Crestview's Bowman 11th overall, Hillsdale boys place ninth as a team
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SUNBURY - It was an emotional finish for Crestview's Cole Bowman.
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A tap in for par on No. 18 at NorthStar Golf Club wrapped up a 1-over 73 on Day 2 of the OHSAA Division III state golf tournament. It was the fourth-lowest individual score of the day and rounded out a two-day 5-over 149 to place him 11th overall among individuals.
"I thought I played well ... coach (Rick Belcher) and I made some great decisions; we just fell short and had one big hole yesterday that got me out of the top 10," Bowman said. "We put ourselves in a position, just didn't execute some of the putts ... disappointing bogey on No. 10 but it was a good round."
A quadruple bogey on No. 6 on Monday spoiled what was an outstanding opening round and he followed it up with one most players could only dream of at a course like NorthStar. Unfortunately, it was enough to see him miss All-Ohio honors by a single stroke.
"It's deceivingly tight," Bowman said. "It looks open from the eye but it's very difficult to hit a few of the fairways and the greens are very tricky. I was fortunate to only three-putt twice through 36 holes, unfortunately those led to bogeys."
But as disappointed as he was, looking back on the last 10 days brought a smile to his face. He was able to play alongside some of the best golfers in the state of Ohio at one of the toughest courses around.
"Jake (Schroeder) was really cool from Van Buren, (so was) Jacob (Rainieri) from LCCS, then Brock (Hurley) from Waterford was awesome," Bowman said. "It was cool today to be the low in the group because I know Jake was the presumed state champ."
He bested Schroeder by a stroke on the day and Hurley by two strokes, but they held the edge overall by one and two strokes respectively.
What he enjoyed the most about state was getting two more rounds with Belcher walking alongside at every hole.
"I was very thankful for him," Bowman said. "I can't even count how many times I walked up on the tee and told him what I was thinking, and he basically flat out agreed. I don't think we ever had a disagreement, and I think the way we meshed over at Shelby throughout the week leading up to this was perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better coach this season and all four years.
"We prayed before both rounds; it's something we've done all season ... we did it before the playoff holes at districts. Just having that Christian leader and someone I was able to bounce ideas off throughout the round, I don't think we could've meshed better than we did here and the few holes at districts."
Hillsdale makes the most of its opportunity
Falcons coach Kyle Wissel tried to prepare his golfers for NorthStar Golf Club the best he could ahead of the program's first state tournament appearance in nearly four decades.
But some things they had to learn for themselves.
"One of the things we talked about was that a push cart might not be a bad idea, it's a lot of walking," Wissel said. "And two of our guys went from no push cart on Day 1 to push cart on Day 2 because it's exhausting to come out here. We were blessed with great weather, but the sun will wear you out quick."
Walking all 18 holes is close to seven miles and, when you factor in abnormally high October temperatures in the 80s, it adds an extra challenge onto an already difficult course.
"It's the second longest course in Ohio, so you're going to be hitting from stranger distances than we've seen all season," Wissel said. "The guys definitely figured out on Day 1 that it was gonna play a little harder than they thought, but they started to clean some things up on Day 2 which was great to see."
Hillsdale shot a 344 on Monday and followed it with a 342 on Tuesday for a two-day total of 686 to place the Falcons ninth overall in the 12-team field. They were one spot ahead of their projected finish and beat the two teams — Mogadore (700) and Independence (702) — that bested them at districts.
"That gave us a little more (motivation) to show that we earned our spot here," Wissel said.
Sophomore Kolton Kochheiser led the way with a 164 (78-86), junior Lowen Ferguson came in at 169 (86-83), sophomore Carsten McFadden had a 171 (84-87) while classmates Coy Collins' 188 (96-92) and Easton McCrory's 189 (103-86) rounded out the scoring.
"It was great to see nobody really lost it ... if we had a bad hole we were able to recover and get back in the game," Wissel said. "And for our first time here, to beat our ranking, that's what we wanted to do.
"We wanted to come out and say — hey, we're better than everybody thought and hopefully we'll be back next year."
Whether they make it back in 2027 remains to be seen, but their support system made sure this was a memorable experience.
"One of the first things they talked about was the amount of fans that came out on Day 1 to support the guys. They kept saying they've never seen so many people out to watch golf, it was great to see the community rally around them and cheer them on."
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Crestview's Bowman 11th overall, Hillsdale boys place ninth as a team