The Onekama Portager Golf Team gathers together at the ninth hole of the Healthlands course awaiting the arrival of the last two scorers.  Jordan, Levi, Parker, and Drew, along with Mrs. Smith and our two managers, Mike and Paul confer with one another while Coach Zadow adds up scores of those who have already completed play.

 Portager's Win One in Triangular Meet at The Heathlands

September 5

Manistee 159
OHS 169
Mason County Central 179
 

    The Portager's showed they are a force to be contended with ,during tonight's triangular meet. The contest was played out on the front 9 at The Heathlands, against Manistee, a Division 2 school, and Mason County Central a Division 3 school. I caught up with Drew's group, after arriving late, where they were making their way up the 6th fairway. Drew looked over at me and stated,"I could be doing better..." . There was nothing I could say , as no one is allowed to talk with the players during game play. Only the coach may confer with the team members. I held my breath, hoped for the best and drove off trying to send good vibes to Drew. I drove on and watched Levi putt out the 8th hole. As Levi walked past me, he commented,"I'm doing a little better, I finished that hole with a Bogey." At this point, my mind is swirling with all sorts of scenarios. Could the players just be messing with me about their game play today? Is it really that bad? They certainly are known to "mess" with me all in fun..no, I thought...their faces are way too serious. I stayed back a bit and watched Levi finish the 9th hole with a Par. "That's the Levi I know," I thought to myself. I proceeded to the 9th hole where the team members were gathering as they finished, and met up with Parker. He sat down in the cart with me and whispered,"a lot of my putts were in and right back out tonight to give me a par or bogey."
     To make a long story short, we had to wait to find out the actual scores as each member putted out the 9th hole. For me, it was a very long wait. Would tonight break their winning streak, or would they prevail? The Team members quickly gathered around each finishing team member to hear scores.
    OHS ended the match with 3 players tying for lowman for the Portagers. This was a first for the OHS Golf Team. Levi had a nice strong finish ,carding a 42. Parker turned in a 42, even though his putts were not sinking for him, and Jordan also turned in a 42. Jake double bogey's the 9th for a 43(his best competitive score of the season,) to round out the scoring four and give the team a 169 effort, which turned out to be a best team score of the season for the Portagers! Now, that team score, was worth the agonizing wait.

Coach Zadow is a walking book of Golf Team history, records and stats. The school record for low team score is 163, back in the days when young Mr. Tompke was lowman...1996ish...she will get back to us on this. Drew did his best to save his game ,and turned in a 48. Zac shot a 57.
    The cards slowly made their way to the coaches. When it was all said and done, OHS had prevailed in beating MCC by 10 strokes and losing to  Manistee by 10 strokes..what a match!
    Match Medalist was Manistee's Ryan Thiefenthal with a 37. Brad Hall shot a 38, Kyle Elzingae 39 and Kody Elzinga 45 to round out Manistee's scoring four and team effort of 159. Other shooters for Manistee were Chris Smith with a 46 and Dan Peterson with 46.
Mason County Central's team effort of 179 ,came from Alex Doty's 39, Brandon Rahu's 48, Alex Shapee's 44 and Tyler Uhazi's 48.
Parker Shaw and Sam Bayle also shot for MCC carding 50 and 70 respectively.
   On the Back nine, Tim Veverica "expertly carried the pond on the 18th (thank you Tim for this part of the quote), for a salvatory finish for a 51",(thank you Todd for the final part of this quote). Message to Todd: Could not find salvatory in my dictionary, but used it any way..it sounded good...*grin* what would my reporting be, without your picking on me boys? Todd Lyman executed "a miraculous recovery on the 14th for par." (thank you again Todd for this quote)..Todd finished with a 52. Donny Olson felt he had "good drives today." Donny made par on the 11th, 15th and 16th holes to card a 54. Chase Callaway also played the back 9 after football practice , now that's dedication! Coach Zadow will get his results tomorrow.
    Today's game results puts the team at 7-1 overall, and still tied for First in the Conference with Brethren/Bear Lake at 4-0. The Portagers go head to head with Brethren/Bear Lake this Thursday, the 7th, at the County Highlands. The tie will be broken. Will you be there? All eyes will be on these two teams at the Jamboree, as they shoot it out for the number one position.. Tee time, 4pm...be there....:)
Thank you Shelli, (Drew's Mom),for taking photos of todays match.
Gwen
 

Todd Lyman holes the ball on the 17th
green for par.


 

Golf Index Page for 2006

http://www.onekama.k12.mi.us

September 5, 2006 

Tim Veverica completes his chip approach
from the deep rough to the 16th green.  

Donny Olson completes his practice swing
as he prepares to tee off on the 14th hole.