Summers County High School is no stranger to the state golf tournament in Wheeling.
However, it has been four years since the Bobcats have graced the grounds of the Speidel Golf Club at Oglebay Park.
That streak came to an end Monday at the Class A Region 3 golf tournament held at Pipestem State Park.
With two automatic bids on the line, Summers County edged Webster County by one shot, 272-273 to finish runner-up and earn a spot in the state tournament which will be played Oct. 5-6.
“We had been improving throughout the year,” Summers County head coach Jerod Ewing said. “We also had been playing at Pipestem a lot this year since that was where the regionals would be held. Last year we missed going to states by four shots and finished third. I knew we had a pretty good chance.”
Pocahontas County repeated as the regional champions at 262 and will join the Bobcats in Wheeling. Charleston Catholic (276) was fourth and River View (282) was fifth.
The last time the Bobcats went north for the postseason they were a senior-heavy team and Ewing was in his fourth season as an assistant under Doug Trail.
It took a little time to rebuild the foundation rattled by graduation, but the hard work has paid dividends. Now with a roster that includes four sophomores, three freshman and a promising eighth-grader, the future looks bright for the Bobcats.
Having such a young team heading into regional play, Summers County needed senior leadership to steady the ship. Senior Michael Sprague provided that leadership, overcoming some tough times himself just to get to the tournament.
“Michael had some struggles last year and was in a car wreck. He missed a lot of time at school and struggled to keep his grades up,” Ewing explained. “He came out this year and worked his butt off and now he has a 4.0 grade average. To get him eligible and have him back was huge. Michael is a really good kid, and he is super excited to be going to Wheeling.”
Sprague put the Bobcats on firm ground firing an 88 which was tied for the second lowest round of the day. Sophomores Sean Cooper and Marshall Legg each fired 92 to give the Bobcats the needed margin of victory.
Brian Cooper, Sean’s twin brother, shot 99 for the Bobcats. All four players along with freshman reserve Christian Dillon will make the coveted trip to Wheeling.
“We have a young team, and we didn’t have Michael until the last two weeks of the season. It was nice to have him back for regionals for sure,” Ewing said.
While Ewing was confident in his team, Summers County had a bit of a bad break hit them a week before regional play.
“We were remote learning last week, so we showed up not knowing if we would be rusty,” Ewing said. “Fortunately, everybody was practicing on their own.”
With step one in the books, now the Bobcats face a much bigger challenge on the highly difficult Speidel Course.
While the young ‘Cats have never played the course, they do have a coach that has played several rounds there to give them some advice.
“The players have never seen a course like that, but I don’t know if anyone has. It is a different course. The Speidel Course is a lot of elevation changes, and the greens are not friendly,” Ewing said, “They have a lot of double breaks. If you have a downhill putt, you have to give it a lot of respect.”
“I think the biggest thing up there is to not get discouraged. If you have a bad hole, you just must shake it off. It is a 36-hole tournament, so you have to keep playing and you can’t get down on yourself.”
Many golfers have said the trick to playing well in Wheeling is familiarity. No matter the outcome this year, Summers County could have that Wheeling feeling for years to come.
“We have our fourth player whose score didn’t count at regionals, but he broke 100 and that is good heading into next year. This has been a great experience for all of the kids,” Ewing said. “Even though we won’t have a senior next year more than likely, I still think we hopefully will make it back to the states.”
