Boys golf: Albia, Sigourney golfers advance to districts

May 10—MOUNT PLEASANT — Cael Schofield and Connor Fisher have pushed each other all season.

The more they've pushed each other, the better it's been for the Albia High School boys golf team.

Schofield nearly pushed his way to the top of the leaderboard on Wednesday in the Class 3A sectional tournament at Mount Pleasant, posting a solid score of 71 edging Washington sophomore Rajan Roth on a card-off for second place finishing just two strokes behind Roth's older brother, Roman, in the battle for the top individual score. Fisher added a piece of hardware by joining Schofield and the Roth brothers in the top five with a score of 75, finishing fourth overall.

The top four scores helped Albia edge Mount Vernon for second place in the sectional tournament, earning the final ticket to next week's district tournament in Williamsburg. The Blue Demons posted a score of 319, edging the Mustangs by four strokes to survive and advance as a team in the postseason.

"Mount Vernon gave us everything. Thank goodness that Cael and Conner played really good," Albia head boys golf coach Marty Hermsen said. "The rest of the guys are going to have to play better if we want to advance any further. We've got a few days to practice and prepare for the next round."

Albia will be joined in Williamsburg by Washington, the reigning 3A state champions. The Demons won the sectional team title at Mount Pleasant with a team score of 302, paced by combined 140 shot by the Roth brothers.

Joining Albia and Washington will be Pella and Grinnell, the top two teams in the 3A sectional tournament held at Edmundson Golf Course in Oskaloosa on Wednesday. Pella won the sectional team title with a score of 305, edging Grinnell by five strokes.

Oskaloosa's Johnathon Terpstra (71) and Williamsburg's Crew Klingner (75) qualified from Oskaloosa as individuals, as did Mount Vernon freshman Stratton Ellyson (78) and Mount Pleasant senior Reece Coffman (79). The field for Albia will be feature many of the same golfers that competed in the Moravia Mohawk Invitational earlier this season, a tournament in which Albia finished eighth with a score of 323 on The Preserve Course at Lake Rathbun.

"Stone Creek (in Williamsburg) is a tough golf course. I do think the scores will be higher than they were in these sectional tournaments," Hermsen said. "It's just a matter of going out and playing your best golf at this point. Whether we make it to state or not, you always want to go out a give it your best shot."

While Albia will be competing for a berth in the 3A boys state golf tournament on Monday, the Sigourney Savages will be looking to secure a spot in the 1A state tournament field over at Heritage Oaks in Wapello. The South Iowa Cedar League champions added a sectional team title on Wednesday, finishing with a team score of 339 at the 3/30 Golf and Country Club in Lowden beating fellow regional qualifier Easton Valley by eight strokes.

"We're playing good at the right time. We'll see a lot of the same competition we saw in our conference along with Winfield-Mount Union and Hillcrest Academy," Sigourney head boys golf coach Zach Tremmel said. "We've got a shot. It's a tough course and it's going to be competitive. It's all going to come down to the mental side. You've got to be able to flush the bad holes and move on."

Solon Yates led the Savages in the 1A sectional tournament, finishing second to Jaydon Nabb of North Cedar with a round of 80. Ike Molyneux edged Easton Valley's Nola Sandholdt for a top-five spot, finishing fifth with a score of 84, while Isaac Bruns cracked the top 10 for the Savages with a score of 86, winning seventh place in a card-off over Easton Valley's Keagan Lee.

"We've been able to have some depth, so if one guys blows up we've got other guys we can count on to bring in a solid score for the team," Tremmel said. "Isaac's been playing really well lately. That's been huge. When we have five or six guys in play for us, that really helps."

Moravia junior Logan Smith also advanced to compete in 1A boys district tournament on Monday in Anita at Crestwood Hills Golf Course. Smith, competing on his home course on Wednesday at The Preserve, was one of five golfers to finish with rounds of 87 to qualify individually for districts.

"I feel like Logan has the ability to advance," Moravia head golf coach Shaye Brewer said. "It's good to have these postseason tournaments out here (at The Preserve). It gives any small school a challenge to see how far they can go."