JOHN CURTIS - Daily Union Sports Editor
Shelbyville Daily Union
SHELBYVILLE, IL. —
After a decent start to the season in their first two outings, the Rams stumbled at Meadowview Golf Course in Mattoon on Wednesday, losing to Mattoon and Windsor both. Shelby shot 197, while Windsor carded a 187, reversing their loss to Shelby the day before at Pana. Mattoon beat both opponents with a sizzling 165. On Thursday, the Rams improved by 18 strokes (179), but still lost to Arcola-Arthur (167), Meridian (170), and Sullivan (171) in a quad match at Moweaqua where the four teams were separated by just 12 strokes.
“As evident for the scores, we struggled a bit as a team at Meadowview,” said Ram coach Russ Tomblin. “Mattoon is always a strong team and they play their course well. We are going to spend some time getting our short game back up to par and hopefully we’ll see a return very quickly.”
Caleb and Jon Eloe were the only Ram scorers to shoot below 50. Jon led the Rams in their first match of the season and Caleb in their second. Jon shot 45 at Meadowview and Caleb 46. Those were good scores, as only one Blue Devil beat them, Wade Mathis, who fired a impressive 43.
All four of Windsor/Stew-Stras’ golfers rebounded from their play at Oak Terrace with scores in the 40s at Meadowview. Following Mathis was Jon Luce (47), Patrick Braden (48) and Austin Carson (49).
Despite their improvement, the Devils still couldn’t catch host Mattoon, which had all four of their scorers shoot 43 or less. Wente was the medalist, carding a 39. Miller shot 41, Price 42, and Hutchinson and Diepholz shot 43s. Heuerman was also sub-45, shooting a 44. Wetzel shot 46 to give the wave seven of their eight varsity golfers scores under 50. Boldig shot 54.
Garrett Manship of Shelbyville and Braden Stremming of Windsor both shot 50.
Meadowview
1. Mattoon 165, 2. Windsor 187, 3. Shelbyville 197; Medalist-Wente (M) 39, Runner-up-Miller (M) 41
Shelbyville scores: J. Eloe 45, C. Eloe 46, Manship 50, Myles Foor 54, Cade Saddoris 56, Ben Saxton 57, Travis Lee 58, Ethan Turner 64
Windsor scores: Mathis 43, Luce 47, Braden 48, Carson 49, Stremming 50, Jason Becker 53, Austin Haddock 56, Jacob Pfeiffer 61
Mattoon scores: Wente 39, Miller 41, Price 42, Hutchinson 43, Diepholz 43, Heuerman 44, Wetzel 46, Boldig 54
At Sullivan on Thursday, Shelby had all four of their scorers under 50 but couldn’t knock off any of their three opponents.
“Varsity put up a good score,” Coach Tomblin said. “I was really happy with how some of the guys managed the course, which is very different than the two courses we played this week. Hopefully, our improvements will start generating some wins. The JV played great! Our girls put up nice scores from the white tees and helped us get a pair of wins.”
Manship led the way for the first time this season with a 41. Jon Eloe shot 44 and Ben Saxton upped his score to a 44, while Caleb Eloe had trouble, but still shot 49.
Sullivan could only beat Shelby, as they were nipped by Meridian, 170 to 171. Miller scalded the course with a medalist 36. That helped as Sullivan only had three of their scorers sub 50. The other Miller came in with a 41 and Andrew Sparrow shot 42. With those low scorer, there was room for Davidson and Grohler to vie for the fourth scorer at 52 and still beat Shelby. However, they couldn’t beat Meridian with those scores.
Meridian’s Etnier was the medalist runner-up with a 39. They had four other players shoot sub 50 to beat Sullivan. Although Arcola had no medalist, they did have balance. Five of their six golfers shot sub 50 to pick up all three wins. Miller and Petersheim shot 40s, Dukeman shot 41 and Holaday 46.
The Shelby JV got another two wins, hitting 221 to Sullivan’s 224 and Meridian’s 231.
Bryar Rodman led the way with a 53, followed by Foor, Hannah Dudley and Grace Moll all with 56s. Sullivan had four scorers in the 50, but was three strokes back, thanks to the Lady Rams. Meridian had one JV player in the 40s, the medalist, Albers, and just one other player in the 50s.
Shelbyville varsity (1-8) and JV (3-0) play next on Tuesday at Timber Lakes against host Okaw Valley and Beecher City.
Moweaqua
Varsity
1. Arcola-Arthur 167, Meridian 170, Sullivan 171, Shelbyville 179; Medalist-P. Miller (P) 36; Runner-up-Etnier (M) 39
Shelbyville scores: Manship 41, J. Eloe 44, Saxton 45, C. Eloe 49, Lee 53, Saddoris 59
Sullivan scores: P. Miller 36, B. Miller 41, Sparrow 42, Davidson 52, Grohler 52, Mossman 57
Meridian scores: Etnier 39, Brown 43, Collins 43, Askins 45, Comerford 48, Grabiel 53
Arcola scores: B. Miller 40, Petersheim 40, Dukeman 41, Holaday 46, Hudson 49, Rose 51
JV
1. Shelbyville 221, Sullivan 224, Meridian 231; Medalist-Albers (M) 47; Runner-up-Pollack (SU) 52
Shelby scores: Rodman 53, Foor 56, Dudley 56, Moll 56, Turner 58, Henne 64
Sullivan scores: Pollack 52, Piper 56, Towlo 59, Hendrick 57, Wagner 64
Meridian scores: Albers 47, Maury 57, Trimble 61, Chapman 66, Easter 72
