The Huskies had driven back with the second-place trophy each of the last two years in the Kelsey Goodwin Memorial Classic, but Tuesday they finally raised the winners’ hardware outside the Cider Ridge clubhouse. They shot 607 over the two days and won by three shots over White Plains. Host Oxford was third.
Athens’ James Medley was the individual medalist. The University of North Alabama-bound senior shot even-par 72 for the second day in a row and won by two shots over first-round leader Logan Archer of Hewitt-Trussville and Westbrook Christian’s John Hilliard Catanzaro.
Two years ago, Hewitt-Trussville finished second to Hoover by 35 shots and lost last year’s title in a playoff with Pelham. But they closed the deal Tuesday with four rounds in the 70s, led by junior B.J. Scott’s 74.
“Four of these five guys were here last year, and three of them were here two years ago, so to finally get them to play together as they should for the last two consecutive days was awesome,” Huskies coach Chad Dahlke said. “It’s the first time we’ve won a two-day tournament in a while. It’s great motivation going into the sectionals.
“It’s all about finishing, whether it’s football, baseball, basketball, whatever, you’ve got to play every last second, every last shot. We lipped out a few putts last year that would’ve won it for us straight out, but we made a lot of those putts (this year) and it made a difference.”
The inability to finish kept White Plains from being a Huskies’ spoiler for a third year in a row.
Head coach Marcus Harrell was pleased with his team’s rise to second and gaining a measure of payback for Oxford’s one-stroke win in the Calhoun County Boys Championship, but he lamented the way his team played the par-5 18th.
The Wildcats counted a 74 by Dustin Travis, 75 by Trevor Lane, 76 by Layton Bussey and 78 by Drennan Beam. They played the 18th in 5 over, while the Huskies’ four counters played it in even par.
“We definitely played a lot better this year,” Harrell said. “We had several kids who made drastic improvement. Last year we counted one, maybe two scores in the hundreds, so we definitely got better.
“But it hurts they finished second because they played 18 (like that). It’s a par-5, you’re expecting to make birdies there, so playing that 5 over definitely hurt us at the end. This is two tournaments this year where we’ve lost by less than three shots (here and the county tournament) and we finished poorly in both tournaments. Hopefully, we can learn and grow from this and capitalize on those kinds of moments later on in the season.”
Medley knew how to finish. Playing in the group in front of the leaders, he bounced back from back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 14 and 15 to par his last three holes of the day.
Archer fell out of the lead when a strong 9-iron off the tee led to a double-bogey on the par-3 17th and he lost on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff with Catanzaro for individual second place. Catanzaro’s round was highlighted by an eagles on the par-5 ninth and 15th.
It was Medley’s second tournament win of the high school season.
Medley, Archer and Catanzaro were joined on the all-tournament team by Scott, Travis, Bussey and Westbrook Christian’s Harrison Martin.
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