Tigers win home tourney, rise to 2nd in SEK

Fort Scott freshman Conner Antonetti tees off on No. 1 during play at the Fort Scott Tournament at Woodland Hills Golf Course Tuesday afternoon. Antonetti finished fifth in the tournament and fifth in the final Southeast Kansas League individual standings. The Tigers won the tournament and finished second in the SEK. (Kenny Felt/Special to the Tribune)

Fort Scott High's golf team leapfrogged Coffeyville and Independence and finished second in the final Southeast Kansas League golf standings as a result of winning their home tournament at Woodland Hills Golf Course Tuesday afternoon.

The Tigers shot 329 as a team, finishing 3 strokes ahead of Independence. After the fourth and final designated league tournament, Fort Scott finished behind Iola, which won just the fourth golf title in school history and its first since 1980. The Mustangs, who leave the SEK at the end of the school year, had a four-tourney total of 1,337 strokes. Fort Scott finished at 1,350, passing Coffeyville, 1,351, and Independence, 1,359.

"It's great to win our home tournament," Fort Scott head coach Ken Klassen said. "And there was enough of an advantage playing at home, knowing the hazards and the dangers.

Fort Scott's Tucker Horn hits a tee shot during the Fort Scott Tournament at Woodland Hills Golf Course Tuesday afternoon. Horn just missed a medal in the tournament but finished ninth in the final Southeast Kansas League individual standings following a playoff with teammate Jonathan Allen, who finished eighth. (Kenny Felt/Special to the Tribune)

"It's something to give us some hope going into a Regional that will be tough. I think there are three schools in last Saturday's tournament at Osawatomie that finished better than what we shot today."

The Class 4A Regional Tournament is Monday at Osawatomie. Iola played in the Saturday tournament and Tuesday was the Mustangs' fourth tournament in five days, playing a make-up in Coffeyville Friday and a scheduled tournament in Chanute Monday. Fort Scott also played at Coffeyville and Chanute -- those tournament will be summarized later in this article.

Pittsburg's Andrew Joy won the tourney's individual crown, shooting 39 on both the front and back nines to finish at 78. But that wasn't enough to get Joy past Iola freshman Kaden Macha, who won the SEK individual title, 10 strokes ahead of Joy, 309 to 319.

Macha shot 40-40--80 Monday to finish second in the tourney. Johnny Randall of Pittsburg was third at 42-39--81.

Fort Scott freshman Conner Antonetti shot 39-42--81 to finish fifth, finishing in the middle of a 4-way scorecard playoff with Randall, Caney Valley's Tyler Wyant (39-42), who was placed fourth, and Labette County's Braden Page (41-40), who was placed sixth.

Channing Nielsen, playing for the first time since undergoing surgery on a stomach muscle last month, took ninth at 43-39--82 while Jonathan Allen took the 10th and final medal with his 39-43--82. They were the bottom two in another 4-way scorecard playoff which saw Parsons' Gilvon Darkis (39-43) placed seventh and Iola's Shane Walden (43-39) slotted eighth.

"(Nielsen) is still rusty" Klassen said. "But I expect him to get better in the days to come. It's just that there aren't very many days left.

"Jonathan finished very strong. He had a rough first nine but followed it up with a 39, which is a very good score."

Antonetti finished fifth in the final league standings with a total of 331 over the four tourneys.

"I'd have to go back to the days of Joe Ida, maybe Cole Murrin to see how they did as freshmen, but my bet is that Conner has done every bit as well as they did," Klassen said. "So he has quite a bit to be proud of today.

"He kept himself together a couple of times when he had some rough holes. It's a temptation to blow up but he didn't."

Allen won a playoff over Tucker Horn for eighth place after they tied at 337.

The top 10 in the SEK earned All-League status. Positions 11-20, including ties, received Honorable Mention. There were no Tigers on the HM list as Baker Weilert finished in 28th place and Dane Ramsey came in 37th. Nielson was not on either list because he missed a league tournament due to his injury.

Horn finished out of the medals in the tournament as he struggled on his final two holes and finished at 41-43--84.

"Tucker played very well in stretches but then shot himself in the foot a couple of times," Klassen noted.

Weilert shot 41-47--88 for Fort Scott while Ramsey finished with 52-48--100.

Klassen also had three B-team/junior varsity players in the tournament. Cole Snyder shot 43-50--93, Anthony Sercer 51-56--107 and Jacob Thomas 66-58--124.

Monday at Chanute, the Tigers shot 342 to finish third in an eight-team field made up entirely of SEK schools, although this was not one of the four SEK tourneys. Pittsburg was the only league school not present. Coffeyville was the winner at 319 followed by Independence with a 337.

Independence's Logan Taylor won the individual title with a 37-40--77. Coffeyville's Brett Yeubanks was second at 40-38--78.

