Photo by Tyler Bennett
Parkersburg South’s golf team celebrates a thrid straight win over rival Parkersburg High in the City Cup Monday.

WAVERLY — Dropping three previous straight matches to their rivals in the season, Parkersburg South golfers was victorious versus Parkerburg in a 5 ½ to 2 ½ match win for their third straight City Cup Monday afternoon at the Golf Club of West Virginia.

Delayed 30 minutes due to rain, the late start didn’t bother the Patriots as seniors Mace Busch (6-5 vs. Daniel Wharton), Dustin Corley (5-3 vs. Hayden Leavitt), Blake Snyder (4-3 vs Anna Earl), Grant Hussey (5-4 vs. Samuel Stone) and sophomore Austin Reeves beat Joey Koreski 4-3. Eli Reeves and Parkersburg’s Brielle Milhoan all squared up.

South head coach BJ Hess noticed that his squad’s confidence has been slowly rising since the beginning of the season. With a strong performance a Two Rivers Athletic Conference event and a win versus rivals PHS, it shows that they have the skills to compete come postseason play.

“I was really happy with the way that the kids played today. We’ve seen PHS three times already this season and they beat us every time. But now it’s match play, it’s a little different. We played well, a couple kids that I didn’t think we’re gonna play as good as they did played great today and we got to retain the cup for a third time,” Hess said. “I’m starting to see the confidence coming out in some of the guys that I knew was there and they’re starting to show it really well. We played well last week at the TRAC, and I started seeing the scores come out, the confidence is getting there. The swings are getting there. They’re looking good and we’re having a good time.”

A nice tune up before the girls state meet at Mingo Bottom Golf Course in Elizabeth today, Parkersburg seniors Molly McLean (3-2 vs. Cade Murray) and Nicole Linccome (3-2 vs. Ben Starkey) picked up the only two wins for the Big Reds on the afternoon. The duo medaled last season and will be joined by teammates Milhoan and Earl.

Photo by Tyler Bennett
Parkersburg South’s Dustin Corley follows through on a putt during his match with Parkersburg High’s Hayden Leavitt Monday during the City Cup.

It may have not been the best performance for the Big Reds boys on the range, but longtime PHS coach Don Snider expects the young team to put the loss in the back of their heads and be ready for regionals.

“With match play you just never know. They moved their lineup around a little bit and our top two girls played really well. Our freshman (Millhoan) girl was a most pleasant surprise because I would say she probably played their number two player today and finished all square. We are heavily loaded with girls and they are the ones that scored for us today, so that’s not a bad thing. But I think we could have played a little better in some other spots. I think the guys got down on themselves a little bit and their depth. They have more depth than we do right now,” Snider said. “I played another boy that’s a sophomore that has not played much and I played a junior just came back out after not playing for two years, so we’re young. I mean we only have two seniors and we’ll be fine by regional time. We should be ready. We have beat them in every stroke play event so far but that doesn’t mean anything until you get to regionals but I think we go head to head we’ll be fine.”

South and PHS will see each other soon, as both will play Wednesday at Marietta Country Club against the Tigers.

You can contact Tyler Bennett at tbennett@newsandsentinel.com