Christman leads Spartans to state golf tournament

October 11, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

In the biggest round of the season, it took perhaps the most unlikely of heroes to get Boardman’s golf team to state.

Sophomore Cole Christman shot a 68, which tied for the best round of the day at Pine Hills Golf Club in Hinckley, propelling the Spartans to a fourth-place finish in the Division I district tournament and a spot in this year’s state tournament.

“I felt like I really helped my team since I wasn’t helping so much other times this season,” Christman said. “It feels pretty good.”

Christman was easily the best on the team. Next closest was junior Brian Terlesky (78) followed by fellow juniors Bryan Kordupel (79), Bobby Jonda (83) and Cade Kreps (86).

“We had two guys, Cade and me shoot the highest 18-hole scores we’ve shot all year,” Terlesky said. “My first tee shot went 75 yards and I bogeyed it and I told myself, ‘You’re going to have to grind today.’”

Head coach Ron Moschella said his team normally plays much more consistently than it did in the district tournament.

“It’s interesting because we normally play together in the sense that our scores are typically pretty comparable,” Moschella said. “But Cole had a phenomenal round of golf and without his 68 we were going back to Youngstown.”

Christman said the key to his success was his tee shots. The sophomore, and youngest member of the team, hit 16 of 18 fairways during his season-saving round.

“I was great off the tee,” Christman said. “My putting was great and I didn’t make any huge mistakes. There weren’t any big numbers.”

Moschella said the team benefited greatly from the schedule Boardman athletic director Denise Gorski put together. The Spartans played a tough schedule that paid off in the postseason according to Moschella.

“Denise knew this team was talented and she put us in as many 18-hole invitationals as she could and it was good for us,” Moschella said. “It really gave our kids a challenge and it paid off.”

The toughest challenge now looms in Columbus at the Scarlet Course at Ohio State University. The Spartans played there last year and finished in seventh place.

“The course is brutal,” Terlesky said. “There’s eight-foot-high bunkers and it’s just a mentally draining course.”

Christman said the key to surviving the Scarlet Course will be making sure they avoid the big number.

“We just need to not make big mistakes,” Christman said. “Bogeys are fine. It’s a tight course that has a lot of trees and it’s fairly long, too. We’ll have to utilize our practice rounds.”

Kordupel wasn’t on the bus to Columbus last year but he plans to do a lot of his preparation online.

“Most courses have a website tour and you can download it and see each hole,” Kordupel said. “You get to see where the bunkers are and where you should be aiming. I do it almost every night before every match.”

Moschella said he knows his team will be anxious to prove the high scores in districts were the outlier of the season.

“They want to be better and redeem themselves,” Moschella said. “Now we’ve just got to settle down and play on par. Everyone is going to work to do that.”

The Division I state tournament takes place Oct. 21-22.