James Wood finishes third in district golf to land regional berth

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI | The Winchester Star

WARRENTON — After James Wood senior Tyler Mounts looked at the dozen posted scores on the wall of the Fauquier Springs Country Club, he verbalized his displeasure and flicked a golf glove behind a bin of practice range balls.

Mounts was upset about letting a potential Class 4 Northwestern District individual title slip through his fingers. But 90 minutes later — after the rest of the golfers in the 41-player field finished their rounds and had their scores posted — Mounts was all smiles.

For the first time since 2013 — the year before Mounts arrived at James Wood — the Colonels will play in a regional tournament as a result of their third-place finish on Wednesday.

“It’s great,” Mounts said. “That was our goal coming in this year, and we had a lot of people pull through today.

“It’s great for everyone to have a chance to play at regionals and see what that’s like. That was the No. 1 thing today. I’m really, really happy that we made it. That was huge.”

Kettle Run won the team title with a four-player score of 321, one stroke better than regular season champion Fauquier (322).

Who would get the third and final Class 4, Region C berth was a mystery until almost the very end. With two golfers still on the 5,934-yard, par-71 course, the Colonels needed someone to finish with a 90 or better to beat Sherando (340).

Senior Logan Harper provided that with an 87. He joined Mounts (who tied for fifth with an 80, three strokes behind individual champion Bryce Leazer of Fauquier), freshman Carson Baker (83, ninth overall) and junior Jacob Karen (86), a transfer from Randolph-Macon Academy who joined the team three weeks ago, in helping James Wood shoot a 336.

Colonels coach David Oates figured the third spot would come down to James Wood, Sherando and Handley, which took fifth with a 360 on Wednesday.

On Monday, the Colonels beat the Warriors by one and the Judges by three in a nine-hole match at Blue Ridge Shadows in Front Royal, continuing a string of close matches among the trio.

“All the teams have been so close, and today was our day,” Oates said. “By looking at the scores, it seems like all the teams struggled today, but in our last two matches we’ve had counting scores at [No.] five or six. Logan Harper and Drew Johnson did that on Monday at Blue Ridge Shadows, and today Harper came through. So that was nice to see our depth help us out.”

Fauquier, Kettle Run, James Wood and the six top individuals outside of those six teams will compete in the Class 4, Region C tournament on Sept. 28 at Loudoun Golf & Country Club.

Sherando is sending four individuals to regionals — senior Ryan Judy (tied for fifth with an 80), junior Brandon Nice (10th, 84), senior Evan Simmons (87) and sophomore Caleb Dotson (89). Handley (senior Gregg Burton, 86) and Millbrook (senior Nick Varcadipane, 88) each have one regional qualifier.

Mounts was hoping to have an individual title to go with the regional berth. At the Northwestern District mini at Fauquier Springs on Aug. 14, Mounts (72) was one of only two people to shoot under 79, with Kettle Run’s Reece Massei leading the way with a 69. (Massie and teammate Hunter Anderson each finished a stroke behind Lazier Wednesday with a 78.)

Mounts said the opportunity was definitely there to shoot a score closer to that 72 he posted last month.

“The greens were a little aerated today,” Mounts said. “I rolled a few putts, and probably about six or seven were inches from going in. Overall, it was a solid round. I just had a couple of bad tee shots there at the end.

“But the rest I was pretty happy with. I didn’t have any birdies, but on the [515-yard 12th hole], a par-5, I pulled my first tee shot in the water. After my second one I was 250 out, and I hit a four-iron right in front of the green and I was able to make par. I was able to scramble a few times.”

Sherando advanced to regionals each of the past two years, and Warriors coach Rob Wright was hoping his team’s success in August at Fauquier Springs — when they shot a 328 to take second at the district mini — would pay off Wednesday.

“[James Wood] has been playing well lately, and the addition of [Karen] really helped them,” Wright said. “We helped them a lot too today. We didn’t play very well. Course management was part of it, and they were just making some poor choices on club selection. I told them you really don’t need to use a driver out here, you just want to keep it in play. So when we hit driver, sure enough most every time it went in the woods or it went in the water. They were taking some penalties.

“And then they started pressing. They knew they were behind. They knew what they shot the last time, and that’s what they were trying to do this time. It was just one of those rounds. I have to congratulate James Wood for what they did.”

Sherando’s Judy got his game back on track just in time. Judy said he’s been struggling for a couple weeks, a stretch that included a 46 on Monday at Blue Ridge Shadows.

“I was really concerned coming into today,” Judy said. “I hadn’t been playing my best golf, and I really didn’t want my season to end on a bad note. I got off the tees well today. That’s something I had been struggling with the past couple of weeks, and that’s why I hadn’t played so well in some of the previous tournaments.

“I figured it out today. I knew I had to keep my shots more in bounds. I think I tried for that more.”

Judy had two birdies on Wednesday, chipping in from 50 yards out on the 445-yard par-4 No. 7 and hitting his tee shot to withing three feet on the 172-yard, par-3 No. 11.

Handley had been playing well coming into the district tournament, but Judges coach Troy Mezzatesta said his team just couldn’t put things together.

“We had a nice practice round here Sunday, and we’ve played here four times before this tournament,” Mezzatesta said. “Honestly, I thought they were going in the right direction, but they just got down on themselves a little bit. They started putting it together with five or six holes to go, but it was too late.”

Mezzatesta was pleased for Burton though, who was sidelined from competition for almost the entire month of August with a wrist injury.

“He stuck to the game plan of just hitting hybrids, getting it up on the green or around the green,” Mezzatesta said. “He’s got a great short game. He’s always positive, and does a great job of rallying the team. I’m really happy for him.”

Millbrook coach Mark Manspile was happy to see Varcadipane move on.

“I told him going into this, ‘If you could eliminate some of the big numbers that you’ve had, you’ve always been right there in the mix, it’s just one or two holes that could keep you from moving on,’” Manspile said. “Throughout the round, I was checking on him. He was playing pretty well. He had a couple bad holes, and I told him not to get fixated on a number to get into regionals. ‘Finish strong, and you can be in the mix.’ He was able to do that.”

Liberty took sixth in the team standings with a 393, and Millbrook was seventh with a 399.

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