By Greg Carey
WHEELING — Morgantown finished eighth in Class AAA with a 514, but head coach Nate Tallman knew it was going to be a difficult state tournament heading into it.
“We understood the AAA field was going to be loaded prior to the tournament. The team scores were fantastic considering Speidel is without a doubt the toughest course we play throughout the season,” he said. “We were happy to have all four scores in the 80s today but felt as if we left a couple of good shots out there.”
Jack Wiedebusch led the Mohigans with an 80 on day 2 and a 166 for the tournament at Speidel Golf Club’s Jones Course. Andy Seman shot a 38 on the front 9 on Wednesday but struggled on Hole 14, shooting a 13 to put himself out of the tournament and finished with a 187. Jack Hudson was consistent throughout, finishing both days at 171, while Carter Kline tallied a 177.
“These young men represented Morgantown High School with class,” Tallman said. “I am very happy Jack Hudson, Carter and Andy were able to finish their careers at the state tournament.”
Preston’s Caleb Osborne earned all-state honors after rounds of 76 and 73. Osborne, an individual qualifier, was joined by teammate Luke Livengood, who shot an 83 on Wednesday and a 170 over two rounds.
Osborne’s 149 was tied with GW’s John Logan Taylor or the third best score in Class AAA.
Trinity’s Mark Spruill finished 11th in Class A with a 174, shooting an 88 on day 1 and an 86 on day 2.
PikeView senior Carson Proffitt couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to win Class AA low medalist honors than the one he was presented with Wednesday on the first playoff hole in a sudden death format.
Playing against Fairmont Senior’s Clark Craig on the 18th hole, Proffitt hit his approach shot to within 5 feet of the pin, leaving him with a very makeable birdie putt, while Craig was in the range of 30 feet for birdie.
Craig settled for a two putt par, which was good enough to get him back to the 18th tee box for another playoff hole after Proffitt couldn’t capitalize on the short range look.
“I didn’t really push it. I just hit it way too hard,” Proffitt said. “I lined it up on the right edge just to make sure that if I did it hard, I made it. It didn’t break as much as I thought it would.”
But Proffitt didn’t let the squandered opportunity get to him.
Instead, both he and Craig made a par on the second playoff hole, before returning to play No. 18 once more. The third time was the charm for Proffitt, who sank a birdie putt from about 15 feet to better Craig’s third straight par and claim AA low medalist on a thrilling second day.
“I hit a really good drive on the final hole. It didn’t draw as much as I wanted it to, so it went through the fairway,” Proffitt recalled. “I had 115 (yards) in and thought it was doable, so I just trusted my wedge game and it paid off. I hit it to about 12, 15 feet.
“Whenever I hit the putt, I thought I left it an inch short.”
While Craig came up short in his quest for low medalist, his round of 67 was the best of the day and allowed him to tie Proffitt with a two-day total of 143.
The other low medalists — Wheeling Central’s Derrick Harrison in Class A and George Washington’s Joseph Kalaskey in Class AAA — also didn’t secure the honors until their final hole of the day.
George Washington won the AAA title with a 448, Westside won the AA title with a 467 and Wheeling Central won the A title with a 486.
