MENTONE - When Tippecanoe Valley's golf team steps onto Chestnut Hills Golf Course in Fort Wayne Friday to compete in the Homestead Golf Regional, it will be a family affair. Of course, it's been that way all year for Roger Moriarty's squad.

Moriarty has coached three sets of brothers this year, Eric and Brian Love, Anthony and Derek Domenico and Aaron and Andy Martin. All three duos have contributed, but only the Martins have been regular members of the varsity team throughout the regular season and postseason.

Aaron, a senior, plays in the No. 1 spot while Andy, a freshman, plays No. 3. The competition is pretty heavy between the two as Aaron has shot a total of six strokes better on the season than Andy. However, that doesn't keep the two from being supportive of each other.

"They tend to root for each other 99 percent of the time," Moriarty said. "Aaron always says, 'Freshmen aren't supposed to do that yet.'"

That kind of stuff even carries over to practice. In a round earlier this week, Andy opened up with a double-bogey on the first hole. He began to get down on himself, and Aaron reminded him that there were still 17 holes to play and not to worry. Andy came back and birdied the next three holes to get his game back on track.

"I can ask him about anything in my game," Andy said. "He's always been there when I need him, and he's been in every situation before."

Moriarty calls Aaron a very composed golfer. He doesn't worry about one bad shot or get too excited over one good one.

"Aaron doesn't have the highs and lows," Moriarty said. "That shows his senior maturity. That has filtered down and helped his brother."

Andy, on the other hand, is very much the typical freshman. He's the prankster on the team and is an aggressive golfer.

"Andy's more of an overall athlete than Aaron," Moriarty said. "He's prone to make more mistakes because he's a little more aggressive, but he may be a little more talented than his brother."

The two grew up learning the game of golf together and have carried it over to the Valley team. They helped the Vikings advance to the regional for the first time since 1993. For Aaron, it was especially sweet considering it was his last chance to make it to the regional round.

"I was just trying so hard to get past sectional once," Aaron said. "We even had a bad day at sectional. We only had two scores in the 70s and then our next best score was an 82."

As a matter of fact, the Vikings didn't know if they had advanced or not until the final group of golfers stepped off the course. Valley led the sectional after nine holes, but stumbled a bit on the back nine. Warsaw, Wawasee and Northfield all played in the last group and all had a shot at catching the Vikings. Warsaw and Wawasee ended first and second, but Northfield ended fourth, one stroke behind Valley. Despite that third-place finish, the Vikings still feel they have a chance at finishing in the top three at regional.

"We're young, and if we play young we'll probably be done," Moriarty said. "We might be able to put up a 315 there, and if we do that, I'll take my chances."

"I think we have a chance," Aaron said. "Everybody can shoot well out there."

The Vikings also think that they can outshoot both Warsaw and Wawasee, something they'll have to do if they hope to advance to the state meet. Valley did beat both of them at the Rochester Invite earlier this year and getting to play Warsaw away from Rozella Ford will only help.

"Chestnut's going to be tough," Andy said. "Since we've had a couple of practice rounds, it's helped."

Warsaw, Wawasee and NorthWood will all join Valley at Chestnut Hills Golf Course Friday. The event begins at 8 a.m. and the top three teams, along with the top three individual golfers not on an advancing team, will move on to the state meet. [[In-content Ad]]