LIMA — As Temple Christian golfers Judah Whitman and Seth Hohlbein sit down to be interviewed in the Pioneers’ athletic office, the two are immediately drawn to the top of the golf trophies sitting in a box prepared to be unwrapped from the newspapers and ready to be displayed.
“Sorry I’m just a little distracted,” Hohlbein said in the middle of answering a question. “I just saw those trophies for the first time.
The Pioneer golfer, and his teammate can be forgiven for being excited about the Northwest Central Conference (NWCC) and sectional championships they have won this past year. Temple Christian is on a roll and making school history after winning the NWCC outright and the Division II sectional tournament held Saturday.
The Pioneers are hoping to add some more hardware to their trophy case beginning Thursday when Temple Christian competes in the Division III district tournament at Stone Ridge Golf Course in Bowling Green with the hopes of getting the team or an individual to qualify for the state tournament.
Last year the team qualified for district but neither the team nor a individual Pioneer made it to Columbus. The last Pioneer linkster who made it to Columbus was Eric Mohler in 1993.
Whitman, who is in his sixth year, said the success this year can be attributed to the team’s hard work, enthusiasm and love for the game. He remembered when the team, comprised primarily of seniors, were freshmen shooting in the 80s and 90s.
But the team practiced and persevered and in 2015, the hard work showed dividends when the Pioneers went undefeated during the NWCC season and finished third in the NWCC tournament. At the sectionals, Temple Christian finished third and made it to districts. But the postseason ended there when they finished out of the top four.
This year the Pioneers were more determined to make a mark and did not disappoint their coach. In addition to going undefeated in league play and capturing the NWCC title outright, the Pioneers took first place at sectionals. Going into sectionals Whitman invited his team to do its best but after a rough first nine holes, the Pioneer coach challenged his team again and this time it resulted in a sectional title.
“The first nine that we played which was the back nine (at Colonial Golfers Club) we struggled a little bit,” Whitman said. “It was OK but it was like `wow’ and I wasn’t sure we were really good enough on the day to make it through, so I challenged each one of my players to do their best on this next nine and see where we go.”
The team responded by finishing with a 333 to garner first place. Hohlbein (78), Judah Whitman (81) and Adrian Williams (78) all finished in the Top 10. Ty Callahan shot a 96 to tie for 42nd and Micah Craig scored a 98 to tie for 47th.
Whitman said prior to the sectional he told his team if it could get between 330 and 333 the Pioneers would have a good shot at winning.
“We hit the 333 on the number which was really, really cool, considering two of our guys did not have their best day,” Whitman said. “We were just really overwhelmed that everything went so well for us.”
Whitman said now that they have made districts, the Pioneers face some of the best golfers in northwest Ohio.
“I’ll just put this in capital letters ‘STATE’ is a big word for us,” Whitman said. “I think we really need to have a really, really good day to get through but we know there are four teams that qualify so I told my guys to do the best they can. It would be awesome to go as a team but if one of them gets through and qualifies we are behind them regardless. We are not riding it (team qualifying) off, we just know there is a big challenge ahead of us.”
Hohlbein said coming into the season he felt the team had a good chance of making it to state.
“I have been working toward that from the beginning of the season and even before the season,” Hohlbein said. “I was satisfied with how we played this season and the conference tournament and the sectionals.”
Judah Whitman said his top priority was to win the league and after going to districts last year it was a goal of his to make it to state because he thinks it would be an amazing experience.
With the district today, Hohlbein and Judah Whitman both agreed that qualifying last year is beneficial because they understand what it takes to make it to state.
“It definitely helps to have the experience because we know what we are getting into this time,” Judah Whitman said.
Hohlbein echoed his teammate’s sentiments and added that he feels they have an “upper hand” over the teams. Last year, he said they were just satisfied with just getting to district but that is not the case this year.
“We are expecting to play good and go to state,” said Holbein who said to make it to state would be something he would never forget. “You don’t get too many opportunities to go to state in high school. It would mean a ton. It would be the world.”
With all the success, Whitman said he is proud of his team and the players because he feels that they have put Temple Christian on the map as a golfing powerhouse and hopes it continues in the future.
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
