Golf: Middletown's Match Against TJ Covers Multiple Goals

By Ben Spector
Winning After MidKnight

 

The Middletown Knights High School Golf team has two main purposes as they head into their match against the Governor Thomas Johnson High School Patriots on Wednesday September 14^th at Maryland National Golf Course.

The first one is quite obvious. To pick up a victory against the Patriots as the Knights will take any wins that they can get to bolster their record in the Central Maryland Conference.

The second one is a bit more serious than the first one as the Knights will look to have a match to use as a tune-up for when they compete in the district championship round of the 2016 Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association 1A-2A Golf Tournament.

The Knights date with Districts is only six days after the match against the Patriots and Middletown will look to use their match as a chance to determine who will play for the Knights at states and also give those players who Knights head coach Ed Roark has determined will already be playing in Districts a chance to get in one final match to get prepared for Districts.

Middletown will also enjoy taking on the younger Patriots team after a match-up against the Linganore High School Lancers in which the Knights had the toughest test that they had faced this year as they tied with the Lancers.

The most important step for the Knights, coming into the match against the Patriots, is to get a solid determination on who the top five players and the alternate will be for Middletown at the District tournament. Some of those spots can be assumed but others are still up in the air and Roark will have a decision on his hands as he attempts to lead Middletown back to the state tournament in College Park.

It could be determined, and reasonably at that, that the top three golfers for Middletown, sophomore Joey Weiland and seniors Andrew Heon and Robbie Houck would play for the Knights at the District Tournament.

That would still leave open spots for the rest of the team as there will be two spots and an alternate spot remaining after Heon, Houck, and Weiland are selected.

The competition for those spots may not be for who occupies them, as Middletown seniors Justin Arnold and Noah Leidig along with sophomore Nic Bradley appear to have a high chance of getting those spots, but for who occupies what spot as the differences between Arnold, Bradley, and Leidig are minute with all three having played excellent golf at different times this year.

It would seem likely that all three will see playing time during the match against the Patriots as it may be that they will all get one final opportunity to prove why they should be part of the main squad that sees action for the Knights at Districts.

As far as the match against the Patriots goes it would seem likely that the Knights would pull out a win against Governor Thomas Johnson as the Knights are not only playing with a more experienced squad but are also playing on their home course, which is one of the toughest in the Central Maryland Conference meaning that Middletown has had and will continue to have a distinct advantage when playing on the course as they know the ins and outs of it quite well.

Middletown will head into this match knowing that no matter how they play against the Patriots the match will accomplish some type of goal for the Knights. Still, Middletown would like to take care of the goal that any team in their shoes would be striving for.

Picking up a win.