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And a freshman shall lead them.
It doesn't take long to figure out the difference from the Warsaw golf team's 0-4 start this season to its current mark of 15-5. The emergence of freshman Justin Howell has gone a long way in leading the Tigers' turnaround.
"Howell has really come on strong the second half of the season," Warsaw golf coach Bob Turner said. "He is probably a key to a reason why our score has been getting down. The last few rounds he has been in the 30s."
Turner knew Howell's potential when he came into the Tiger program; it was just a matter of Howell getting the experience of playing at the varsity level.
"He comes from a good background of golf," Turner said. "He has always been a good golfer. It was just that he needed some experience at the varsity level. Now that he has that experience he pretty much has been leading the way the last couple of weeks."
Howell and his Tiger teammates, Kevin Powell, Ben Barkey and Kevin Aust, will look to defend their Warsaw Golf Sectional title Saturday. Warsaw's fifth spot has yet to be determined.
"Our main goal is to get out of there and be able to continue on at the regional level," Turner said. "We have had a good week of practice. I think we are going to play very well."
Warsaw will need to play well against a talented field that includes area schools Triton, Tippecanoe Valley, Manchester and Wawasee. Turner figures it will probably take a 318-320 score to win the team title.
"The field is the favorite because someone could get hot," Turner said. "There are probably five or six teams in there."
The scary thing for Warsaw's opponents in the sectional is that the Tigers may not even have played their best round of the season.
"I don't think we have played to our potentional yet," Turner said. "We have some players who haven't played as well as they are capable of playing. We have been hanging in there by the skin of our teeth in a couple of our matches. If we could get everybody on the same page and get them to shoot what they are capable, we could shoot a pretty good round."
Warsaw, as well as the rest of the field, will have to contend with the always frustrating Indiana weather on Saturday. The only thing consistent about this spring's weather is that it is inconsistent.
"We will probably be playing in some showers off and on," Turner said. "That doesn't bother us. We just plan on bringing the umbrellas and the rain gear, and it being windy and cold. It has been like that the last two springs."
