The Plymouth Pilgrims entered the state tournament series off their program best score a week ago at Mystic Hills where they fired a 302 to win the Lancer Invitational. At Rozella Ford today the Pilgrims continued to bring the heat! The Pilgrims fired a season best 147 on the front placing themselves in the lead at the turn. As the day continued the wind increased causing several scores to creep higher on the back nine. On the back, the Pilgrims fired a very respectable 155 for a 305 team total, a mere 3 shots off last Saturday’s pace! Today’s 305 earned the team a second place finish and an advancing spot to next Thursday’s Regional at Stonehenge in Warsaw.Playing alongside defending champion Columbia City 303 and perennial powerhouse Warsaw 315 the Pilgrims throttled the home course hosts by a whopping 10 shots! If not for the 1-2 punch of Columbia City’s #1 (73) and #2 (70 – medalist) the Pilgrims were set to win a sectional for the first time in program history.
Ben Schenk continued his #1 position leadership with a season best 73. Ben’s score never crept north of +3 all day. After opening his round with back to back bogey’s Ben fought back making birdie on 3 to right the ship. All told Ben tallied 4 birdies on the day grinding like a true veteran. Ben hit 11 of his greens in regulation which fueled his 4 birdie round.
Fellow senior Reis Yoder got off to a solid start going out 37, in 40, picking up a a birdie on both sides for a solid 77.
Sophomore Hudson Yoder once again bested his brother, this time by only a single shot shooting 76. Hudson, like Reis, had two birdies; going out 37, coming in a smooth 39.
Freshman John Schenk for the second consecutive round broke into the 70’s. John finished with three pars to card a 79.
Sophomore Micah Calhoun had it going early, out 38, but suffered some tough luck holes coming in with a 44.
Our players are peaking at the right time of the season! Several individual performances have lead to the team’s success. Work ethic, persistence, and dedication to practice and improvement have lead to our advancement. I’m extremely proud of our guys! This is the first time a Plymouth team has advanced to Regional level play since the 2006 season. Ironically the 2006 team also finished second at Sectional that year and won the Regional advancing to state for only the second time in school history.
