PREP BOYS GOLF: Fairfield’s Elliott wins Concord Invitational while team scores soar

ELKHART — Whether it was the sharp wind gusts or the course itself, the elements at Saturday’s Concord Invitational certainly made themselves known to all 12 teams competing at Bent Oak Golf Club.

There were no players who shot under par and just three finished below 80 strokes. Two scores of 4-over-par 76 led the competition, but one was ruled better just by being present.

“Definitely not, no,” Fairfield senior No. 1 player Jake Elliott said when asked if he felt like he played well enough to earn a 76. “I didn’t hit the ball good, but it’s whatever.”

Elliott won his second-consecutive invitational medalist title after winning the Wawasee Invitational in Syracuse on May 2. On Saturday, he was tied with Culver Academies’ Hammer Breckelmans, but the Eagles No. 4 player was nowhere to be seen when all the scores had been tabulated. Before CMA could be crowned as the overall team champions and Breckelman could compete in a showdown with Elliott, they, along with a few other teams, had already hit the road.

That means Elliott will go for three-straight medalist titles next weekend at the Angola Invitational. Competition should take a significant jump with the Falcons joining competitive teams in Westview, Northridge, Fort Wayne Carroll, Guerin Catholic, Crown Point and others.

“It’ll be a great field of guys,” the Fairfield senior said. “If I just play my own game and keep doing what I’m doing I should be fine.”

A TOUGH DAY FOR A TALENTED TEAM

Wawasee has jumped out to a strong start this season and the Warriors (9-1) are beginning to eye program records and the end of a long streak.

Though, the team is still young. On Saturday, three of the Warriors five players were underclassmen. Senior Preston Scherer leads the Warriors and is followed by junior Hudson Cripe, sophomores Carson Scherer and Jack Shoemaker and freshman Cash Walter.

That inexperience can sometimes result in uncharacteristic performances. Second-year coach Randy Woodcock says the team’s performance at Bent Oak will be flushed.

“It’s a course that we don’t play a lot,” Woodcock said. “It’s hard; the greens are definitely different than Maxwelton, different than Stonehenge, different than courses that we’ve been playing. We just didn’t play great and that’s ultimately on us.”

Despite not playing great, the Warriors did finish fourth overall with a team score of 348. Ahead of Wawasee was Culver Academies (327), Penn (334) and Mishawaka Marian (336). Fairfield shot 349 to finish fifth.

Carson Scherer was the lone placer for the Warriors. Scherer shot 11-over to finish eighth individually. He was followed by Preston Scherer (85), Shoemaker (89), Cripe (91) and Walter (92). Woodcock said that he can’t allow his team to let this rough outing change the trajectory of his group, which is hoping to break a 22-year spell without advancing to the regional round.

“Things are definitely moving in the right direction and I think this team has a lot of momentum,” he said. “I think we have a good shot at least finishing as co-champs in the [Northern Lakes Conference]. Looking at the remainder of our schedule, we should be favored to win them all which would put us at 17-1 in the regular season.”

Wawasee has never won 17 matches in the regular season. This season’s lone loss came to Warsaw.

“I want a target [on our backs],” Woodcock said. “I want revenge against Warsaw. We didn’t play great that night and I thought they played about as well as they could have played, which is good motivation. We just have a few things to correct; we’re right there. We know we can hang with everybody. Being a young group, not having been in this position before, I think they’ve handled all that pressure pretty well.”

Outside the Warriors, Fairfield too has regional-advancing aspirations this spring. The Falcons are 9-2 with losses coming to Elkhart and Westview, the latter on a fifth-man score. Only the Warriors will be in Fairfield’s sectional.

First-year head coach Jason LeCount believes his team will fight for one of those three advancement spots at sectionals, but they’ll need Elliott to continue playing like he has.

“Jake, there’s a lot of pressure on him to play good, but man, he’s stepping up,” LeCount said. “This is the second week in a row of being a medalist, but he’s hitting the ball good right now. He probably had five or six putts today that were right there for birdies that if had hit those he would have been even lower. He’s playing well and I think he’s got a chance to get down to state this year.”

Elliott is playing as the full-time No. 1 player for Fairfield after being a steady second golfer behind former state champion Brayden Miller. With Miller now at the University of Cincinnati, Elliott is doing well in the spotlight.

“I think I’m doing pretty good; I’m competing well,” he said. “I’ve placed every tournament I’ve done, top five at least. I think I’m doing pretty well.”

Other area teams at the Concord Invitational were the Minutemen and Goshen. Both teams use their fair share of underclassmen. The RedHawks shot 369 as a group while Dennis Teegarden’s Concord squad shot 378.

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PREP BOYS GOLF

Concord Invitational at Bent Oak GC

Team scores: Culver Academies (327), Penn (334), Mishawaka Marian (336), Wawasee (348), Fairfield (349), Lakeland (358), Marquette Catholic (361), Goshen (369), Concord (378), Elkhart Christian (383), Jimtown (388), Elkhart B (397),

Top 10 individuals: Jake Elliott (F, 76), Hammer Breckelmans (CMA, 76), Sam Weiss (P, 79), Kian Hibbard (ECA, 80), John Hahn (M, 82), Corbin O’Hara (P, 82), Max Olesker (MQ, 82), Jak Chaney (CMA, 82), Carson Scherer (W, 83), Sam Keil (L, 83)

Concord — Nathan Potter (85), Dominic Paino (96), Kolton McCloughen (97), Trevin Koontz (100), Owen Stone (112)

Fairfield — Jake Elliott (74), Ben Kio (90), Jayce Smith (90), Brett Schrock (93), Logan Leatherman (97)

Goshen — Isaac Pfahler (90), Alejandro Munoz (90), Ethan Sloan (94), Mason Centeno (95), Josiah Eisenhour (111)

Wawasee — Carson Scherer (83), Preston Scherer (85), Jack Shoemaker (89), Hudson Cripe (91), Cash Walter (92)