Allen was the Tigers' only medalist in this tournament, finishing sixth at 43-39--82. Horn missed out on a medal after a scorecard playoff and was placed 11th with his 43-41--84. Antonetti was 12th at 42-43--85. Weilert shot 41-50--91 while Ramsey came in at 46-45--91 and Sercer scored 50-50--100.

"Jonathan Allen had a good round, especially on his back nine," Klassen said. "Tucker Horn had difficulties on his last couples holes, but struck the ball well."

Results from Friday's play at Coffeyville are incomplete. Fort Scott finished fourth in a field consisting of all nine SEK schools though, again, this was not an SEK tourney. Coffeyville shot 336 in winning followed by Iola at 339, Indy 354 and Fort Scott at 364.

Joy won the individual title with a 74 while Macha came in second with an 80. None of the Tigers were unable to medal and what they shot was not available due to an error to the email document sent to Klassen.

Monday's Regional tourney play is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Osawatomie Golf Course. The only other SEK school that will be there is Pittsburg.

"We haven't seen the course," Klassen said. "We haven't played against any of the teams in it this year except for Pittsburg. I know the field's going to be tough."

The other schools in the tournament are Anderson County, Girard, Louisburg. Osawatomie, Ottawa, Paola and Spring Hill.

Parsons and Chanute did not field complete teams in the Fort Scott Tournament.

11. Logan Taylor, Independence, 341; 12. Johnny Randall, Pittsburg, 342; 13. Eric Schlange, Independence, 344; 14. Braden Page, Labette County, 347; 15. Grant Hendrix, Coffeyville, 349;

16. Dawson Soper, Columbus, 351; 17. Cody Thompson, Coffeyville, 352; 18 (tie). Keenan Nutt, Independence, and Drake Dieker, Iola, 354; 20 (tie). Kenton Blaich, Coffeyville, Kris Collins, Iola, and Aaron White, Labette County, 355.

1. Fort Scott (FS) 329 (Antonetti 81, Allen 82, Neilson 82, Horn 84), 2. Iola (IO) 332 (Macha 80, Walden 82, Collins 83, Grover 87), 3. Coffeyville 338 (Yeubanks 84, Murrell 84, Thompson 84, Hendrix 86),

4. Labette County (LC) 354 (age 81, White 87, Charles 90, Dwyer 96), 5. Pittsburg (PT) 357 (Joy 78, Randall 81, Wuerdeman 97, Matthews 101), 6. Independence (IN) 359 (Leiker 86, Taylor 88, Hugo 92, Schlange 93, Vowell 94),

7. Caney Valley (CV) 359 (Wyant 81, Nelson 90, Thornton 92, Brake 96, Harmon 99), 8. Columbus 363 (Wary 83, Soper 89, Schoech 91, Kreysman 100).

Incomplete teams: Chanute, Fort Scott B, Parsons (PA).

1. Andrew Joy, PT, 39-39--78; 2. Kaden Macha, IO, 40-40--80; 3. Johnny Randall, PT, 42-39--81; 4. Tyler Wyant, CV, 39-42--81; 5. Conner Antonetti, 39-42--81;

6. Braden Page, LC, 41-40--81; 7. Gilvon Darkis, PA, 39-43--82; 8. Shane Walden, IO, 43-39--82; 9. Channing Neilson, FS, 43-39--82; 10. Jonathan Allen, FS, 39-43--82.

1. Coffeyville (CF) 319 (Yeubanks 78, Thompson 80, Blaich 80, Murrell 91), 2. Independence (IN) 337 (Taylor 77, Schlange 85, Leiker 86, Hugo 89), 3. Fort Scott (FS) 342 (Allen 82, Horn 84, Antonetti 85, Weilert 91),

4. Iola (IO) 347 (Macha 83, Walden 84, Crawford 89, Dieker 91), 5. Columbus (CL) 357 (Soper 84, Schoech 86, Wary 87, Hale 100), 6. Parsons 364 (Darkis 86, Harvey 86, Smith 91, Swanson 101),

7. Chanute 366 (Lund 89, Dietsch 90, Roush 91, Raves 96), 8. Labette County 427 (Krewson 99, Sheets 108, Dodsworth 108, Dwyer 112).

1. Logan Taylor, IN, 37-40--77; 2. Brett Yeubanks, CF, 40-38--78; 3. Cody Thompson, CF, 41-39--80; 4. Kenton Blaich, CF, 42-38--80; 5. Conner Murrell, CF, 43-38--81;

6. Jonathan Allen, FS, 43-39--82; 7. Kaden Macha, IO, 42-41--83; 8. Shane Walden, IO, 42-42--84; 9. Grant Hendrix, CF, 44-40--84; 10. Dawson Soper, CL, 41-43--84.