NHS boys golf team has high hopes

Not much went right for the Niwot Cougars a year ago at the Region 4 golf tournament. This time around, Coach Ed Weaver is hoping things take a different turn Thursday, Sept. 21 at Boomerang Links Golf Course in Greeley.

The Cougars enter this year’s tournament ranked third in the region behind Windsor High School and Longs Peak League nemesis Riverdale Ridge High School and are looking to qualify a full contingent of golfers to the 4A state tournament on Oct. 2-3. But to ensure that, the Cougars will most likely need to find a way to do something they’ve only done one other time this season – defeat the Ravens from Riverdale outright. And they’ll need to erase the haunting memories of a year ago.

For senior Emmett Shell, this year’s regional is an opportunity to redeem himself for a poor finish down the stretch last year which saw him bogey his last two holes to wind up in a five-way playoff for the final state tournament berth, and then be eliminated with another bogey on the first playoff hole.

With Shell struggling and two of his other three golfers heading for elimination, one could not blame the Cougars’ coach for feeling a bit sick on that cold and dreary day last September. But it was actually a case of food poisoning that sent Weaver scurrying away before he could feel the full effects of his team’s disappointing outing.

“I think if I could have been there for him (Shell), I might have been able to get him back on track and win that playoff. He was far and away the best player of the last five,” Weaver recalled. “But I was so sick that I had to have my wife take me home. It was not a good day.”

But this is a different year and hopes are high. For the second straight season, Shell led his team with the low average score and now hopes to showcase that talent on the big stage. The good news is Shell may be peaking at just the right time and on the right course. In his last five events, the senior has two first-place and three second-place finishes, including a two-under-par 70 and second-place finish last week in the final league tournament of the season.

Joining Shell on the regional team will be sophomores Sawyer Bennett, Jackson Sessa, and junior Drew Stapp.

Bennett has played some of his best golf in the past few weeks, finishing tied for fourth at 1-over par this past week on the Boomerang course and shooting in the 70s in each of his last five outings.

The one bright spot at last year’s regional was then-freshman Sessa, who qualified for the 4A state tournament as one of only seven ninth-graders to qualify for the field of 85 players. Unfortunately, Sessa has struggled of late and will need to be once again a low-score contributor if the Cougars are to challenge for one of the top two team spots at the regionals.

In their last five varsity outings, the Cougars have run up against Riverdale Ridge, the team they will most likely need to slip past at the regional event in order to garner one of the top two team spots and earn the automatic team berth into the state meet. In those five outings, the Cougars have one victory, a three-shot win at the Mountain View league event, and four second-place finishes.