CHILLICOTHE — Indeed, it’s becoming old hat —or perhaps rather tip of the Titleist cap — for Valley High School’s Cameron Phillips.

That’s because the Indian junior and phenom golfer captured his third consecutive Division III boys golf sectional championship —winning Wednesday’s annual sectional at Chillicothe’s Jaycees Golf Club.

Only this time at the sectional, Phillips —already a two-time Division III all-Ohioan by placing third as a freshman and fourth as a sophomore at the state tournament —added some spice by acing a hole-a-one during the 18-hole meet.

A year after firing a three-under-par 69 on the same course with a front-nine 36 and a back-nine 33, Phillips went even lower on Wednesday — with a six-under-par 66, thanks to a front side 31 and a back side 35.

Last year, Phillips was eight shots better than the medalist runner-up —and practically lapped the field of 68 individuals.

Wednesday was a similar outcome, as there were 70 players this year.

He was nine strokes better than the medalist runner-up —Crooksville junior Bo White with a 75, who was the first of five individual qualifiers from the Jaycees.

The top five teams and top five individuals NOT on a qualifying team advanced to Monday’s Southeast District meet —as the Division III event always takes place in Phillips’ proverbial backyard course of The Elks.

Only this time at the Scioto County club, Phillips has his Valley teammates joining him.

The Indians punched a district tournament ticket by placing fifth as a team, as they actually tied Manchester for fourth in team totals —with a score of 368.

The tiebreaker traditionally has been the team’s fifth and only non-counting card, as the Greyhounds got the better of the Indians with that.

Still, Valley as a team and Phillips individually play at least another 18-hole round of Ohio High School Athletic Association tournament golf in 2023.

The Indians’ other individual scores which counted toward the team total were junior Tate Queen with a 93, sophomore Brady Kidd with a 97, and junior Brock Stuart with a 112.

Queen —with a 48 on the front followed by a 45 on the back —and Kidd, with a 49 on the front and a 48 on the back, consistently scored well enough to help the Indians advance.

So did Stuart, with a front 55 and a back 57.

The Indians’ other score was a 118 (62-56) by sophomore Logan Howard.

Notre Dame, which was 14th out of 14 teams, also competed at the Jaycees sectional for the first time in recent memory— as the Titans’ team score was a 443.

Their four counting scores were junior Landon Barbarits with a 104, freshman Garrett Barbarits with a 106, junior Brady Davis with a 114, and sophomore Zion Boerger with a 119.

Freshman Kennedy McGraw had a 126.

Joining the Indians and Manchester as qualifying teams to the district meet were champion West Union (339), runner-up North Adams (345), and third-place Lynchburg-Clay (354).

Both Valley and Manchester beat out Huntington’s 374 for the final team ticket, but the Huntsmen had two of the four other individual qualifiers besides White—senior Gavin Smith with an 82 and junior Tucker Taylor with an 87.

The other two were Peebles senior Keitin Robinson with an 83 and Southeastern senior Brayden Popp with an 87.

Jeeps’ Mault, Clay’s

Large qualify to district

PIKETON — The smaller schools of the Southern Ohio Conference, and in particular Clay and South Webster, will be represented on Monday at the Southeast District Division III boys golf meet.

That’s because South Webster junior Owen Mault and Clay junior Tristan Large landed individual spots, as they were two of the five individual qualifiers from Wednesday’s sectional meet at Big Beaver Creek Golf Club.

In fact, Mault was one of a trio of players all tying for medalist runner-up —firing a six-over-par 77, with a 40 on the Big Beaver front side and a 37 on the back.

Mault, a district qualifier a year ago and who placed third out of 62 individuals in last season’s sectional with a 79, was once again among the top four —out of another 62-man field.

Mault tied for second with Pike Eastern senior Cayden Haislop, who shot 38 and 39, and Waterford freshman Reese Lang —who had 41 and 36.

Mault was the second of the five individuals NOT on a qualifying squad, trailing only Ironton St. Joseph junior Eli Ford —who was the meet medalist with a four-over-par 75.

For Ford, who repeated as an individual qualifier, that’s a 10-stroke improvement (85) from his sectional performance of a year ago.

For Large, he was part of a threesome which shot 80 (38-42) and tied for eighth —as he gained the fourth individual spot, trailing Ford (75), Mault (77) and St. Joseph junior Samuel Walker (79).

Wednesday was Large’s third sectional —as he improved 16 shots from last year’s 96 at Big Beaver, and 25 strokes from his 105 freshman effort at Franklin Valley.

Southern freshman Rece Johnson, who tied for 19th, was the fifth and final district qualifier with an 87.

South Webster was eighth out of officially 11 teams with a 387, as at least four players must complete the round — and formally submit a card in order for that school to post a team score.

Besides Mault’s 77, fellow junior Tristan Belford with a 98 and sophomore Danny Marinski with a 99 followed next —as junior Car Smith’s 113 and junior Brody Perkins’ 116 rounded out the Jeeps.

The only other Panther player besides Large was sophomore Cayden McKenzie, who shot a 90 with a pair of 45s.

The Green Bobcats also had two players compete —senior Kiefer McCalvin with a 102 and sophomore Caleb Lewis with a 105.

On the team front, Coal Grove (325) edged out Waterford (332) for the championship —as Meigs Eastern at 339, Belpre at 348 and Pike Eastern at 358 also advanced.

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 third consecutive district championship —takes place on Monday morning at The 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 X @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved