By Duncan Nixon, Correspondent
The high school golf season starts and ends early in the fall. The Fluco football team has yet to play a regular season game. However, the golf team’s season is more than half over. Coach Bryan Searcy said that his team started the season with two warm-up multi-team tournaments over in the valley. On Aug. 1 the Flucos played on the Lakeview course in a tournament hosted by Spotswood High School. On Aug. 3 the Flucos played on the Ironwood course in a tournament hosted by Fort Defiance High School.
On Aug. 8 the Fluco golfers traveled to the Birdwood golf course for the first of two Jefferson District tournaments. Searcy was happy to report that the Flucos finished in a very respectable third place in this tournament. Junior Justin Werner was the top finisher for the Flucos at the District event.
The Flucos’ first dual meet against a Jefferson District foe was scheduled to be played Aug. 13, with the Flucos hosting the Monticello High Mustangs. The first foursome teed off at 4:30 p.m., and only completed two holes of the scheduled nine-hole match. Searcy then blew the horn indicating that a thunder and lightning storm was rolling into the area. Just as the players were returning to the Lake Monticello course cart barn, the skies opened up and serious rain began to fall. After waiting out the brief but intense rain, the coaches reviewed the radar and determined that thunder and lightning wer
e likely to continue for the rest of the daylight hours, so play was ended and the teams agreed to consult on a rescheduling sometime in September.
Searcy said that he has 11 student athletes on his squad this season. Dual matches are normally played with six contestants per team. The top four scores are added to establish a team score and, of course, the low score wins. Contestants play every hole to conclusion and all putts must be holed. Players walk the course, with male competitors playing from the regular men’s tees and female competitors playing from the regular ladies’ tees (the white and red tees on the Lake Monticello course).
For the match against Monticello High School the Fluco’s six competitors were Justin Werner at number one, senior Jack Kershner at number two, sophomore Jarred Williams at number three, junior Maggie Wentz at number four, junior Caleb Vickers at number five, and junior Ethan Smialek at number six. Kershner is the only senior on the team, so Searcy has a young squad this year. Golf is a co-ed sport and two of the Fluco competitors are females.
On Aug. 16 the Flucos traveled to Orange County to take on the Hornets on their course. On Aug 20 they traveled to William Monroe, and on Aug. 21 they hosted Charlottesville. On Aug. 23 the Powhatan Indians will be at the Lake Monticello course. The season ends on Sept. 17 with a second District match hosted by Western Albemarle High. In contrast, the Fluco football team does not play its first Jefferson District opponent until Sept. 21.
