SYRACUSE - Warsaw boys golf coach Ben Barkey likens his team's rivalry with Wawasee as that of Duke and North Carolina.
He said it's like the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.
Tuesday afternoon's clash of the Northern Lakes Conference and Kosciusko County foes didn't disappoint.
And even though the third-ranked Warriors beat the Tigers 149-153 at South Shore Golf Course, Barkey took plenty of positives from his team's first regular-season match of the season.
"We set three goals for this match, and we accomplished all three of them," said Barkey, whose Tigers are now 7-1 overall and 1-1 in the NLC.
"First, we wanted to shoot better here than we did last year, and we did that by two strokes. Second, wanted to play the par-5s one-over as a team, and we did that. And third, we wanted to play hole No. 5 even, and we did that. Yeah, we lost, but I'm happy with the way we played tonight."
Wawasee improved to 10-1 overall and 2-0 in the NLC.
Plymouth also competed Tuesday afternoon, finishing with a four-man score of 206. The pair of losses dropped the Pilgrims to 2-8 overall and 0-2 in the NLC.
Freshman Eric Tandy led Warsaw with an even-par score of 36 on the front nine at South Shore, tying him for match medalist honors with Wawasee's Jordan Dawes and Curtis Coverstone.
"He's got a lot of ability, he's a great kid," Barkey said of Tandy. "In nine-hole matches, he's been the medalist three times in a row, and he tied for medalist tonight. The thing that frustrates him is that he hasn't put it all together in an 18-hole match, but he's getting close."
The rest of Warsaw's four-man score consisted of Ben Harris' 38, Kal Denlinger's 39 and Will Brown's 40.
Scotty Boyle shot a 41 for the Tigers, a team with just one senior in it's top five Tuesday.
"Ben has done a heck of a job with those kids," Steve Coverstone said of Barkey. "They're getting better and better. They played well tonight."
To go with the 36s they got from Dawes and Coverstone, the Warriors also got a 38 from Rees Woodcock and 39s from Michael Jenkins and Jon Kirkwood.
"We don't pay attention to the rankings, we just go out and play the best we can," Coverstone said of his third-ranked Warriors. "The thing that's made us good is that we've been getting five good scores. Even the fifth-man score we've been dropping has been a good score. We haven't had an outstanding score this season, but we've had good scores from all five guys."
Sean Flyn led Plymouth with a 40, while Mitch Holloway shot a 50, Chad Ballog shot 57, A.J. Ruffing shot a 59 and Don Barnes finished with a 60.
Warsaw is in action again Thursday at Cristian Creek against NLC foe Elkhart Memorial, while Wawasee travels to Nappanee Thursday to play NorthWood and Northridge at McCormick Creek.
WAWASEE 149,
WARSAW 153, PLYMOUTH 206
Wawasee (149) - Jordan Dawes 36, Michael Jenkins 39, Rees Woodcock 38, Curtis Coverstone 36, Jon Kirkwood 39
Warsaw (153) - Scotty Boyle 41, Ben Harris 38, Eric Tandy 36, Kal Denlinger 39, Will Brown 40
Plymouth (206) - Sean Flyn 40, Mitch Holloway 50, Chad Ballog 57, A.J. Ruffing 59, Don Barnes 60
