GODFREY — The rivalry between Marquette Catholic and Alton High has been lopsided in recent history, but that doesn't mean it's not circled on the schedule as an important date.

Wednesday at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Godfrey the Explorers fired a 150 to breeze by the Redbirds (185) for bragging rights. Last season they topped the Birds 151 to 172 at Rock Spring Golf Course.

Senior Nick Messinger of Marquette led the field, carding a par-36.

“Just being the old crosstown rivalry that's always awesome,” Marquette head coach Pat Moore said. “When you have two schools in one town it's pretty cool to be able to play each other. You've got to have that town rivalry because it's fun. The kids get up for it. Yeah, the (Alton) squad may not be what it used to be, but Zach Deeder is one of my best friends for many years now — he was in my wedding — and I know he's great for that program. They're going in the right direction, it just takes time.”

Deeder, at the helm of the Alton program for the third season, has a young squad in 2016 and they are learning on the fly. He admitted facing a team the caliber of the Explorers is good for the growing process.

“I had three freshmen tonight and one sophomore,” Deeder said. “They haven't seen courses that we've been to so there's a lot of adjusting to nerves and spectators.

“My kids asked me a lot of questions (about Marquette). 'How does that kid do that?' The answer is always the same. 'He practices constantly.' What we really see is the results of not only constant practice, but effective practice. We're trying to incorporate that into ourselves. These (Explorers) started when they were really young and some of my guys are starting now.”

Messinger said it was nice to be back on the friendly confines of his home course at Rolling Hills. On Tuesday Marquette battled Edwardsville at Fox Creek Golf Course in Edwardsville and found it to be quite challenging. The Explorers fell 155 to 163 to the Tigers.

“There's definitely a big difference,” Messinger said. “Fox Creek is a lot more narrow. Out here you kind of get away with some shots and Fox Creek you've got to be able to hit the ball pretty straight. Good course management is key at Fox and out here we all know it and you can get away with some stuff.”

Joining Messinger in the team scoring for the Explorers on Wednesday were: Duncan McLain (37), Michael Holtz (38) and Jack Patterson (39). The rest of the lineup rounded out with: Sam Cogan (43) and Jack Warren (43).

Moore was pleased with Messinger's medalist performance. Marquette improved to 6-1 in dual action with the victory.

“He's in a good spot right now. I know he's not in the spot where he's striving to be, but he's about to get over that next hump,” Moore said. “He's improved drastically from junior to senior year. He'd put up that even par score, but sometimes you'd get a 41 or a 42. Nowadays, 40 is the highest and that's a bad, bad day.”

The Birds were paced by Ryan Boyd, Dylan Lahue and Brayden Haug all with 46s. Matt Moore Jr. and Dawson Gurley completed the scoring, each with a 47.

The rest of the lineup for AHS included: Dalton Lahue (52), Tysen Barton (57) and Tyler Hazelwood (67).

“I expected more out of these guys tonight,” Deeder said. “We had a lot of penalty strokes, that's what got us. We had some shanks going on. Our low being a 46, that's off of what we need to be doing. You should be able to shoot 40 or better at a course like Rolling Hills. The course didn't beat us tonight, we beat ourselves.”

No matter what, Messinger said it's fun to play Alton. The players know each other and the bragging rights are important.

“We always look forward to playing them,” Messinger said. “We like to do it for bragging rights and it's fun to get more matches in against teams like Alton.”

 

 

 

 

ALTON – Two hours before Tuesday’s Alton Tee-Off Classic at Spencer T. Olin Golf Course was scheduled to begin, rain hit the Alton area.

That got the Marquette Catholic Explorers concerned.

 “We were getting really nervous that we weren’t going to play,” Marquette senior Michael Holtz said. “We really wanted to play, especially against Edwardsville. We really like playing against really good competition.”

After six hours of golf, the Explorers were not only thrilled that the Tee-Off Classic wasn’t called off, they left Spencer T. Olin Golf Course as tournament champions.

Marquette won the 21-team tournament with a four-player score of 298. Edwardsville was second with a 302 and Quincy finished third with a 314.

“All of the credit in the world goes to Marquette,” Edwardsville co-coach Adam Tyler said. “They have a really good team over there and we hope they do great things this year.”

Edwardsville’s Ben Tyrrell won the individual championship with an 18-hole score of 66 in the par-72 course. Tyrell shot a 33 in the front and back nine and finished with nine birdies and nine pars.

Spencer Patterson was the other Edwardsville golfer who earned a medal as he finished in a tie for sixth with O’Fallon’s Logan Harris with a 75.

“We had a couple of really good scores with Ben Tyrell and Spencer Patterson,” Tyler said. “Those were two scores that were impressive for us. There were a couple of guys who didn’t shoot as well as they would like, but I’m really impressed and really happy with their effort. The last five holes, they could have cashed it in, but they didn’t. They fought back and played hard, but it’s early in the season and it’s a good score for being this early in the season.”

Also, Alton fielded two teams in the tournament. The Alton “A” team finished 19th with a 397 and the Alton “B” team didn’t have a team score.

Matt Moore was the Redbirds’ top finisher, placing in a five-way tie for 61st with a 93 for the Alton “A” team. Dylan Lahue, who also competed for Alton “A”, finished in a three-way for 78th with a 98.

“Today was a humid day,” Alton coach Zach Deeder said. “Out of the 10 guys we played, three of them dropped out due to illness or injury and they were heat related. We’ve got to get conditioned for that, but I was pretty happy. It’s a good place to start.”

Granite City was 20th with a 407. Riley Brown finished in a four-way tie for 52nd with a 90 and Drew Wielgus was in a three-way tie for 58th with a 92.

Brown, Wielgus and Grant Beanland, who finished 94th with a 107, are among the top returning golfers for the Warriors this fall.

“We have a lot of young golfers and first-year golfers that will give us a chance to compete this year and in another few years to come,” Granite City coach Jeff Ridenour said. “We have 11 new golfers in the program, so we’re looking at 16 or 17 total with one or two more possibly to sign up. We have 10 freshmen and a sophomore who is out for the first time.”

The Explorers had four golfers who earned medals. Holtz finished second with a 72, Kolten Bauer and Nick Messinger finished in a tie for third with a 74 and Jack Patterson finished in a three-way tie for 13th with a 78. Duncan McClain came up one place short of a medal as he finished in a three-way tie for 16th with a 79.

Holtz shot 11 pars and four birdies, Bauer finished with 11 pars, one birdie and three bogeys, Messinger had 14 pars, one birdies and three bogeys and Patterson had 11 pars.

Holtz said he was confident that his team was going to shoot under 300.

“I knew if we play good, we could do it,” the Marquette senior said. “It started to become surreal in the back nine where everyone was two or three over and everyone was bouncing around right there. I knew we were looking good and I knew if we stuck with it, we could definitely shoot under 300.”

Holtz, Messinger, McLain, Bauer and Patterson helped the Explorers win a regional championship and place seventh at the Class 2A state tournament last fall.

Holtz said the tournament victory on Tuesday gave his team a boost of confidence for the rest of the season.

“It’s great,” he said. “We’re looking strong. We’re all peaking at the right time. I think everyone feels like they left a few shots out there, so hopefully we can minimize the mistakes the next tournament and go even lower.”