by Marianne Gasaway
Coach Eric Perry has seen plenty in his long career as Clear Lake golf coach, but last week he said he witnessed probably the closest match he has seen.
The Lions were at Humboldt to compete in a triangular with the Wildcats and Algona Tuesday, April 25. Clear Lake tied Humboldt, 166-166, but lost on the fifth score tiebreaker. Algona scored 187.
“We shot good as a team, with most golfers seeing the course for the first time. Everyone shot below 45. Humboldt was a little more complete, as their tiebreak beat us 43-44 on the tiebreaker. We learned that every stroke matters,” said Coach Perry.
Clear Lake’s Taylor Plagge was the medalist and gave his team a good lead with a 38.
Taylor has taken a leadership role on the team. He is confident and plays loose without emotion during the round,” said the coach.
Eli Anderson had a round of 41 for the Lions, followed by Gavin Anderson with 43 and Carter Perry 44.
“Our junior varsity is incredibly good,” said Perry. Since all play the same holes, we are able to compare JV to Varsity. The JV continually wins versus other JV teams and beats most varsity. Our dilemma is our number three through number 11 players are pretty close on average score, but none are taking a big step in lower scores consistently.”
Clear Lake’s JV scored 177, led by medalist Luke Fuhrman with 40. Dylan Plagge scored 43, Hudson Carney 46 and Nick Strayer 48.
CL 164, C-G-D 189, St. Edmond 189
Friday April 28, the Lions played at Lakeside in Fort Dodge. The outcome and scores were the same, for the most part.
Carter Perry had his career best score and was medalist with a 38. He beat Eli Anderson on a cardback.
“Carter has had a pretty good week. He had a 39 on Monday, a hole in one during a qualifying round on Wednesday, and today’s round,” said Coach Perry. “Eli continues to be really good at accuracy. He hits fairways, and greens. If he gets better at putting, he will shoot low consistently.”
Other counting scores for the Lions were provided by Taylor Plagge with 42 and Gavin Anderson, 46.
The magic number for JV was 44. For the second meet in a row, Strayer shot well and earned JV medalist with a cardback. Blake Schwenn and Fuhrman also shot 44s. Hudson Carney had a 46.
The Lions have a record of 29-16; they are 3-2 in the North Central Conference. Clear Lake’s JV is 6-0.
