The Allen County-Scottsville Patriot golf team tees off their 2017 season this weekend---the start of what coach Scott Stamper believes will be a very solid season. The team will include five returning players who participated in region tournament action last fall.
“For the first time in a long time, we have a team that is still young but with a lot of experience,” Stamper said. “We return everyone that qualified for the regional golf tournament. We return kids that have been playing high school competitive golf for two, three, and four years. Most of these guys started playing golf before the KHSAA limited the time when you can start playing on the high school team (seventh grade).”
The team’s experience mixed with golfers who come into the high school program off of strong summers of travel golf leaves Stamper optimistic.
“We have a couple of kids that have had good summers,” Stamper added. “Tate Stinson has won a couple of local tournaments and Owen Stamper has been on the KGA tour and has two first places, a second and a third, and played in the Tour championship. Those two have had an experience-filling summer in competition. We are excited about what is in front of us.”
AC-S will be led by senior Dawson Birge---a multi-year player that participated in the past two regional tournaments. Stinson and Brett Rippy are the juniors on the team---both played in the regional last fall. The sophomore class includes Stamper and Bryson Bonds---both of whom were regional tournament players---as well as Zac Dalton and Tanner McPeak.
“Owen has been in the fire for a few years and Bryson was in the regional tournament last year,” Stamper said. “Tanner has made a big jump this summer and is working at his game. Zac is improving. We are looking to build around our four sophomores. I feel like they can be competitive.”
The remaining team includes returning players Payton Cline and Tyler Ford along with Kaleb Pardue and Joshua Sikes.
Stamper notes that each of his younger kids are improving their games with each passing week on the course. As the younger players continue to work hard and develop skills, the strength of the entire team will improve over the course of the two-month season.
“I feel like we will have seven or eight guys competing for a spot of the regional team.” Stamper noted. “That makes it really interesting. I tell them all the times that they will tell me who plays in the regional tournament by their scores. We have two months to get it figured out.”
The team will participate in seven 18-hole tournaments as well as 14 dual or tri-meets starting this week and continuing through late September. Action starts Saturday with the first of five consecutive tournaments in eight days.
“I’m calling it the death march,” Stamper said. “We will play Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Then we get into more of the one-on-one matches until we play in the Bowling Green Invitational and the Glasgow Invitational on Saturday’s in September.”
Stamper sees AC-S as being one of the better teams in the region.
“Franklin-Simpson returns several players and will be strong as will South Warren,” Stamper said. “Bowling Green is always in the mix. I think we will be in the mix. There are four or five teams that have a shot at advancing to the state tournament and we are one of them.”
The team’s optimism for this year and in the coming seasons hinges on the knowledge that AC-S has a mix of talent spread across multiple grade levels.
“We are looking a stretch of three or four classes where the pieces of the puzzle come together and we make a run at a regional title in the next few years,” Stamper pointed out. “Who is to say we can’t do that this year. You never know. You got to play well on that one day of the regional tournament.”
Following the Campbellsville tournament Saturday, AC-S will play Monday and Tuesday in 18-hole events at Indian Hills in Bowling Green---the site of this year’s regional tournament---and at the Bowling Green Country Club. Next Thursday, AC-S plays at the Crosswinds course in Bowling Green (South Warren Invitational) and then at the Warren East Invitational on August 5.
The first home match is August 8 against Monroe County. AC-S will also entertain Greenwood (August 10), Logan County/Russellville (August 17), Warren East (August 22), Barren County (August 24), Greenwood (August 29, September 14), and Glasgow (September 19).