MORGANTOWN — The Morgantown High golf team won the Mohawk Cup in dominating fashion over University on Tuesday even at The Pines.
Winning four of the six groups, the Mohigans finished on top with a final score of 35-19. The cup was played after the regional tournament this year because it was postponed a week due to inclement weather.
“We had a banner year. We had a little more depth than those guys did this year, so we put some numbers up on the board. We’re really proud of our players; they played great and scored when they needed to, so it’s our year,” MHS head coach Joel Barrett said.
For the Mohigans, this year’s match held a revenge factor and Barrett is already thinking about the 2022 version Mohawk Cup.
“Last year, we lost it by one, so it was a tough, sour offseason,” he said. “We finally got it back with a little revenge. Next year will be one heck of a match because there are some really good young players here, so it’s going to be a lot of fun in a year’s time.”
The No. 1 seed for the Mohigans is Conner Decker, who agreed with Barrett about last year’s loss.
“Especially after we lost last year, it’s awesome. It was a little bit personal this year, so it’s great that we got to win,” he said.
Decker also credits his team for this year’s Mohawk Cup victory.
“Everybody showed up and we knew we were going to have a pretty good chance to win it this year, so we really took advantage of that on our home course,” he said.
Playing on the front nine at The Pines, Decker had no fear going into the match, even after an intense rain the morning of.
“The rain definitely had an effect on tee shots. Nothing was going to roll. They would all plug in the fairway but that’s fine, we’re used to this place so a little rain doesn’t hurt us at all,” he said.
University head coach Barry Kolar holds the yearly event dearly and praised the MHS team.
“It’s just a special event and it’s our favorite big match of the year,” he said. “It’s an exhibition, it doesn’t really mean anything, no one qualifies for anything but we have this cup here that we trade off from year to year and it’s been a tradition that is a lot of fun.
“Morgantown has a really good team this year, they beat us pretty handily today. We try to win, we support each other and everyone is friends afterwards. They treat us well all the time and we remain friends no matter who wins the match.”
UHS’s Landon Spiker qualified for next week’s state tournament at the Jones Course at Oglebay in Wheeling, following Monday’s Region I tournament. Morgantown finished one position shy of qualifying for the tournament as a team.
“We were just a few strokes off John Marshall, we played well. I was really proud of our team but just missed it by a little so it happens,” Barrett said.
TWEET @dompostsports
