Golf: Knights Put Money Where Their Mouth Is

By Ben Spector
Winning After MidKnight

 

As the Middletown High School Knights golf team heads into one of their biggest matches of the year one saying sticks out as something the Knights will have to do in that match.

“Put your money where your mouth is.”

The Knights will try to do just that when they take on the Linganore High School Lancers and Williamsport High School Wildcats in a tri-match at Maryland National Golf Course.

Middletown has been playing solid golf for much of the year, but has been racking up on lower-level opponents who Middletown should’ve beaten and did beat with the expectations in place not being too high for the Knights.

That changes completely as the Lancers and Wildcats stroll into the Middletown Valley for their 4:00 p.m. tee time with the Knights on Thursday September 8^th as Middletown will face their toughest competition of the season in the Lancers.

The Lancers (3-0) are a team loaded with talent from top to bottom as they have averaged a 155 as a team score for their first three matches of the season and have shown the ability to have anyone step up into the #1 and #2 spots at any time.

Also, adding to the Lancers impressive resume is that they have won all three of their matches by double digits as they have beaten Walkersville, Brunswick, and Frederick by 49, 43, and 48 stroke leads respectively. That stat is a tad deceptive because the Lancers were playing some of the lesser teams in the Central Maryland Conference but it still is impressive that the Lancers are not just beating teams but dominating them.

The two golfers that the Lancers will be counting on to deliver are Drew Twillman and Ryan McFadden, as both have been excellent this season and have helped propel the Lancers to their blowout victories.

In the first three matches McFadden scored a 36 (E), 34 (-1), and 38 (+2) while Twillman has somehow played better than McFadden, matching him with a 34 and a 38 in the past two matches but putting up a three-under 33 in the Lancers first match against Linganore.

The talent doesn’t stop there for the Lancers as back in the back of the rotation they still hold multiple golfers who can easily shoot under 45 and, with a good degree of frequency, get close to scoring in the 30’s.

If Middletown is going to play with this Linganore team and keep pace with them throughout the match than the Knights will need to play one of their best matches of the season as Middletown’s low score is 157, just two strokes above that Linganore average of 155.

The one thing that is for sure is that Middletown cannot have a repeat of last match, in which the Knights shot in the 170’s but still managed to find a way to beat Tuscarora who shot in the 200’s.

Especially critical to the Knights’ chances in today’s tri-match will be the play of the big 2, sophomore Joey Weiland and senior Andrew Heon, who have been the table setters for Middletown during their matches this year.

When Weiland and Heon succeed than usually good things are in store for the Knights, but if Weiland and Heon struggle than it could be a long day at the office for Middletown.

Williamsport, in all of the hoopla, has been shuffled to the back of everyone’s conscience in this match-up as the Wildcats are the third best team in the match and will most likely finish behind the Lancers and Knights, barring a situation where everyone struggles and it becomes a situation of who can limp across the finish line first.

As Middletown heads into today’s match it becomes obvious that this is more than just a match for the Knights. It’s a gut check.