The next one — the biggest of them all — may have a permanent spot in the Northwestern trophy case.
The Warriors will compete for a Division II state championship for the first time in program history this weekend at the Ohio High School Athletic Association State Golf Championships at Firestone Country Club in Akron. They’ll begin teeing off at 9:20 a.m. Sunday. The two-round event will conclude on Monday afternoon.
Northwestern has won three straight Central Buckeye Conference Mad River Division championships and advanced to the districts each of the past two seasons, finishing ninth in 2021 and fifth last season. This year, the Warriors were able to break through to the state’s biggest stage.
“They know how to win and that’s scary when you’re feeling someone like that breathing down your neck,” Kretz said.
The Warriors team consists of six solid players, Kretz said, featuring seniors Cooper Brackney, Brock Bishop and Isaac Gundolf and juniors Carter Adkins, Nolan Hockett and Kadan Harris.
The top four includes Adkins, Hockett, Harris and Bishop, while Gundolf and Brackney battle for the fifth spot. Adkins was the Central Buckeye Conference Mad River Division Player of the Year, while Hockett and Harris were also first-team selections. Bishop and Gundolf earned second team selections and Brackney was the squad’s Sportsmanship Award winner.
“They’re all really good,” Kretz said. “It’s razor thin margins. We can only take five kids to each tournament.”
The Warriors won the D-II sectional championship on Sept. 18 at Reid North in Springfield with a score of 306, beating runner-up Arcanum by 21 strokes.
“It was a goal of the boys after letting it slip away last year,” Kretz said. “I think they wanted to establish that we were one of the better teams in our section and they went out and accomplished that goal.”
The Warriors finished runner-up at the district championship on Oct. 1 at PipeStone Golf Club in Miamisburg with another 306, advancing to the state tournament for the first time in program history. Only two teams qualified from the Southwest District this year, meaning there was no room for error, Kretz said.
“That really upped the ante,” he said.
Northwestern beat third-place Cincinnati Wyoming by five strokes. Kettering Alter won the district title with a score of 292.
“Our goal was to keep the ball in play,” Kretz said. “I think I had boys who had a shot to qualify individually, but our best bet was a team. We wanted to keep the ball in play and we only had one penalty stroke among our four scoring players that day. I think that was that little margin we needed to accomplish to get our team through. The boys went out and executed everything we had practiced to a tee.”
The key this weekend will again be keeping the ball in play, he said.
“The course is punishing off the tee just from looking (at it online),” Kretz said. “There’s a lot of water hazards, bunkers, out of bounds along some borders. I think if our boys can keep the ball in play and limit it to one penalty, two penalties or as few as possible, I would not be surprised if we upset (some people) … We’re just going out to put our best score up.”
The team will practice at the Firestone driving range and walk the course on Saturday before the competition begins on Sunday morning. They plan to examine the course to see where they can take advantage of scoring opportunities, Kretz said.
“We always try to identify critical holes,” he said. “In golf, there are always holes that are tougher than others. If you can get through those holes without leaking too many strokes, you know there are other holes where you can steal one back. We’ll get together and talk about the critical holes and come up with a plan on how to attack them and set them up. The greatest strength is the depth of our team. We can put some good numbers up and hopefully we do it.”
The Warriors have won several other tournaments this year, including the Clark County Invitational, Arrow Invitational and Deer Ridge Invitational — filling up Kretz’s whiteboard.
The community has rallied around the program, Kretz said.
“I have a bunch of good assistant coaches helping me out,”he said. “We’ve had great support from our parents and the community. The boosters have been a huge help. We’ve got people who want to help us. I think that’s pretty cool. We wouldn’t be able to do this without them. The golf community is behind us.”
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