FRANKLIN — In a season in which both sides battled head-to-head from week to week, it only seemed fitting to see both Floyd Central and Providence once again standing side-by-side in the pairings at the IHSAA boys’ golf state finals.
The Highlanders wound up winning the final duel between the two Southern Indiana titans, placing fourth overall while the Pioneers placed seventh at The Legends of Indiana Golf Course.
Floyd Central, which teed off in sixth place after Tuesday’s opening round, shot a 305 on the second day and finished with a two-day total of 612. Providence tallied a team score of 309, finishing with a score of 616.
“I think that the two sides each came here this week and represented the Floyd Central Sectional very well,” said Providence head coach Dave Lobeck. “When you look at the final nine teams left at the second day of state and see two of us coming from the same sectional and same area, it represents how much the game has really grown.”
David Frank, who entered play on Wednesday fifth in the state individual standings after shooting an even-par 72 on Tuesday, shot an 8-over 80 on the second day and finished tied for 24th overall.
Sophomore Jared Sturgeon and freshman Jay Holderman both paced Floyd on Day 2 as each shot a 3-over-par round of 75. Matt Rayner was one shot behind that twosome with a 76 for the Highlanders.
“We started out strong and sort of hit a tough spot in the middle holes,” said Highlander coach Mike Cason. “And we bounced back from there to have all of our guys finish strong. When you play in big tournaments like this, I always say to have a chance you have to finish strong to be successful.”
Four of Floyd’s five players scored even-par or better on the final three holes of the tourney.
Providence was led by three underclassmen, namely junior left-hander Robert Spiller — who had the top score of any area individual on Wednesday with a 1-over 73.
Spiller shook off a rough way to finish as his putter broke while he was lining up a putt attempt on the 18th green. The IHSAA ruled that Spiller could use a substitute putter and he wound up with a bogey to wrap up his round.
Freshman Bryce Very finished with a 77 and junior Andrew Lobeck had a 79 for the Pioneers.
“To get to this level and place very high, you need four or five guys to come out at the same time and post a big round,” said Dave Lobeck. “We played Evansville North (which wound up as the tournament runner-up) twice this year and beat them both times. But this week their guys all came out hot and put it together for two days here.
“We needed our two seniors (Trey Pfund and Ben Rose) to play well on Tuesday to get us here, and today we had to rely on our underclassmen to play better and they did. We just had a little bit of misfortune cause we never had all of our guys firing at the same time these past two days. But we did well. There’s nine teams that get to the second day of the state finals and we are one of them — that says a lot about the team we put together this season.”
Pfund and Rose closed their high school careers with a 79 and 82, respectively.
Note: Avon won the team state title, shooting a total of 587 in the event to defeat Evansville North by two strokes for the title. Mishawaka Marian’s Adam Sumrall shot a 4-under 140 — including a 6-under 66 on the second day — to win the individual state title.
IHSAA STATE FINALS
at The Legends of Indiana Golf Course, Franklin, par-72
FINAL ROUND
Team scores — Avon 587, Evansville North 589, Indianapolis Cathedral 608, Floyd Central 612, Hamilton Southeastern 614, Chesterton 615, Providence 616, Brebeuf Jesuit 622, Twin Lakes 631.
Floyd Central — Frank 80, Sturgeon 75, Rayner 76, Holderman 75, Clark 80.
Providence — Spiller 73, Very 77, Lobeck 79, Pfund 79, Rose 82.
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