Muskies are state-bound again

• John Glenn's Dylan Van Fossen earned his fourth consecutive overall medalist honor after a 75.
• John Glenn made the Division II state tournament for the second straight season.

WEST LAFAYETTE — Jack Williams never envisioned his score would make the difference in John Glenn's bid for the Division II state tournament on Monday.

The freshman was simply trying to keep his round together with a few holes to go when Muskies coach Chad Orecchio informed him that the team was taking his score, regardless of how he finished.

"That definitely made me focus more on making good shots," Williams said.

Williams more than kept it together, and as it turned out, he merely had to be solid. He staked an iron shot from the middle of the fairway, two-putted for par as he closed with an 89.

That score was vital, as John Glenn earned a second-place finish of eight teams at the district tournament at River Greens with a 329 total — nine better than Meadowbrook (338) and 13 better than Coshocton (342). Garaway, with four scores of 80 or better, shot 314 to earn the title.

"Jack was clutch," senior Nathaniel Bennett said. "That was huge. As a freshman, that's awesome. I remember, I didn't even play as a freshman. Nobody ever plays as a freshman, so it's crazy he's even here."

Dylan Van Fossen earned his fourth consecutive overall medalist award for John Glenn with a 3-over-par 75, one of just eight scores in the 70s, while Bennett added 78 and Bryan Smith 87. Scores were significantly higher, as the field played blue tees on a day the course was soft and played longer due to windy conditions.

"It was tough out there," Van Fossen said. "The greens were a lot faster than they were last week."

The Muskies were district champions with a senior-laden roster in 2014 but returned only Van Fossen, district medalist at Apple Valley as a sophomore, and Bennett from that team. The rest of the lineup was young with no varsity experience.

They juggled lineups for much of the season and rode Van Fossen's dominance and Bennett's steady play to a near-repeat performance that few saw coming. The top two teams and individuals from non-qualifying teams on Monday advanced to the state tournament at North Star Resort.

"If you would have told me at the beginning of the season that we would have made it back to the state I would have said you were crazy," Van Fossen said. "Those guys have worked really hard to get better and all of that work paid off."

Bennett said the team was motivated by the fact that many wrote off its chances of a state repeat early.

"We just played that underdog role all year," Bennett said. "We had nothing to lose today and just came in and capitalized on our opportunity."

For the third straight year John Glenn led the field after nine holes playing the Greens nine but struggled to maintain the pace on the more difficult Pines, where scores were consistently higher throughout the day.

They had just enough in the end, as a deeper Meadowbrook squad struggled down the stretch.

"It's extremely gratifying, just seeing how we progressed from the beginning of the season," Orecchio said. "These kids were the type that just kept on fighting. I'm ecstatic to say the least. I'm really happy for Nathaniel Bennett. He was the 6th man last year and didn't get to play in the tournament and he really hoped to get his opportunity this year being a senior."

West Muskingum's Blake Stubbins, playing as an individual, finished with 92.

Coshocton's Gage Bosson (77) and Meadowbrook's Trey Singleton (79), who won in a one-hole playoff against Coshocton freshman Logan Desender and Claymont's Alex Wright, were the individual qualifiers.

sblackburn@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com

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Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR