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AKRON - For Tippecanoe Valley's Brandon Eaton, Drew Shafer, Andy Martin and Anthony Domenico, Wednesday will be another piece of athletic history.
In March, the four played on Valley's first regional championship basketball team in school history. Tommorrow, along with junior Brian Love, the three juniors and one senior - Eaton being the senior - will play in the golf state finals at Prestwick Country Club in Avon.
No Viking golf team - boys or girls - has ever advanced advanced past the regional round of the state tournament.
Valley advanced to Wednesday's round of the state finals by finishing third in the regional at Chestnut Hills in Fort Wayne with a score of 322. At the Warsaw sectional, the Vikings finished third with a 316. They tied CMA's 316 but lost on a fifth-man tie breaker. CMA will also play in the state finals.
"It's an outstanding opportunity for the kids," Valley coach Roger Moriarty said Monday while his team, minus Love, who was at work, played the front nine at Rozella Ford. "I'm pretty sure the only teams to get to state were the two football teams. We've had individuals make it."
Valley's football teams made it to the state finals in 1977 and '79.
Said Eaton: "I don't even know where Avon is, let alone the course."
The course is in Hendricks County, located directly west of Marion County.
The Vikings were slated to leave at 8 a.m. today to play a practice round before tommorrow's competition. Wednesday, Valley will tee off with Kokomo and Southmont from 12:56-1:36 p.m.
Rounding out the rest of the field is Evansville North, Bloomington South, Zionsville, Seymour, Marion, Floyd Central, Center Grove, Mishawaka Marian, Northview, Carmel, Terre Haute North, Yorktown, Crown Point, Pike, Culver Military Academy, Lafayette Jeff, Andrean and Goshen.
The top nine teams, as well as teams that are within 20 strokes of the leader, will advance to Thursday's final round of the state finals. The top nine golfers, excluding those on an advancing team, and any golfer within six strokes of the leader will also advance to Thursday's final round.
What kind of first round will Valley have to shoot to still be playing Thursday?
"We need all five kids to play well," Moriarty said. "I think 307-310 will lead the teams. I don't see anyone really shooting the lights out, other than maybe Evansville North who is ranked No. 1."
The Vikings ended the regular season with a 12-4 record and a Three Rivers Conference championship. Valley won it's last eight dual or triangular meets of the regular season and hasn't finished worse than fourth in a tournament all year. Moriarty also points out that if all the teams are counted that finished ahead or behind Valley in any match this season the Vikings are 92-17.
The Viking lineup is split into two groups, in a way. The top two golfers - Drew Shafer and Andy Martin are capable of taking medalist honors on any course they play. For example, Shafer took medalist honors at the Warsaw Sectional with a round 72.
"Drew's strenght is that he has an incredible temperament for the game," Moriarty said. "He's a real heady player. He thinks well on the course and doesn't let a bad shot shake him. The same can be said for Andy."
After talking to Moriarty and watching the two play, one might think Shafer and Martin are twins.
"Add all the scores up from the whole year," Moriarty said, "And Drew has Andy by two strokes. Is that a one-two punch? One is 37th in his class and one his 38th in his class. They're just a great two-some."
Said Martin: "We've always played together. We know what eachother can do. If I play bad he picks up for me. We pick up for eachother."
Valley's so-to-speak second group is its three, four and five players.
"Brian Love has really come on this year, he's gotten more consistent as the year's gone on," Moriarty said. "Brandon shot a 91 at the regional. He's the only senior on the team. What he lacks in golfing ability he makes up in competitive nature. He's very capable of shooting 80-83 on any course. Anthony is the fourth junior. He'll be the first to tell you he didn't have a real good regional. He's averaging right around 86 for the year. That's what we need from him. If he's under 85 we're happy. He's the point guard on the basketball team so we count on him to make good decisions."
Shafer says he thinks Valley is capable of a 318.
"It depends on the three and four golfers, he said. "We need two other scores to go with Andy and me. We need four solid scores I guess."
Said Domenico: "Our one through three players are really strong, they shoot in the 70s consistently. We're a real competitive team, we all play a lot of sports. Some teams aren't as competitive as us. Sometimes that helps sometimes it doesn't."
