It has been a very busy week for the varsity golfers at Tyler Consolidated High School. Though they were not able to pocket a team win, the Knights were able to keep within strokes of their competition and put their team record at 13-53-1 thus far this season.

On Sept. 19 at the par 71 Speidel Jones Golf Course at Oglebay Park, the Silver Knight golfers competed in the OVAC class AAA tournament. Consolidated wound up 10th of 11 teams in the competition with a team score of 436. The team from Meadowbrook took the tournament scoring 331. Harrison Central placed second with 348, followed by: St. Clairsville, 357; Edison, 366; Martins Ferry, 373; Oak Glen, 388; Union Local, 396; Magnolia, 404; Weir, 404; Tyler Consolidated; and Bellaire, 437.

“We played the Jones course back in August,” said head coach of the Silver and Black, Joe Griffith. “In August on a very hot and humid day, and we shot 429. With a cooler day and later in our season, we thought we should have been able to imprve on that team score, but it didn’t happen.”

Senior?? Dalton Wells led the way individually for the Knights, scoring a 97 in the tourney. Ethan Garrison totaled 110; Tyler Lemasters, 114; Levi Kissner, 115; and Swayde Carpenter, 119.

“Three of the players improved from their earlier score by four or five strokes, but overall we couldn’t bring our score down. Jones is a very tough course for high school golfers, and all five of our players found multiple trouble spots throughout the day.”

Said Kissner of his 115 score, “At Speidel I improved from the last time by shooting five strokes better.”

The Silver Knights played in Sistersville on their own home course on Sept. 16 at the par 34 Sistersville Country Club. Though they had home course advantage, the Knights placed second to Ritchie County in the match. The Rebel golfers turned in a team score of 149 to take the win, followed by Williamstown, 156, Consolidated, 180 and Paden City with 216.

Wells again led the field for the Silver, scoring 41. Lemasters scored 44; Carpenter, 47; Nate Bolin, 48; Kissner, 55 and Garrison had 56 on the day.

“I am starting to play better, but I still need to pick it up more,” said Lemasters of his day of golf. And Ethan Garrison said, “I’ve fallen into a slump and I’m having problems getting out.”

“Even though this match was on our hoe course, the contest was really between Ritchie and Williamstown,” coach Griffith said. “They both have very strong teams this year and should both do well in their Regional tournament next week.”

Ritchie County will play in the Class AA tournament, while Williamstown will compete in the Class A tourney.

“Our goal this year at home has been to consistently record four scores in the 40’s and this time we were able to do that,” the coach said.

“Wells continues to lead the team with low 40’s. Tyler Lemasters struggled mid-season, but has recovered nicely just at the right time as we head into conference and regional tournaments. His round of 44 was closer to where he should be.”

“Swayde Carpenter improved from a terrible round the day before at Speidel to shoot a 47, backed up by a 48 from Nate Bolin. Nate’s game has come along very nicely this season compared to last year. Kissner and Garrison struggled, as neither of them could break 50 on the day.”

Playing at the Moundsville Country Club on Sept. 18, the Knights had an exciting day, with nice scores and a very close match. John Marshall took the team win with a total score of 186, followed by Linsly, 186 and Tyler Consolidated, 187.

“Moundsville Country Club is similar to Sistersville in that it is a rever-bottom course with older trees,” Griffith said. “It’s also similar to our regional site for next week at the Parkersburg Country Club.”

“Our team score of 187 was actually better than I would have thought it might be, since sometimes the tree-lined fairways can spell trouble for our players at Moundsville.”

“Last year, this crew shot a 204 in our match there, so we improved nicely. The other surprise was that we came close to winning against both John Marshall and Linsly.”

“We knew going in that both teams were missing at least one key player, so we thought we had a chance to stay close to them.”

“We did just that. I can’t remember how long it has been since we have had a three-way match that has been so close! It’s one of those where every player looks back over his game and can easily find one or two shots that could have made a winning difference in our team score.”

Well, the Knight’s low man in the match scored a 42. Lemasters came in with 43; Carpenter, 49; Bolin, 53; Garrison, 56 and Kissner, 56.

“Moundsville was okay,” said Wells, “but I still had some off holes.”

Said Bolin of his day on the links, “I didn’t do very well at Moundsville, but the day was very nice to play golf.”

On Sept. 21 the Consolidated Knights took part in the LKC Tournament at Woodridge Plantation in Mineral Wells and on Tuesday, the Knights hosted parents night at the Sistersville Country Club, welcoming fans and parents as well as the teams of Magnolia and Paden City.

The Silver Knights will begin Regional play in Parkersburg on Sept. 29.