Bellmont and East Noble made up their NE8 golf match on Thursday on the Cross Creek back nine with the visiting Knights winning 164 – 170. The match was postponed from last week due to the police stand-off with a barricaded shooter in Kendallville that morning which shut down most city activities including those at the school. The win put East Noble at 2 – 0 for the season and 2 – 0 in the NE8 conference. Bellmont suffered their first loss falling to 2 – 1, 1 – 1 in the NE8.
The hero of the match for East Noble was Ryan Norden who came in with a medalist 38 in the windy conditions. Joey Sorrell was second best for the Knights with a 41. Playing #4 and #5, the two erased a lead by the Braves after the first three scores were in.
Winston Brown was low score for Bellmont with a 40 on the blustery night. He was five over par after the first five holes but played the last four holes at one-under par to salvage his round. Owen Minnick was one shot behind Brown with a 41 as the two were a combined nine shots ahead of their playing opponents. Bryce Rickord overcame two bad holes and carded a birdie on hole #11 to give the Braves a 44 from the #5 position.
Jayden Haines was Bellmont’s number four scorer with an even bogey round of 45 that featured a birdie on #17 but four doubles on the nine.
The best story (and shot) of the night for the Braves goes to Gage Bressler. The Senior scored a Hole-in-One on the 165 yard 11th hole with an 8-iron! As so often happens, Bressler struggled the rest of the round following his first ever Ace. However, the score does not diminish the accomplishment of recording a Hole-in-One during a varsity match. Congrats to Gage!!
Bellmont took the JV contest to go 3 – 0 on the season 210 – 218. Once again, the five JV Braves kept their scoring within six strokes of each other. Brady Malone led with a 50 followed by 52 from Ben Binegar and 53 from Colin Mihm. Rylan Mihm shot 55 and Landon Strickler 56 to round out the scoring. The varsity Braves are in action Saturday at the Concordia Invitational at Foster Park while the JV will play in the South Adams Invite at Wabash Valley on Saturday.