Earning all-OVAC honors during the Class 3A Tournament Thursday on the sun-baked Crispin Golf Club layout inside Oglebay Park were, from left, Fort Frye’s Chatum Coursen; Barnesville’s Hayden Treadway; Barnesville’s Brady Gallagher; Wheeling Central’s Rowen Parker and Wheeling Central’s Conner Ball. Photo by Kim North

WHEELING — The course conditions weren’t the best but a youthful Wheeling Central team made the most of them Thursday in defending its OVAC Class 3A championship.

The Maroon Knights, with four freshmen and one sophomore in the lineup, shot a four-player score of 298 to slip past Barnesville, which finished the 18 holes on the sun-baked Crispin Golf Club layout inside Oglebay Park with 300.

The title was the 21st overall for Wheeling Central, which is second most to St. Clairsville’s 29. It was also head coach Jim Mortakis’s ninth crown.

“It wasn’t totally unexpected because these boys have been playing golf for a couple of years now,” the veteran Maroon Knights head coach said of the title. “I knew they could play, but when you get into a big tournament like this you never know how they are going to play because they are still young.

“I was really pleased with the way we played. The course is in horrible condition,” Mortakis added. “There were some good scores, but there were also some bad scores. It’s unfortunate.”

Mortakis praised the play of his No. 1 and No. 2 players — Rowen Parker and Conner Ball — who shot 70 and 72, respectively, and made all-OVAC, along with his No. 5 player — Dylan Blatt — who shot 75.

“All of those kids played really well,” he noted. “It was a good team effort.”

Joining Parker and Ball on the five-member all-OVAC squad were Fort Frye’s Chatum Coursen and the Barnesville duo of Hayden Treadway and Brady Gallagher. Coursen earned medalist honors with a fine round of 65, while Treadway was medalist runnerup at 67. Gallgher shot 70.

Martins Ferry finished third in the team race with a 311. The Purple Riders were followed by Columbiana (314) and Fort Frye (321) to round out the top 5.