PIKETON — Once again, Valley’s Cameron Phillips is a Division III boys golf sectional champion, and once again, South Webster will be represented at the Division III Southeast District meet.

That’s because the sophomore Phillips repeated as the sectional match medalist —firing a smooth 69 on Wednesday, during the Indians’ Division III competition at the Chillicothe Jaycees Golf Course.

Phillips, with a 36 on the Jaycees front side and a 33 on the back, practically lapped the field of 68 golfers —as his 69 was eight shots better than the medalist runner-up (77).

Meanwhile, just down U.S. Route 23 — and over across Ohio Route 32 — to Big Beaver Creek Golf Club in Pike County was Wednesday’s sectional meet there, as the Jeeps will participate at the Division III district meet for at least the fourth consecutive fall.

That’s because, while South Webster was seventh out of 12 official teams with at least four players apiece, two Jeeps did qualify out on an individual basis —sophomore Owen Mault and senior Riley Burnett.

The sophomore Mault, in fact, finished third out of 62 individuals, shooting a 79 —with a 40 on the Big Beaver Creek front and a 39 on the back.

He only trailed medalist Kasoy Savoy of Meigs Eastern and medalist runner-up Carson Moore of Belpre, both fellow sophomores in fact — shooting 74 and 78 respectively.

But immediately behind Mault, as for the five individuals which qualified for the district tournament and not a member of the five qualifying teams, was his Jeep teammate Barnett —who carded an 85 (44-41).

Burnett was actually one of five players tied for seventh individually —along with Ironton St. Joseph sophomore Eli Ford, Coal Grove sophomore Maddox Rowe, Meigs Eastern sophomore Wyatt McCune, and Waterford senior Eli Booker.

Burnett, placing fourth individually a year ago, and Ford finished second and third respectively for the individual qualifiers, as those two places were decided upon via coaches’ agreement —for seeding purposes.

The other two individuals advancing were Pike Eastern junior Cayden Haislop with an 88 and Federal Hocking junior Andrew Airhart with a 91.

With last season’s sectional at the flatter Franklin Valley Golf Course just outside of Jackson, the Jeeps advanced to the district as a fivesome for the second time in three years —and Burnett was a member of the group.

In fact, he was the runner-up Jeeps’ low man with an 82 —as South Webster was the runner-up to Belpre for the second time in three years.

Burnett was the only Jeep senior on Wednesday, as this year’s squad placed seventh —actually tying Pike Eastern at 401 for the team totals.

However, the Eagles’ fifth individual — and thus tie-breaking — score was a 123, eight shots better than the fifth-place card for the Jeeps.

Behind Burnett and Mault, sophomore Tristan Belford —a member of last year’s Jeeps’ qualifying club —shot 108, while fellow sophomore Car Smith shot a 129 and freshman Danny Marinski a 131.

Coal Grove edged out Belpre, by a mere four strokes (344-348), for the team championship —while Meigs Eastern (370), Waterford (377) and Trimble (379) were the other teams to qualify.

The top five teams and top five individuals not on a qualifying club punched their tickets to The Elks — the traditional site of the district tournament, and of which would benefit the two Jeeps.

South Webster, with a team score of 398 in 2020, was a mere two strokes behind Coal Grove (396) — which grabbed the fifth and final coveted qualifying spot.

This year, after Eastern and South Webster were sixth and seventh with their 401s, Ironton St. Joseph was eighth at 405, Federal Hocking notched ninth at 409, and Southern (434) nudged out Green (437) for 10th.

Speaking of Green, four Bobcats competed —junior Kiefer McCalvin with a 97, sophomore Landon Kimbler with a 100, freshman Brennan Renison with a 114, and sophomore Tyler Gammon with a 126.

Clay sophomore Tristan Large played in his second sectional on Wednesday, and had a 96 (53-43) on the Panthers’ home course —as he had a 105 at Franklin Valley.

The other two Panthers playing were freshman Cayden McKenzie (132) and junior Marshall Thornton (153).

At the Jaycees, Valley was eighth out of 14 teams with a 411 —and included senior Max Harley (108), freshman Brady Kidd (109), sophomore Brock Stuart (125) and junior Parker Montgomery (127).

A complete list of results can be found at www.baumspage.com.

The Division III Southeast District meet —of which Phillips will play for his second consecutive district championship —takes place on Monday morning at Elks Country Club.

Teeoff time is set for 9 a.m.

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @paulboggssports © 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved