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The man who ran Rozella Ford Golf Course for years walked up to take a peek at the sectional scores teams were putting up on yet another chilly and rainy spring day.
Don Dicken, Rozella's golf pro for 35 years, took a sip of his steaming coffee. Then he looked at the scoreboard and said this, which is all you need to see to understand how Warsaw's day went: "Matt (Teevan) had a bad finish," he said. Then he looked at the scores that had been reported. "And that's low so far?"
Indeed it was, at least for the scores that had been reported.
Teevan shot a six, a five and a six on the last three holes to finish with a score of 80. After firing a career-best 36 on the par-35 front nine, he shot a 44 on the par-35 back nine.
One other thing about Teevan: he learned he would be in Warsaw's lineup less than 24 hours before the match. He is the Tigers' No. 5 golfer.
With Teevan's help, Warsaw cruised to its third straight sectional team title by shooting a 320 to beat out 12 other teams. Plymouth surprised in taking second with a 329, while always steady Culver Military Academy pulled in third with a 331.
Plymouth was an also-ran in the Northern Lakes Conference race, but the Pilgrims put everything together at the sectional. Culver Military Academy traditionally turns in a competitive golf team.
All three teams advance to Friday's regional at Chestnut Hills. Also advancing are the three best individual scores from players not on those teams. That included Tippecanoe Valley's Darren Parker, who fired a 78. Parker, Northfield's Robby Herbert (73) and Culver Community's Josh Pugh (78) advance to the regional in the individual competition.
The 15-5 Tigers entered as the favorite to win the team title. They boasted a 14-1 record in their last 15 matches. They were teeing it up on their home course.
"It would have been disappointing not to win, yes, but our first goal was to get out (to regional)," Warsaw coach Bob Turner said. "If you don't get out, you're done playing."
Teevan coming through in the fifth spot gave the Tigers more room for error. Their 320 was their best 18-hole score of the year.
"He found out 3 o'clock Friday," Bob Turner said. "He played exceptionally well."
As did all the Tigers.
Kevin Powell, golfing in the No. 1 spot, came through with a 78 to lead Warsaw. After that, three and four golfers Kevin Aust and Justin Howell fired 81s. Ben Barkey rounded out Warsaw's scoring with an 85.
"Kevin Powell had been struggling this year, but he came together at the right time," Turner said. "Taking away a bad break on 18, Ben Barkey could have shot an 82."
Not lost on Turner was that he watched his five golfers finish within seven strokes of each other.
"Everybody contributes here," Turner said. "We got help from all five. Even our sixth and seventh golfers give us pretty good competition in practice."
Like Chris Osbeck.
Turner's choice for the No. 5 spot came down between Osbeck and Teevan. Teevan shot a 79 in practice earlier in the week to beat out Osbeck, who was the hero when his birdie on the last hole gave Warsaw a big one-stroke win over NLC golf power Concord earlier this season.
"It may be frustrating for them," Turner said, "but it's a nice problem for a coach to have, to have two guys like that. Both will do well for you, and we're not afraid to change them around at any time.
"We went by who played better in practice this week, and it came down to Teevan."
The Tigers beat Plymouth by nine strokes, but Turner thought the wet and dreary weather only hurt his team.
"It made the greens slow, and we're used to fast greens here," he said. "The weather brought the field closer together. For us to shoot a 320 was excellent."
WARSAW GOLF SECTIONAL
Team scores: 1. Warsaw 320, 2. Plymouth 329, 3. Culver Military Academy 331, 4. Northfield 341, 5. Wawasee 346, 6. Bremen 349, 7. Tippecanoe Valley 350, 8. Culver Community 359, 9. Manchester 372, 10. Wabash 377, 11. Triton 383, 12. Southwood 386, 13. Argos 401
Top four teams (Northfield is the alternate):
Warsaw - Kevin Powell 78, Ben Barkey 85, Kevin Aust 81, Justin Howell 81, Matt Teevan 80
Plymouth - Scott Wagner 77, Geoff Gifford 81, Phil Kreighbaum 84, Bob Heiden 103, Kevin Huffman 87
CMA - David Haase 84, Jeff Sloan 85, Will Mishler 82, Scott Brown 81, Andy Mishler 84
Northfield - Robby Herbert 73, Jeremy Lane 83, Cody McClure 92, Cury Swihart 98, Nate Trump 93
Actual low medalists:
1. Robby Herbert (NF) 73, 2. Scott Wagner (PLY) 77, 3. Kevin Powell (WAR) 78, 4. Darren Parker (TV) 78
Three low medalists who advance to the regional (those who are not on one of the top three teams):
1. Robby Herbert (NF) 73, 2. Darren Parker (TV) 78, 3. Josh Pugh (CC) 78, 4. (Alternate) Nick Arquette (CC) 80
Other local teams:
Manchester - Andy Parker 86, Ben Vineyard 84, Neal Scott 97, Tony Ritenour 105, Chris Williams 118
Tippecanoe Valley - Darren Parker 78, Justin Leslie 95, Aaron Martin 89, Jake Rucoi 94, Brandon Holloway 89
Triton - Derek Workman 93, Mark Feldman 96, Andy Westafer 98, Derric Kauffman 96, Scott Neal 111
Wawasee - Travis Coy 84, Scott White 84, Ryan Skaggs 88, Chad Wortinger 90, Ryan Speicher 92
