78 to lead the  Bulldogs. Connor Green finished eighth with a 38-42 -- 80. Also scoring were Hixenbaugh 42-41 -- 83 and Schmidt 42-43 -- 85. Non-counters were Wortman 48-45 -- 93, Niebrugge 47-43 -- 90 and Niko Dust 49-48 -- 97.