Joseph Perkins
EDINBURGH — The Columbus North boys golf team showed more progress Monday despite playing against one of the top teams in the state in Bloomington South.
The Bull Dogs fell to the seventh-ranked Panthers 289-323 at Timbergate Golf Course, but the score by North could have been lower.
Brady Schneider played a wrong ball during his round, which prompted a disqualification. He would have led the Bull Dogs with a round of 73.
The depth of the Bull Dogs stepped up. Joseph Perkins finished with a 79, Carter Battin and Ryder Allman carded an 81 apiece, and Alex Clark added an 82.
Bloomington South’s Colton Watson was the individual medalist with a 70. Happy Gilmore and Luke Garrett each shot 72, and Owen Garber rounded out the Panther scoring with a 75.
“We’re getting better. I’m really excited for some of the guys that haven’t gotten a chance to get in the lineup,” North coach Doug Bieker said. “Some of them had some bad holes at some points during the round and took a big number, but they hung in there. Bloomington South is a really good team, and we knew that and were going to have our hands full. These kids haven’t played a lot of 18-hole rounds. Overall, I’m not disappointed. I’m disappointed that we made some mistakes that we probably shouldn’t make, but they’re kids. Hopefully, they’ll learn from it and get better.”
Other scores for North were Austin Perry with an 84, and Tyler Dillingham and Brennan Kushman each with an 88.
The Bull Dogs now see what the bar will be when they collide with Panthers next month again at Timbergate in the Conference Indiana meet.
“This is a young team. They’re getting better,” Bieker said. “It’s early in the season. We’re still in April. We’ve still got some time to get ready. As long as we keep making improvement and don’t fall backwards and go the wrong direction, that’s what we’re really looking for.”
