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AKRON — The St. Clairsville golf team made their fourth trip to the state tournament in school history on Sunday, and heading into Monday’s final round, the Red Devils are making the most of their time at Firestone Country Club.
After Sunday’s first round in Akron, St. Clairsville is sitting in third at the OHSAA Boys D2 State Championship, turning in a team total of 314, just four strokes back of second-place River View (310), and nine strokes back of Archbishop Alter (305), who is in first.
On Monday, St. Clairsville’s tee times are in the latter half of the day amongst the six teams (plus six individual qualifiers) at Firestone. St. Clairsville’s five-man band tees off incrementally from 9:20 a.m. ’till 10:00 a.m.
Leading the charge for the Red Devils after the first day is junior Beau Mooney, who drove, chipped and putted his way to the top of the individual leaderboards after Sunday, carding an even 72, one stroke ahead of West Geauga’s Dylan Phillips and Westfall’s Brendan Biegler, both tied for second.
“I’m super excited for him,” head coach Heidi Mooney said of Beau. “He had a lot of birdies, but he also had some bogeys and he maybe one or two double bogeys.
“To see him there, I think that’s very exciting. I’m very proud of him. I’m proud of how he ended because it really helped the team end the day sitting in a pretty good spot to still be in contention.”
Senior Mavrik Malin, the only member of the team who made the trip to states when St. C. last made it two seasons ago, finished at +4 on the day. Juniors Ryan Mooney and Mason Conway finished at +7 and +19, respectively, while freshman Jackson Conway finished at +15.
“All summer long, most of the boys on the squad, they’ve been playing sometimes three tournaments a week,” Mooney said. “We played some two-day tournaments, and I think that helps put them in the mindset for what they need to do here.
“When we took on our schedule this year, we took some road trips and competed against a lot of D1 schools, and I think that helps build their confidence to know that they can do it.”
St. C.’s success comes in a season where the squad won their Buckeye 8 and OVAC 4A championships, as well as taking the crown at last week’s District championship at EagleSticks.
“I feel, I feel great about it,” Mooney said of her team’s Sunday. “Early in the day, you’re looking at the leaderboard and it’s hard to get a handle on things because some people go out, they have an earlier start, an earlier tee time. So, it’s a little nerve-wracking early on, but as the day started to to unfold and we were getting closer to the finish, it was getting a little more exciting. And I’m super excited, I think we’re sitting in a spot where we were still in contention. I’m happy for them. They work hard.”