Lakers beat Cumberland County
By Drew Bergman
Contributor
This past Thursday the Lakers travelled out to Dale Hollow State Park to play a match set against Cumberland County. There, the squad of Nick Blakey, Dru Stapp, Kole Rixon, and Josh Glover combined to defeat the Panthers 181-190.
Nick Blakey lead the team with a 38 on nine holes. “I was really proud of Nick, he’s really came on here as of late with some really solid scores,” coach Charlie Anderson said. “He was 2 over par and had two penalty strokes that cost him early on. He played a really solid golf the whole nine.”
Dru Stapp shot a 45 at Dale Hollow, “He’s been on the right side of things here lately and playing some really good golf and showing solid leadership as a senior.”
Kole Rixon came in just behind Stapp with a 47 and Josh Glover rounded out the scoring with a 51. Josh has also come on strong as the season progresses into its final weeks. On Saturday the club traveled out to Rowan County for their invitational where he shot a season-best 90, four strokes better than his previous best at the Cardinal Classic the week prior.
The team had to drop out of the George Rodgers Clark Invitational that had been scheduled for the same day and were admittedly lucky to find the replacement event in time. “It was our first time being over there and none of our kids have never played that course,” coach Anderson said. “We kind of played that course blind not knowing about the course or the holes and we finished ninth out of 18 teams. Which was not bad.”
Leading the way at Rowan County Nick Blakey whose 77 was good for a top-ten finish. Bentley Perkerson matched his season-best with a 79. Dru Stapp finished just behind Josh Glover’s 90 with his own 92, and eighth grader Kole Rixon rounded out the scoring with a 110.
Apart from never having played the course before, conditions were less than ideal following a week of steady rain. “They hadn’t been able to get out and the grass was high, especially in the rough. It’s a tight course with lots of trees and lots of out of bounds areas,” Coach Anderson said. “To see Nick and Bentley shooting in the seventies and having good rounds posted was pretty impressive.”
The team being able to stick out the tough and new course in dour conditions and still pull through a solid showing gives Coach Anderson a lot of reason to be hopeful going into the end of the season, but first is a busy slate.
In the coming days and weeks, the Lakers will have matches against Clinton County and a possible four-team match with Cumberland, Clinton, and Wayne Counties. Following that will be a match against Adair and then a pair of home and away matchups against Pulaski County. The first being at Lakewood on the 24th and the second being a trip out to Pulaski County at Eagle’s Nest Country Club on September 26.
