Young golf team claims third league title

A young Carrollton golf team won its third consecutive Eastern Buckeye Conference (EBC) championship Sept. 20 at Salem Country Club and finished first in the final standings.

The team, comprised of all juniors, sophomores and freshmen, also completed its second consecutive undefeated season last week.

The Warriors won the championship by a slim two strokes over Marlington 331-333.  Marlington’s only two losses this season were to the Warriors. 

West Branch finished third (357), Salem fourth (363), Minerva fifth (375), Alliance sixth (376), and Canton South seventh (379). 

Marlington junior Charlie Mott shot a 74 to earn medalist honors. Jaxon Rinkes fired a 78 to pace the winners. Colton Moore added an 82, Cayden Rininger 85 and John Birong 86. All four are juniors.   

The team qualified for the state tournament in 2020 which, Coach Chris Barto said, was a great experience for the young players.

“The state tournament showed the team what it takes to perform at that high level.  As a result, they played in many spring and summer tournaments to prepare for this season and practiced as much as they could,” Barto said. “Our goal is to make it back to the state tournament this season.” 

Barto said he and Assistant Coach Gary Cogan provided as many opportunities as possible for the boys to grow and improve throughout the last couple of seasons.

“Parents have also been great at providing support in many different ways.  The boys have continued to grow as golfers and, more importantly, as young men.  We can see their growth on the golf course every match. They can look at a situation and critically think about the best approach to have the best outcome. They seem to get it done every match!”